Category: News and Opinion

Yvette Clarke Picks Up Big Momentum

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In the race for Brooklyn’s 11th Congressional District, Yvette Clarke is picking up momentum ("Big Mo"- as it is called). She has snagged the endorsement of the powerful  Health Workers (1199) Union. She has also snagged the endorsement of another major trade union: 32BJ.

Added to these endorsements, is another from city-councilmember Darlene Meily. Ms. Clarke – the only woman in the race – has been picking up endorsements left and right of late, and seems to be trying to make up for her lacklustre fundraising.

Most pundits seem to think that she is the frontrunner in this race. 

Twenty Years From Now Public Employee Pensions Will Not Be Paid!

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Imagine it’s 20 years from now, the year 2026.   After 43 years in which Social Security payroll taxes had been greater than Social Security payments, with the surplus used to finance the rest of the federal government (but also promised to future retirees), the Social Security system will have begun to run a deficit in 2018.  Taxes will have been substantially increased, and many kinds of federal spending (housing subsidies at the top of the list) slashed to pay Social Security back, but now Congress has no choice but to bite the bullet and drastically slash Social Security benefits for future retirees.  That’s bad for the 50% of private sector workers who have no retirement plan other than Social Security, and bad for the additional 30% who only have a 401K plan – a plan they now realize has nowhere near enough money to pay for decent retirement.   The poverty rate among the elderly, who have been the richest and most privileged of Americans for the past 60 years, begins to soar.

Twenty Years From Now Public Employee Pensions Will Not Be Paid!

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Imagine it’s 20 years from now, the year 2026.   After 43 years in which Social Security payroll taxes had been greater than Social Security payments, with the surplus used to finance the rest of the federal government (but also promised to future retirees), the Social Security system will have begun to run a deficit in 2018.  Taxes will have been substantially increased, and many kinds of federal spending (housing subsidies at the top of the list) slashed to pay Social Security back, but now Congress has no choice but to bite the bullet and drastically slash Social Security benefits for future retirees.  That’s bad for the 50% of private sector workers who have no retirement plan other than Social Security, and bad for the additional 30% who only have a 401K plan – a plan they now realize has nowhere near enough money to pay for decent retirement.   The poverty rate among the elderly, who have been the richest and most privileged of Americans for the past 60 years, begins to soar.

Twenty Years From Now Public Employee Pensions Will Not Be Paid!

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Imagine it’s 20 years from now, the year 2026.   After 43 years in which Social Security payroll taxes had been greater than Social Security payments, with the surplus used to finance the rest of the federal government (but also promised to future retirees), the Social Security system will have begun to run a deficit in 2018.  Taxes will have been substantially increased, and many kinds of federal spending (housing subsidies at the top of the list) slashed to pay Social Security back, but now Congress has no choice but to bite the bullet and drastically slash Social Security benefits for future retirees.  That’s bad for the 50% of private sector workers who have no retirement plan other than Social Security, and bad for the additional 30% who only have a 401K plan – a plan they now realize has nowhere near enough money to pay for decent retirement.   The poverty rate among the elderly, who have been the richest and most privileged of Americans for the past 60 years, begins to soar.

Twenty Years From Now Public Employee Pensions Will Not Be Paid!

|

Imagine it’s 20 years from now, the year 2026.   After 43 years in which Social Security payroll taxes had been greater than Social Security payments, with the surplus used to finance the rest of the federal government (but also promised to future retirees), the Social Security system will have begun to run a deficit in 2018.  Taxes will have been substantially increased, and many kinds of federal spending (housing subsidies at the top of the list) slashed to pay Social Security back, but now Congress has no choice but to bite the bullet and drastically slash Social Security benefits for future retirees.  That’s bad for the 50% of private sector workers who have no retirement plan other than Social Security, and bad for the additional 30% who only have a 401K plan – a plan they now realize has nowhere near enough money to pay for decent retirement.   The poverty rate among the elderly, who have been the richest and most privileged of Americans for the past 60 years, begins to soar.

NY Times Endorsements

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There is a general belief among people active in politics that a candidate who challenges his or her opponent’s petitions forfeits any chance of receiving the New York Times endorsement or at the very least guarantees criticism by The Times of such “undemocratic” tactics.

Many, including me, think that fear is what prevented the Ferrer campaign from challenging the petitions of Christopher Brodeur & Art Piccolo for Mayor even though leaving them on the ballot increased the likelihood of a Primary Run-off.

I don’t agree with this view. I think that the Times Editorial Board considers a number of factors in deciding whom to endorse and whether a candidate takes advantage of the election law is a relatively minor one.

The Michael Moore Democrats

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I have been recently been taken to task for my use of the phrase “the Michael Moore wing of the Democratic Party”. Given the use of the term “Michael Moore Democrats” by Republicans who’d like to tar us all, I think it is important to draw the distinction in my use. My usage is to make clear that while this tendency does exist, and exemplifies a strong and virulent strain of thought on the American left, it should not be used as a broad brush to tar us all. Frankly, the Moore group is smaller than it appears; unfortunately, the problem is twofold; its prominence among the media, which magnifies its importance to observers in the punditocracy and the heartland, and its malignant influence among other liberals who really do not believe in the same mindless kant. One reader said to me “I am damned proud to be a Michael Moore Democrat.”  However, I don’t think he really understands what he is saying.

Medicaid: The Family of Last Resort Dilemma

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Society faces a dilemma.  It does not want to see children and the elderly suffer from the neglect of family members.  When it assumes the role of “family of last resort,” however, it encourages the selfish to shift family burdens onto the community, taxing those who meet such obligations to pay for it.  Concerns about burden shifting by parents led to the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, which cut them off from assistance after five years even at the risk of suffering by the children.  Yet the modest, and now miniscule, cost of welfare is dwarfed by the cost of custodial care for the elderly, and as the population ages that cost is set to explode, with consequences that dwarf those of baby boom retirement and the unfunded cost of Social Security.  This may be the most important financial issue we face as a society.   And for New York, which has more generous services for the elderly than any other state, it is a greater issue still.

Medicaid: The Family of Last Resort Dilemma

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Society faces a dilemma.  It does not want to see children and the elderly suffer from the neglect of family members.  When it assumes the role of “family of last resort,” however, it encourages the selfish to shift family burdens onto the community, taxing those who meet such obligations to pay for it.  Concerns about burden shifting by parents led to the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, which cut them off from assistance after five years even at the risk of suffering by the children.  Yet the modest, and now miniscule, cost of welfare is dwarfed by the cost of custodial care for the elderly, and as the population ages that cost is set to explode, with consequences that dwarf those of baby boom retirement and the unfunded cost of Social Security.  This may be the most important financial issue we face as a society.   And for New York, which has more generous services for the elderly than any other state, it is a greater issue still.

Medicaid: The Family of Last Resort Dilemma

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Society faces a dilemma.  It does not want to see children and the elderly suffer from the neglect of family members.  When it assumes the role of “family of last resort,” however, it encourages the selfish to shift family burdens onto the community, taxing those who meet such obligations to pay for it.  Concerns about burden shifting by parents led to the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, which cut them off from assistance after five years even at the risk of suffering by the children.  Yet the modest, and now miniscule, cost of welfare is dwarfed by the cost of custodial care for the elderly, and as the population ages that cost is set to explode, with consequences that dwarf those of baby boom retirement and the unfunded cost of Social Security.  This may be the most important financial issue we face as a society.   And for New York, which has more generous services for the elderly than any other state, it is a greater issue still.