Mayor Bloomberg announced his budget this afternoon for the fiscal year that starts in July. The mayor expects that a combination of federal stimulus, state funds, tax hikes, spending cuts, and labor givebacks will close a $4 billion budget gap tha Read More
In a passage reflecting House Democratic spin on the supposed economic benefits of the stimulus package, today's Washington Post that the bill includes aid "that many economists agree will enter the economic bloodstream quickly and trim further layo Read More
House Democrats in Washington, D.C., claim their will require for how the added money is spent. In reality, they’re pushing an unprecedented intrusion by the federal government into state and local decision-making on how to reallocate scarce re Read More
Today's New York Times "a growing sense" in Albany that the Democrats who now control state government will seek to raise state income taxes on "the wealthiest New Yorkers" to help close a $15 billion budget gap. The Times articl Read More
Congratulations to President Obama! One of the new president's first tasks will be figuring out how to get Congress to fix the stimulus bill that the House proposed last week. In its current form, the bill won't do much for road and rail infras Read More
Data point #1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority executive director Elliot Sander and the authority's board members attracted more than 600 people to their marathon six-and-a-half-hour fare-hike and service-cut hearing in Manh Read More
Over at NY Public Payroll Watch, E.J. McMahon Gov. Paterson and others for allowing the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority to abdicate one of its main responsibilities -- negotiating a better contract with the New York City local Tr Read More
Gov. Paterson has released the state budget on a history-making day. For the first time ever, the Federal Reserve has cut the interest rate at which it lends to banks to as (and as high as a quarter of a percentage point). This action puts Paterson's Read More