Not long after I mentioned it in a prior post, that data is out for 2007. New York City accounted for 45 percent of the state's income and 47 percent of its income tax payments in 2007.  Those figures only include the taxes paid by state residents. New York State income taxes paid by commuters from Connecticut and New Jersey are in addition, and most of those are collected in New York City. New York City received 38.3 percent of New York State school aid that year. New York City's share of the state's income and taxes have probably fallen quite a bit since then, particularly since such a large share of the workers in the rest of the state are public employees and retirees. The city fell from 41.6% of state tax payments in 2000 to 39.4% in 2002, during the last Wall Street meltdown. So, based on who got cut the most in previous recessions, will it share of state school aid, if back door school aid and other gambits are included.

The Trauma of War

By Michael Boyajian

When I was younger I used to watch war movies, mostly John Wayne stuff like his cavalry trilogy, his World War II forays and finally the Green Berets.  As kids we all played with our G.I. Joes dressing them up in Marine dress up or a frogman outfit.  All the neighborhood kids would run around the block playing army with toy guns.  How did we know how to play army?  Well, they were broadcasting the Vietnam War on television every evening.

Today’s New York Times reports on the latest candidate who thinks he can beat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

So that's the answer. The generations in charge keep all the deals they have promised themselves but refused to pay for, and to put off the day of reckoning a while longer until they move out of die off, money will be borrowed. Again. With a promise of repayment backed by diminished public services and benefits, and higher taxes, for those still here in the future. Again. That is their legacy, a poisoned legacy in their communities, in their state, in their country, and in many cases in their families. "I want for me now," right to the end. "And I won't face the fact that I am acting to harm anyone else because I won't think of anyone else; just me, just right now." Consequences for others and the future therefore just appear, they rationalize to themselves.

I'll write more about this later, but just let me clear one thing up as a matter of fact.

On Wednesday, March 12, 2008 a meltdown occurred on my hard drive destroying a nearly complete 600 page manuscript documenting my life and times in the world of New York City political blogging. Simultaneously, a meltdown of far less significance to my daily life occurred in Albany, as New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced his resignation from office.

The origins of both these events, each of which I consider to be tragic (but surely regarded by many others with glee), stemmed from similar sources. My hard-drive contracted a virus probably acquired from visits to venues mostly frequented by naked women. The origins of the Governor’s meltdown had a similar pedigree, although my disabling virus was contacted at sites where the admission was free, while the Governor’s problems seemingly stemmed from a misunderstanding of the Albany concept of “pay to play”.

School’s Out Forever

By Michael Boyajian

The pariah of school cuts to arts and music has raised its ugly head once again.  Those who use but one side of their brain have decided that only math and science count when it comes to financing our schools.  By corrupting and taking a hard right off Plato’s conjectured road they say to hell with art, music, philosophy and the humanities in general without giving thought for a minute to the simple modern world facts that those with musical skills excel in science and that without the art and literature of science fiction there would be no landing of a man on the moon.

Don’t ever say that some of the female members of Brooklyn’s city council delegation are soft: they aren’t. There was a raucous public hearing last Wednesday evening at the Brooklyn Museum (near Grand Army Plaza), that was aimed at getting the general view on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed service cuts in the next fiscal year; at this event, NYC council members Darlene Mealy and Tish James -both from Brooklyn- made outstanding oral presentations which captivated the loud crowd of attendees. Throughout the procedures scores of teenagers outnumbered the elderly, in openly expressing their disenchantment with the proposed cuts by the MTA’s board members. Eventually four arrests were made amongst the spirited -but at times rowdy- youngsters; as police officers had to be called in to help maintain order. 

I should really make this title: “OF DREAMS AND DRIVES AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT”, since it highlights the importance of parental involvement in young children’s lives. This column deals with two black female attorneys and their two kids; and in both instances these kids were raised in single-parent households. Too often these types of situations are frowned upon; but I always caution folks not to stereotype: you will be surprised or contradicted quite often.

I know both parents involved here. They are both good friends and are also politically active. They have devoted their lives to developing their kids properly. They have also invested extraordinary amounts of time, effort, energy and money in their children’s overall development. Their combined goal has always been to maximize the potential in these kids. They both need to be commended. Maybe some organization could jointly award them the “Mother of the Year” award at some event, later this year.

A Brilliant Sunrise

By Michael Boyajian

I started out a recent Friday night drinking an O’Doul’s listening to Who’s Next.  Ahh, the other side of fifty.  Where trying to catch a buzz from a non alcoholic beer is like trying to suck water out of a mouthful of pebbles.

The New York State Department of Labor has rebenchmarked the Current Employment Survey data for the last couple of years, using more detailed data that comes in later, and reported annual average statistics for 2009. The data, in an attachment, gives an indication of why New York State is having a budget crisis. From 2008 to 2009, excluding the substantially government-funded Health Care and Social Assistance sector, New York City lost 117,700 private sector jobs (4.4%) while the rest of the state lost 152,700 (4.6%). Even so the Health Care and Social Assistance sector, which claims funds from the city and state budgets via Medicaid and health insurance premiums for public employees, added 10,700 jobs in the City (1.9%) and 14,300 jobs (2.1%) in the rest of the state. Local government employment in New York City inched up by 1,600 (0.3%) from year to year, while local government employment in the rest of the state surged by 9,100 (1.4%). Looking at one year of data, one might conclude that the problem is that we are in recession and yet government spending has carried on much as before. Looking at 20 or 40 years of data, one reaches other conclusions.