After months of waiting for a federal coronavirus stimulus bailout that never materialized, Gov. Cuomo has staked the future stability of New York’s public finances on the outcome of this year’s election. Read More
Research
For the first time since taking office 10 years ago, Governor Cuomo has met the statutory deadline for producing a Mid-Year Financial Plan Update. As in most previous years, however, the report actually "updates" very little, raising as many questions as it answers. Read More
New York State's unemployment rate has fallen sharply since the economically devastating pandemic lockdown last spring. But as state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli points out in his latest economic report, the jobless rate doesn't tell the whole story. Read More
New York state legislators may get a raise on January 1, 2021—but the people who elect them may not get to find out before voting ends next week. Read More
Families and businesses are watching their bottom lines and stretching each dollar. But House Democrats are pushing a plan to prevent America’s schools from doing the same thing. Read More
The legal fight over coronavirus data from New York nursing homes is putting a spotlight on weaknesses in the state's Freedom of Information Law. Read More
A growing disconnect between two coronavirus benchmarks – the positivity rate and the infection rate – is stirring confusion about New York's pandemic outlook. Read More
New York's exceptionally wealthy state tax base is also exceptionally fragile, due to its heavy dependence on the highly volatile (and portable) investment-driven incomes of Wall Street workers and fund managers. Read More
In the seventh month of the coronavirus pandemic, private-sector employment in New York was still recovering more slowly than in other states from the after-effects of the broad spring shutdowns of normal business and social life, according to federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Read More
The indictment of New York’s top construction-union official on federal corruption charges this month raises a big question: If businesses are paying bribes to avoid having to work with certain construction unions, why does Gov. Cuomo insist the state keep doing it? Read More
Continuing a trend from mid-summer, New York's private jobs recovery slowed a little more in September—but state tax receipts came in a bit stronger than expected, according to two monthly reports released by the state late today. Read More
Late Thursday, as hailed in this space, Mayor de Blasio finally made a decisive move—or at least seemed to make a move—in the direction of actually saving some money on labor costs by getting tough with a powerful (and powerfully self-entitled) municipal union. Read More