Category: News and Opinion

The domestic U.S. auto industry and state and local governments face a crisis. Sales for the former and tax revenues for the latter are collapsing, at the same time each face soaring health care costs for employees and (because of the rich pensions after early careers their employees receive) retirees. General Motors has said that absent assistance it will have to shut down by the end of the year; public services are about to collapse, and state and local taxes are about to soar, particularly in New York. The federal government could prevent the disaster by enacting a universal health care financing system at the federal level, providing a choice of a public program such as a less extravagant version of Medicare and a similar subsidy for the purchase of private insurance. Such a system would lift an enormous weight off both older corporations with many retirees and state and local governments, more than enough to offset the taxes that would be required to fund it, and federal aid in other categories that states and localities could thereafter fund themselves. But there is a political party, and powerful interests backing that party, that stand in the way, because they have such a sweet deal under the existing system. I refer, of course, to the Democratic Party, the auto industry, and public employee, auto industry and health care unions and lobbyists.

Before Barack Obama formally announced his candidacy for the US presidency last year, I did a three part series outlining why I thought he should run (1/25, 2/10 and 7/8/07); it wasn’t received nearly as well as it should have been on these supposedly high-quality NY blogs. And that’s because some of those who troll these sites, can’t see the nose on their faces even if standing directly in front of a mirror. I must admit that I was a bit saddened, perturbed and disappointed, at some of the responses elicited in the comment-sections; go see for yourselves. Thus Barack Obama’s victory last Tuesday is a vindication of sorts for me, since I was subject to some slight racial abuse in more than a few of those comments; especially in my finale, where I made a qualified prediction of this victory, when I said that only an “assassination” could stop him from winning. 

Most people who were paying attention saw this fiscal disaster coming from a long way off. Lots of interests affiliated with the public sector decided they had as much right to exploit the rest of us, in exchange for next to nothing, as the Wall Street Robber Barons, since while the money was rolling in they could pretend those Robber Barons would pay for it all. Now, predictably, the money is rolling out. Yet for the Mayor and Council, representing the private and public overlords respectivley, the problem seems to have arisen over the past 24 hours. Remember that a year from now, before the 2009 election.

While most people who examine exit polls focus on what percentage of each group votes for which candidate, I’m more interested in what the polls tell us who voted not who they voted for.

Here’s some of what can be gleamed from this year’s exit poll in New York State.

54% of the voters were women.

71% were White, 17% Black, 6% Hispanic, 3% Asian.

Broken down by age, under 25 = 12%, 25-29 = 10%, 30-39 = 17%, 40-49 = 22%, 50-64 = 27% and 65+ = 11%.

Annual income breaks this way – under $15,000 = 6%, $15-$30,000 = 10%, $30-$50,000 = 16%, $50-$75,000 = 22%, $75-$100,000 = 13%, $100-$150,000 = 17%, $150-$200,000 = 8% and $200,000 or more = 9%.

Now that the Presidential Election is over, I thought it would be a good idea to recall some things that will soon vanish in the media memory hole.

In no particular order, here are some stories that the pundits and pols thought were really, really important at some time in the last two years. I doubt even Chris Mathews would now claim that these affected many voters at all.

Moveon.org’s ad about General Betrayus

Hispanics refusal to vote for a Black candidate

The growing number of independent voters who want to vote for a Third Party candidate

Barack Obama’s bowling score

August 25, 2008 Newly completed Re publican polls show John McCain running "neck and neck" with Barack Obama in several Democrat-leaning legislative districts on Long Island, in Westchester and upstate, according to surprised GOP operatives. Republicans aren't at a point of predicting that McCain will win heavily Democratic New York, but they say his better-than-expected showing means a higher GOP vote in November, and thus extra help in the crucial battle for control of the state Senate. "McCain is doing much better in several areas than a lot of people expected, and that's obviously good for us," said one of the operatives. "There seems to be a reluctance on the part of a lot of voters to back Obama, and that's benefiting McCain and our legislative candidates as well."  

On October 14^th, I posted a predictive column titled –

Coming Next – No Term Limits At All

At the time, I wrote:

When Mayor Bloomberg and his billionaire buddies announced their decision to extend term limits, they said they were still in support of limits but simply wanted to extend them from two terms to three. In fact, taxpayer subsidized billionaire Mort Zuckerman’s Daily News insists that there is no argument about the concept of term limits.

However, reading what Mike and those he recruited to support term limits extension are now saying, they are making arguments against any term limits.

Sometime in January, we were driving Dybbuk, then just about to turn five, home from his Aunt Feygeleh’s when he blurted out, “What about Obama?”

Nonplussed, Domestic Partner and I reacted exactly as we had when my youngest brother’s daughter informed us she had just had her First Holy Communion—we fell silent, gave each other a quick glance, and simultaneously yelled “Congratulations!”

In this case, after the silence and the quick glance, we simultaneously said, “What about him?”

As I’d reported earlier, Dybbuk had been transformed by Feygeleh, who essentially acts as his third parent, into a raging, Hillary-hating Obamaniac.

Dybbuk had been a wiseass for as long as we could remember. One day during his second year, I found myself covered in regurgitated milk, I asked him whether he’d just spit on me, or if he’d actually thrown up. He answered, “I threw down.” Days later, I stopped him from pulling his mother’s hair and said “that hurts, how’d you like if I did that to you?” I gently gave his hair a yank. He responded by pulling it himself and laughing while repeating, “Daddy, ouch!” His latest forum for mischief was Hebrew school. The teacher had asked the class to improvise a play about the Sabbath, and Dybbuk asked why the topic had to be something Jewish.

Don't vote for any Republicans at the federal level, regardless of your opinions on social and foreign policy issues, on generational equity grounds. And don't vote for any incumbents of either party in the New York State Legislature, on generational equity grounds; because they have favored (former) producers of public services to an unfair degree over consumers of such services (other than the super rich who do not require them); because they have represented the interests of those with special deals, privileges and favors over those without; and because New York State barely be classified as a democracy.  The vote is symbolic, but if you are going down to vote for President anyway, take the opportunity to vote no.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110202309.html