President Obama's agreement to extend the "Bush tax cuts for the wealthy" needs to be seen through the lens of contemporary populism. Populism divides the world between a small number of oppressors and a much larger number of the oppressed. The two p Read More
Almost four years ago, Long Island's Republican state senators forced a new Democratic governor to give the region more education dollars than he had proposed in order to get the state budget passed on time. Next year, experts said, a similar powe Read More
Public workers from the federal government to New York’s smallest school districts and towns facing hard times are considering a proposition that was once nearly unthinkable politically: Freezing public salaries. A month after President Barack O Read More
The North Syracuse School District cut 102 positions this year. It packed more kids into fewer classrooms, cut early elementary music classes in half and eliminated all but two freshman sports programs. And, still, it increased property taxes 3.5 Read More
"At some point," said Commisso, 26, who by day works for the state Comptroller's Office, "all public employers are going to have to really think about priorities here. And all these benefits are going to put at risk other services that we've provided Read More
Recent news articles have detailed the severe negative impact of increased employer pension costs on upcoming budgets. ("Pension costs stretch Westchester Med Center budget," Dec. 12 article; "Nanuet schools, teachers at impasse over new Read More
Who does Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano think he's kidding? Mangano is scrambling as a state monitoring board eyes a takeover of his county's finances. The board, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, plans a key meeting tomorrow; if it believ Read More
Westchester County, the New York suburb where household income is 53 percent above the U.S. average, wants to use its top credit rating to sell taxable bonds to finance pension contributions and avoid increasing the highest taxes in the country. T Read More