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
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
Following up on a campaign promise, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is saying he will freeze the salaries of state government workers for a year. Is this a big deal? No. I explain why in this post at the Manhattan Institute's new website, www.PublicSectorInc.org. Read More
Notwithstanding media coverage predicting New York's "latest budget ever," it's worth noting that all of the state's 2010-11 budget appropriations already have been adopted. What's left hanging is a revenue bill encompassing $828 million in additional... Read More
Goldman Sachs reported lackluster profits this morning, bringing some bad tidings to New York's pols. Even after taking into account Britain's one-off bonus payroll tax and the company's $550 million SEC fine, profits fell by 44 percent from the same... Read More
Most news coverage of yesterday's budget vote reflected the approach of today's New York Times headline: "Albany Lawmakers Pass Big Cuts in Health Care." In fact, net of those cuts, the state-funded share of Medicaid spending will increase this year... Read More
Would the "comprehensive reforms" unveiled today by the state Senate's Majority Democrats "fix the state’s broken budget process and give New Yorkers a fiscally responsible budget," as they claim? Of course not. There are, however, some good ideas... Read More
New York State entities continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel to scare up a few dollars. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will issue $475 million in short-term notes this week. The MTA pledges to repay the debt as soon as it get Read More