I have also been posting elsewhere while the old Room Eight has been in a coma. I expect to continue doing so during this temporary resurrection, as the new Room Eight is expected to have its spreadsheet attachment function restored. More recently, I've been posting a series on the extent to which New York City has recovered from the 1970s. The latest installment was posted this morning. You can read it and download the spreadsheet to see the charts here.

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Now that Room 8 seems to be functioning, I'm joining Gatemouth in coming back.

Some of you may remember that in 2007, I postulated a theory of the two electorates – a small group of well informed voters and a massive group that could care less about politics. And I suggested that cable TV & the web were largely responsible for this

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/jerry_skurnik/the_theory_of_the_two_electorates.html

This week's Economist has a story that, whicle focusing on cable news, makes many of the same points.

Here it is –

As you may have noticed, Room 8 is back.

Why is anyone shocked that Dannyboy “Stick the Shiva in Her Back” Squadron is now

Ten year old Dybbuk told me he thinks that there will be a Civil War over gun control. I had to explain to him that the other side had all the weapons.

Chait lays out the sad truth about SOTU:

Wow, this Pope thing may end up being an even bigger story than Lena's Dunham's voting record.

The Return of Spitzer:  Has Gov. Cuomo lost his mojo?  Questions we took on last night on RNN-TV.  Just Click Here. 

Since the financial crisis morphed into the Great Recession in 2008, Americans have been told to pay more for government, accept less, or both. That has been true in New York City as well, with ongoing service cuts in every budget despite a 7.0% property tax increase, a state income tax increase, and a new MTA tax on all workers (but not the retired or investment income). Along with fare increases, toll increases, and other increases. The recession, as officially measured, is long over, and New York City’s private employment is not only higher than it had been before the recession started, but also probably reached a historic high in 2012, finally surpassing the level of 1969. And yet New Yorkers are still being told to accept less and/or pay more to the government. This post and those after are about the reasons why.