New York City's economy contracted 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter from the same period a year earlier, after a 2.7 percent contraction in the third quarter, according to the . The most recent figure is the worst in the nearly two decades since th Read More
The House passed the $819 billion stimulus last night. The final version contains some amendments that affect the (tiny) infrastructure-investment part of the bill. Two amendments are good, though not good enough to outweigh the fact that only fiv Read More
In the waning days of the asset and credit mania, Macquarie and Cintra paid the state of Indiana $3.85 billion upfront for the right to run the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years and collect all of the toll revenues. The concession company that Macqu 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
THE House of Representatives this week is expected to pass a federal stimulus package that could pump at least $17 billion of noncapital funding directly into New York's state and local government coffers over the next two years. Read More
People worried about the state of America's infrastructure haven't received the House stimulus bill very warmly. After political promises of bold, smart investments in physical assets, a $40 billion allocation for transportation and transit in an $8 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
State and local governments face a total deficit of about $131 billion for 2009 and $181 billion for 2010, the Government Accountability Office . Honestly, this estimate seems low. But, low or not, it may be as good as it gets. The GAO notes that Read More
Now that they control both houses of the New York State Legislature, Democrats in Albany are reportedly preparing to raise the state income tax on high-income New Yorkers to help plug a $15 billion budget gap. Read More
NYU prof Thomas Philippon and U-VA Prof Ariell Reshef have written a tracing the trajectory of wages in the American financial sector over the last century. Not surprisingly, financial-industry wages broke away from the rest of the economy starting i Read More
The best fiscal news for New York in ages is that three and a half years ago, the city lost its bid to host the 2012 Olympics. This week, the UK, which won the bid, , because the private partners couldn't find financing for the "Olympic Village" a Read More
For New York, it's not paying (anymore) to be home to the smartest guys in the room. Since its credit-bubble peak, the securities industry has cut 3.1 percent of its jobs nationwide, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Assoc Read More