The Times has a piece today exploring whether an increase in crime will inevitably follow an economic contraction in New York. The is worth a read, but the best comments are from Ray Kelly, the NYPD's current commissioner, and Bill Bratton, Read More
Ohio sold $240 million worth of long-term municipal bonds yesterday. The bonds carried an annual yield of 5.21 percent, 18 percent higher than last year. Ohio's long-term general-obligation credit is rated two notches above New York State's, which Read More
In an op-ed called "," the Daily News's Errol Louis says that the idea that "federal, state, and local governments all need to cut spending" is a "dangerous myth." Louis quotes economist James Galbraith in saying that state spending cuts, sp Read More
This chart from the state comptroller's newly released answers the question in a nutshell: Read More
New York's deepening fiscal crisis should refocus public attention on the need to reform the city's unsustainably costly package of generous retirement benefits for municipal workers. Read More
Mayor Bloomberg said in 2003 that "if New York City is a business, it isn't Wal-Mart. It isn't trying to be the lowest-priced product in the market. It's a high-end product, maybe even a luxury product." If so, then the don't bode well for consu Read More
Public school finance will be one of the most hotly contested battlegrounds in New York's coming state budget war. From last June's of the Governor's (aka the Suozzi Commission), here is a reminder of one key factor driving up local school costs: Read More
In today's Times on the reaction of municipal labor unions to possible budget-cutting strategies, UFT President Randi Weingarten argues against any reform of generous pension benefits for municipal employees: “Here we have a s Read More
As a postscript to Nicole’s most recent post, which focused on New York City, it should be noted that New York’s state government doesn't immediately face a California-style cash crunch, either. The state stopped issuing short-term notes Read More
California may have to ask the federal government for a $7 billion loan by the end of the month just to pay for basic services like police and firefighting, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last Thursday. New York City readers may have shuddered, as the r Read More
The financial-market implosion and the coming transformation of the securities industry pose a risk to the national economy. But they especially imperil New York State, which for decades has built its budgets on the expectation of raising ever-greater revenues from a Wall Street that now no longer exists. Read More
Just belatedly realized something in crunching the equity- and debt-underwriting numbers: Between 2005 and 2007, American financial institutions produced $5.4 trillion worth of mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities not Read More