Category: News and Opinion

Now that I know how to post spreadsheets here, why not go nuts?

I attached a spreadsheet on health care finance backing up my assertions on that subject in an earlier post.

I attached a spreadsheet of comparable fiscal 2004 local government finance data to my prior post on who the winners  are in New York tax and spending priorities.

And, for comparison, attached here is more detailed information for FY 2002, for New York City, the Downstate Suburbs, Upstate Metros, the rest ofr New York State, New Jersey, the United States, and Fairfield County.

In addition, for the fun of it, I also attached on spreadhseet on comparative local goverment finance in several parts of California.  I whipped this up to send out to Donna Frye, in lieu of donation, who was running for Mayor of San Diego.  I hope she found it useful, but she lost.  Would that we had a Donna and Skip Frye in New York.

New Yorkers who have been paying attention must wonder what to think about the interests that rule the roost in Albany.  On one hand, you local doctor or hospital might do its best to make you well.  On the other hand, despite getting far more taxpayer money here than elsewhere, the Greater New York Hospital Association and Local 1199 put out commercials threatening to kill our babies if there is any limit on their funding.  On one hand, many NYC schoolteachers use their own money to buy school supplies.  On the other hand, the UFT has as its top goal a retirement at age 55, not a better education for New York City’s children.  Many city residents have friends and relatives in the suburbs or upstate who seem nice enough.  But their representatives in Albany have created a reverse Robin Hood school aid system that may be the least just in the nation, all at the expense of New York City’s children.  The members of the TWU rebuilt the transit system after the 1970s.  But they went on strike to get an early retirement at age 50, the cost of which would re-create the 1970s, without ever thinking about their own situation relative to those who pay their salaries, most of whom have no pension at all.  Your grandma seems nice.  The AARP gets more health benefits for the seniors, without giving a damn about the uninsured, or what will be left (besides debt) for future generations when they get old.  Your state legislator seems like a nice guy; the legislature is evil.

I couldn’t help but notice the top of the following press advisory posted on this site –

Date: July 14, 2006

Contact: Anne Marie Corbalis

Phone: 914-684-AG06

Pirro hits the Campaign Trail by Foot, Bike and Boat

I guess she decided going by car with her husband driving was too risky.

Thursday was the last day to file petitions to run as either a Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Working Family or Independence Party candidate.

Azi Paybarah at the 51^st State site went to the NYC Board of Elections and has listed many of the candidates who filed petitions. http://www.nysun.com/51stState/

Today and for the next few days, I’ll be posting some more detailed lists so we can see who is running against whom.

These lists are subject to change as some candidates will withdraw and may be replaced and others will be removed from the ballot because of challenges to their petitions. This list does not include any races where petitions are filed at the State rather than the NYC Board of Elections.

It is attached.  To understand it, read the prior post with 2005 data.

Note that this much larger file provides local government data for every county in New York State.

That data isn’t exactly comparable with to regional totals.  How do you allocate the LIRR, which counts as "state data" but has been allocated to Downstate New York local government to make it comparable with NYC and the U.S., between Nassau and Suffolk for example.  But it is pretty close.  So you can adjust the formulas in the output tables for data for any set of counties you choose.

Isn’t technology wonderful?  I’ve just finished compiling 2005 local government employment and payroll data from the U.S. Census Bureau, along with some relevant private-sector data, for New York City, the Rest of New York State, the U.S. average, and (well almost done) New Jersey.  And, I’m told by the management that I can actually attach the spreadsheet to this post, available for you to download.  I will attempt to do so, but if that doesn’t work you can still get it by e-mailing me at vampire-state (at) att.net.  I’ll be writing about the implications of the numbers (which are very much like those in 2002, 2000, 1997, etc. etc.) in the coming weeks, but for now I’ll just provide them and explain how they are calculated.

In every Broadway play, you will find the lead actor strutting his stuff, and the understudy standing or sitting quietly aside in some craggy corner; usually observing things. The understudy waits in the wings. He studies the lines, attends every rehearsal and acts as both confidante and shrink for the lead-person/player/actor. Sometimes he steps in at some embarrassing moments; like when the lead has to take a dunk or a piss, for example. Sometimes he runs to get the lead-person coffee or orange juice, or a cigarette, or an umbrella, or the laundry. Sometimes he covers when the lead-person’s “significant other” is tracking; especially when there is hanky-panky going on (which is not abnormal). It’s a role of many faces. It’s a role that takes you many places; some of where you don’t really want to go to.

As I was standing amidst the overflowing garbage on the boardwalk on Coney Island on July 4^th, which the oft-downsized Parks Department can apparently no longer afford to pick up (the trash bins in Prospect Park were not emptied on Monday July 3^rd either), and watching the police recruits, who will be replaced by those with so little ability that they cannot get a job for more than $25,000 per year, I wished more people were aware of the importance of the 2000 pension deal, which in an instant transferred $billions to retired and about to retire public employees from our then-future, now present.  As long as the benefits for the insiders, and cost to the rest, are separated by a few years in time, most people do not notice the connection.  They are vaguely dissatisfied, but they don’t understand why.  The ongoing losses to our quality of life are “inevitable.”  Now, it seems, more “inevitable” losses may be coming.

Since my "Grapevine" column is bi-weekly, I couldn’t hold on to this lil bit of info for 2 more weeks, so I have decided to do an addendum to this week’s column. There is word on the streets that former city-council-woman Tracey Boyland will challenge State Senator Velmanette Montgomery for the 18th Senatorial District in Brooklyn. This will be the first primary challenge to Montgomery in 10 years (Numan Sabree/1996), and it may signal a last gasp attempt by the Boyland clan to hold on to their dwindling dynasty.

It was interesting to see the Amsteradam News give front page status to the fact that Kevin Powell has withdrawn from the 10th Congressional race, a full 8 days AFTER I broke the story here on Room 8. Also late with that news-item were the New York Times, and other mainstream media.  STAY TUNED-IN TO THE BLOGS FOLKS, IT"S HAPPENING.

Now that the slot machines are shut down, the majority of people who don’t read the newspapers may have noticed that New Jersey, the richest state in the country, a state that therefore has a low social service burden and a large tax base, is nonetheless bankrupt.  Some may be wondering how this could have happened.  The answer is that the State of New Jersey has pursued many of the future-destroying policies of the State of New York, but to a greater extent and with a lower tax rate.

The City and State of New York reduced their contributions to their employee pension funds, allowed employees with 10 or more year’s seniority to stop contributing themselves, and drastically increased benefits by adding an inflation adjustment that was retroactive for those already retired.  As a result, required pension contributions have soared, leading to year after year of service reductions and higher taxes.  Moreover, some of the additional contributions New York City will be forced to make have been deferred, leading to even greater contributions in the future.  We’ll start paying for some of the 2000 pension deal in 2010.