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
As E.J. notes in the post below this one, Gov. Paterson says he thinks Wall Street bonuses could be down as much as 60 percent, higher than his budget office's expected 43 percent decline. To put this estimate in perspective: after the tech bubble Read More
After wavering on the issue in recent weeks, Governor Paterson today seemed to rule out tax increases as part of the solution to the state's growing budget problem -- at least for the next 18 months. "I don't think there should be any taxes at thi Read More
As shown below, the highest-earning 1 percent of taxpayers (those with incomes above $750,000 or so as of 2007) accounted for nearly 40 percent of New York's total state income tax liability last year -- up from around 27 percent in the mid-1990s.  Read More
As shown below, the highest-earning 1 percent of taxpayers (those with incomes above $750,000 or so as of 2007) accounted for nearly 40 percent of New York's total state income tax liability last year -- up from around 27 percent in the mid-1990s.  Read More
New York is twice impacted by the collapsing world of complex finance: first for the obvious reason and second because in recent years, it has structured much of its own $54 billion in debt in a way that makes the city more acutely vulnerable to int Read More
The stock market is in the process of recovering roughly half of yesterday's losses based on investor hope that the financial bailout bill will be revived in Congress. But Nicole's in today's Post argues that the bailout, whenever it's passed, "co Read More
The of 's FDIC-brokered purchase of Wachovia point up some long-term implications for New York's economy. Specifically, in return for shouldering $270 billion in potential losses at Wachovia's property-related assets that would otherwise be Citi Read More
Wendell Cox ponders the question in . The short answer: very far, indeed, especially in markets where building is stringently regulated. Read More
State revenues could drop $3.5 billion over the next fiscal year as a result of the continuing financial crisis, according to a from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. DiNapoli ends his report on what apparently is intended to be an upbeat note: Read More
The Post's Fred Dicker today that Paterson administration budget officials now believe New York State's 2008-09 budget gap will be in the neighborhood of $7 billion, up from a projected $5.5 billion in the wake of the Legislature's August s Read More