Blog

Sen. Chuck Schumer says he could be all for Deutsche Borse buying the New York Stock Exchange ... so long as the New York Stock Exchange name comes first. "The New York Stock Exchange is one of the most trusted, preeminent brands in the financial world... Read More

The Post has a good editorial today on Mayor Bloomberg's plan to cut pension costs by taking away a "bonus" check from uniformed workers who have already retired: [W]hile the mayor has standing to ask for relief, the notion is fanciful... Read More

It's all well and good that Assembly and Senate leaders have agreed on a "roadmap" towards adopting a budget by April 1, including a March 15 deadline for passing one-house budget resolutions and forming conference committees, and a March 28... Read More

From the "Economic and Revenue Outlook" volume of the 2011-12 Executive Budget, here's the table showing the distribution of state personal income tax liability and adjusted gross income. Read More

Governor Cuomo pointed out at last week's budget presentation that New York school districts would find it easier to deal with a proposed cut in state school aid if they froze wages for teachers and administrators.  But given the attitude of most te Read More

Public schools in New York could save $500 million a year, offsetting fully one-third of Governor Cuomo's proposed cut in K-12 state aid, if they adjusted their health insurance premium-sharing arrangements for teachers to match those for state government employees... Read More

We pointed out last week that the Judiciary has been failing to do its part to help the state reduce expenses during a severe fiscal crisis. Today, the New York Post reports the state Office of Court Administration is spending $23 million to renovate... Read More

The Judiciary isn't playing ball with Gov. Cuomo's efforts to reduce the state budget, as I point out in the New York Post today. A person who has reviewed the budget proposal by the Office for Court Administration (OCA) emails this follow-up... Read More

In the publishing business, the annotation "TK" is used in manuscripts to indicate some important piece of information is "to come." Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2011-12 Executive Budget is a book draft with an impressive cover and a promising theme... Read More

Today's NY1/YNN-Marist Poll of New York voter attitudes on state budget issues may set a new benchmark for complete disregard of a key policy detail, resulting in at least one finding that is essentially worthless. Here's how the Marist pollsters framed the question... Read More

The days leading up to the presentation of New York State's Executive Budget are traditionally used by the governor's office to leak selected details from the coming proposal. Andrew Cuomo, however, is breaking the mold. Last Friday -- Budget D-Day minus... Read More

Governor Cuomo says the state of Wisconsin is the model for his unusual collaborative approach to attempting to reduce Medicaid costs in New York -- but a report in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) cites "little evidence of savings"... Read More