New York State and City continue to put faux pressure on municipal unions to win cost-savings concessions on pensions and healthcare costs for state and city taxpayers. Coincidentally, bond-raters at Moody's have just come out with a report that says Read More
The often opaque world of school finances has become more transparent with a new tool that allows New Yorkers to analyze how their school districts spend money and to compare them to nearly 700 other districts around the state. Read More
Small towns are losing millions of dollars on derivatives bets just when they can least afford to lose money. Why are we surprised? Read More
New York State residents pay some of the highest local taxes in the nation. Until now, however, New Yorkers have had no easy way to compare basic fiscal measures for the local governments that account for a large share of the taxes they pay. Read More
Gov. Paterson came into office with a different attitude. David Paterson took office as governor of New York on March 17, 2008 -- the day Bear Stearns collapsed. He spent the following nine months warning of worse things to come. Read More
With enactment of the 2009-10 New York State budget, "New York will leapfrog New Jersey to claim the mantle of America's worst tax code for business." Read More
The Journal that the Chicago airport privatization, announced late last year, may falter. The deal, under which Citigroup (yes, that Citigroup) and John Hancock are supposed to pay more than $2.5 billion upfront to lease Chicago's Midway Read More
How big is the spending increase in the newly adopted New York State budget? How does it compare to previous spending trends? One of the many glaring shortcomings of the state budget process is that it is not possible to answer such questions w Read More