Room Eight blogs New York Politics http://www.r8ny.com/blog/atom/feed 2013-05-08T19:15:33-04:00 Stop and Frisk Trial is Over http://www.r8ny.com/blog/dominic_carter/stop_and_frisk_trial_is_over.html 2013-05-21T01:23:10-04:00 2013-05-21T01:24:47-04:00 Dominic Carter Here is my report from the Federal Courthouse wrapping up closing arguments where Judge Shira Scheindlin was quite critical of the City/NYPD.  





]]> Here is my report from the Federal Courthouse wrapping up closing arguments where Judge Shira Scheindlin was quite critical of the City/NYPD.  




]]> Census Bureau Public Employee Pension Data for 2011 http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/census_bureau_public_employee_pension_data_for_2011.html 2013-05-19T19:55:59-04:00 2013-05-20T19:51:00-04:00 Larry Littlefield The City Actuary has said that New York City is contributing $1 billion less per year to these pension funds than is needed by his own calculation, which will have to be made up later many times over. This is the City Actuary has been in office, and seems to have felt there was no problem, for the 20-plus years when one retroactive pension increase after another has passed, the city’s pension costs have soared, and taxes have been increased and services cut to pay for it. And it has already been announced that the city will have to contribute an extra half $billion a year from now, because the rate of return was below expectations a couple of years ago. But if one looks at the actual rate of return the city is likely to achieve, and how underfunded the pensions have become under the watch of City Actuary Robert North, two Comptrollers who are running for Mayor, and a former budget director who is running for Mayor, I would say that taxpayers ought to paying into the pension funds 100.0% of benefit payments out, to prevent a death spiral that would bankrupt the city. The actual figure in 2011 was 78.9%. The spreadsheet and additional commentary may be found on “Saying the Unsaid in New York.”

]]> The City Actuary has said that New York City is contributing $1 billion less per year to these pension funds than is needed by his own calculation, which will have to be made up later many times over. This is the City Actuary has been in office, and seems to have felt there was no problem, for the 20-plus years when one retroactive pension increase after another has passed, the city’s pension costs have soared, and taxes have been increased and services cut to pay for it. And it has already been announced that the city will have to contribute an extra half $billion a year from now, because the rate of return was below expectations a couple of years ago. But if one looks at the actual rate of return the city is likely to achieve, and how underfunded the pensions have become under the watch of City Actuary Robert North, two Comptrollers who are running for Mayor, and a former budget director who is running for Mayor, I would say that taxpayers ought to paying into the pension funds 100.0% of benefit payments out, to prevent a death spiral that would bankrupt the city. The actual figure in 2011 was 78.9%. The spreadsheet and additional commentary may be found on “Saying the Unsaid in New York.”


]]> Infernal Revenooers http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/infernal_revenooers.html 2013-05-17T11:38:37-04:00 2013-05-17T11:39:11-04:00 Gatemouth

Dateline: Hyde Park, NY 

You gotta hand it to Dubya’s eye for talent.

 



]]>

Dateline: Hyde Park, NY 

You gotta hand it to Dubya’s eye for talent.

 

Doug Shulman, the Bush holdover serving as IRS commissioner during its targeting of teabagger “charities” has done for conservatives what Michael Brown did for N'awlins.

 

Notwithstanding a complete lack of any credible scenario for administration interference in the internal affairs of the IRS--then headed by Shulman, some of my conservatives friends still ask "how the IRS could have specifically targeted tea-baggers without pressure from above?"

I dunno; how could a bureaucracy whose entire purpose is to maximize revenue collection determine on its own that it was going to target people who were violently opposed to taxation?

 

Guys, if you wanna understand this scandal, rent a DVD of “Yes Minister."

 

Continue reading on Room Gate.


]]> New York Explained http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/new_york_explained.html 2013-05-16T19:56:59-04:00 2013-05-16T19:56:59-04:00 Larry Littlefield Since quite a few of the state legislators recently exposed have been Black, one Black state legislator had this to say. “Why are we allowing folk who’ve been in power longer–who are perhaps smarter and slicker, who are are more dangerous under those conditions and perhaps robbing far more–we leave them alone and we target these over here?”

http://politicker.com/2013/05/state-senator-speculates-and-debates-attack-on-black-leaders-corruption-or-conspiracy/

That sort of says it all, doesn't it?

]]>

 Since quite a few of the state legislators recently exposed have been Black, one Black state legislator had this to say. “Why are we allowing folk who’ve been in power longer–who are perhaps smarter and slicker, who are are more dangerous under those conditions and perhaps robbing far more–we leave them alone and we target these over here?”

http://politicker.com/2013/05/state-senator-speculates-and-debates-attack-on-black-leaders-corruption-or-conspiracy/

That sort of says it all, doesn't it?


]]> Quiet and Methodical: The Bill Thompson Campaign for NYC Mayor http://www.r8ny.com/blog/dominic_carter/quiet_and_methodical_the_bill_thompson_campaign_for_nyc_mayo.html 2013-05-14T22:50:13-04:00 2013-05-14T22:50:42-04:00 Dominic Carter

 

For weeks here in the New York City area folks have asked me, what is Bill Thompson doing?



]]>

 

For weeks here in the New York City area folks have asked me, what is Bill Thompson doing?

Is he a candidate for NYC mayor?

Does he really want this or is he just going through the motions?

Where is Thompson's passion?

Well, if Thompson's personality was not so low-key, he might respond with the slogan line of that Kia Sorrento TV commerical: "How you like me now."

Yes, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn remains the far favorite in the race based on polling, but as the front-runner she has a big bulls-eye on her back, and her numbers are slowly headed south. Quinn has to worry about peaking too early. Yet Thompson, like the steady beat of a drum, is building momentum, with an impressive display of endorsements.

There is the complete X factor of what happens, should former Congressman Anthony Weiner enter the race? Weiner, if he can get past the tabloids, has a real shot of connecting with voters. The guy does well in debates, and his one-liners of protecting the middle-class will resonate with voters.

But for now, even the Weiner factor benefits Thompson because Weiner, Quinn, and Public Advocate Bill Deblasio are fighting for the same base.

The point is, Thompson, known as a moderate, is starting to look like a candidate most of the city could rally around.

At first, Thompson's support of the controversial stop and frisk police policy seemed to come out of left field, but now an umbrella group of law enforcement unions is on the verge of endorsingThompson. For the record, Thompson wants to modify "stop and frisk." He comes into the race with the strong support of the African American community, but if he gets the law enforcement endorsement, it will go a long way towards establishing Thompson as a possible law and order mayor as well.

Thompson also has the backing of the city's Top Latino elected official, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. That will go a long way towards pulling together the same Black/Latino coalition that elected the city's first black mayor David Dinkins.

Then you add the endorsement of former Lt. Gov Richard Ravitch, and that sends a strong message to the business community.

So Thompson may know something that the rest of us don't: this primary battle is a long one, and that a candidate wants to peak at the right time. Even America's Mayor, Republican Rudy Giuliani has said if his former deputy mayor Joe Lhota wasn't in the race, he would probably cross party lines and endorse Thompson. Some of Giuliani's guys are even raising money for Thompson.

Some pundits and political observers may argue the days of endorsements carrying real meaning are over.

Then Thompson might remind the same crowd that he was supposed to be nothing more than just the sacrificial lamb to Billionaire Mike Bloomberg four years ago, and even without the help of the top Democrat in the White House that basically abandoned Thompson -- flirting with Bloomberg, Thompson barely lost that race by just four percentage points.

During community forums, the other Democrats are engaging in a circular firing squad, while Thompson is staying above the fray. Stated plainly, it looks like Thompson is running a marathon, while the others are engaging in a sprint. To those that do not believe Thompson has the passion to be mayor, I say look at his debate performance against Mayor Bloomberg when I moderated it for NY1. Thompson is running a quiet and methodical race to be elected mayor. If may just work.

Boy, this primary is going to be fun.


]]> Andrea Peyser Does The Impossible (She Insults The Intelligence Of The Post's Readers) http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/andrea_peyser_does_the_impossible_she_insults_the_intelligence_of_the_posts_readers.html 2013-05-13T22:26:40-04:00 2013-05-13T22:26:40-04:00 Gatemouth

After reading Andrea Peyser’s latest falafel-bash disguised as a screed against “political correctness,” I was tempted to joke that she may be the most successful developmentally disabled person in the State of New York.



]]>

After reading Andrea Peyser’s latest falafel-bash disguised as a screed against “political correctness,” I was tempted to joke that she may be the most successful developmentally disabled person in the State of New York.

But that would be unfair to the retarded.

Peyser went ballistic over the “politically correct” idea that our public schools might close on two Islamic holy days.

 Continue reading on Room Gate.


]]> The Gateway (Zappa & Slick Edition) http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_gateway_zappa_slick_edition.html 2013-05-12T08:35:43-04:00 2013-05-12T08:35:43-04:00 Gatemouth

Some weeks make me think of the Beatles; others the Clash. This week, it’s The Mothers of Invention:



]]>

Some weeks make me think of the Beatles; others the Clash. This week, it’s The Mothers of Invention:

What will you do if the people you knew
Were the plastic that melted,
And the chromium too?

One of the points of going on partial hiatus was to spend a summer without getting into any fights with people I was likely to run into, which, in the case of this Department, now means avoiding writing about the only thing everyone is talking about right now, bringing to mind the title of the album by Grace Slick’s first band, The Great Society:

“Conspicuous Only in its Absence.”

In my rare speaking appearances, when asked about the point of my writing, I generally cop only to the intent of writing a humor column. And at this point, that’s pretty much all that’s left right now, collecting various pieces of flotsam mostly for purposes of memorialization.   

 

Continue Reading on Room Gate.


]]> Could New York State Reform Health Care? http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/could_new_york_state_reform_health_care.html 2013-05-11T15:01:06-04:00 2013-05-11T15:01:06-04:00 Larry Littlefield this post). I would say that legislation makes reform possible, but it is not reform in itself. As I noted at the time, U.S. healthcare is mostly government financed, directly or indirectly, but with complicated flows of public money under a wide variety of deals, the distribution that money is horribly inequitable. The tie between government health insurance subsidies, via a tax break, and a particular place of employment is bad for workers, entrepreneurs, and the economy. The U.S. healthcare system is extremely expensive, and delivers poor value. From the point of view of consumer protection, it engages in abuses that would not be tolerated in any other industry. 

While Obamacare will reduce some of the inequities, it left the most of the complex and inequitable U.S. healthcare finance system in place, and punted much of the responsibility for further progress to the states. Which is not a good thing if you have a corrupt and poorly run state. The only reason New York will have a state health insurance exchange, as mandated by the Obamacare legislation, is that Governor Cuomo somehow was able to get around our parasitic legislature and create one by fiat. Yet there are many abuses that a state could get rid of, if it were not controlled by a legislature whose MO was to allow abuses in exchange for campaign contributions. In a major development, the federal government shined a light on one just last week. I’ll talk about it, and how a more “progressive” (the early 1900s version, not the self-interest group politics of so-called NY “progressives” today) state might respond, on Saying the Unsaid In New York.

]]>

 this post). I would say that legislation makes reform possible, but it is not reform in itself. As I noted at the time, U.S. healthcare is mostly government financed, directly or indirectly, but with complicated flows of public money under a wide variety of deals, the distribution that money is horribly inequitable. The tie between government health insurance subsidies, via a tax break, and a particular place of employment is bad for workers, entrepreneurs, and the economy. The U.S. healthcare system is extremely expensive, and delivers poor value. From the point of view of consumer protection, it engages in abuses that would not be tolerated in any other industry. 

While Obamacare will reduce some of the inequities, it left the most of the complex and inequitable U.S. healthcare finance system in place, and punted much of the responsibility for further progress to the states. Which is not a good thing if you have a corrupt and poorly run state. The only reason New York will have a state health insurance exchange, as mandated by the Obamacare legislation, is that Governor Cuomo somehow was able to get around our parasitic legislature and create one by fiat. Yet there are many abuses that a state could get rid of, if it were not controlled by a legislature whose MO was to allow abuses in exchange for campaign contributions. In a major development, the federal government shined a light on one just last week. I’ll talk about it, and how a more “progressive” (the early 1900s version, not the self-interest group politics of so-called NY “progressives” today) state might respond, on Saying the Unsaid In New York.


]]> What's in a Name? Debate Over "Redskins" as Team Name http://www.r8ny.com/blog/dominic_carter/whats_in_a_name_debate_over_redskins_as_team_name.html 2013-05-10T20:41:13-04:00 2013-05-10T20:41:13-04:00 Dominic Carter

I say if a team name offends Native Americans, change the name of name of the team. What do you think?



]]>

I say if a team name offends Native Americans, change the name of name of the team. What do you think?

The owner of the Washington Redskins says the team will NEVER change the name.

Here's how we discussed it on RNN-TV Friday night.


]]> Hunt’s Point: Time for the Serfs To Pay Up Again? http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/hunt_s_point_time_for_the_serfs_to_pay_up_again.html 2013-05-08T19:15:33-04:00 2013-05-08T19:15:33-04:00 Larry Littlefield Crain’s New York Business reports that negotiations between the City of New York and the existing food wholesalers at Hunts Point are at an impasse. The existing wholesalers, on public land they receive for nothing, want new, modernized buildings for their operations. There was supposedly a deal for the city, state and federal governments to pay half for their new buildings, but now that deal has supposedly fallen through. “With tensions high, the market could rekindle talks with New Jersey, which had been wooing the vendors with tax breaks and other incentives—though, according to Mr. D'Arrigo, the co-op has not talked to Garden State officials in two years. Complicating the negotiations is the fact that last month the produce vendors sued the city, naming as a defendant the Business Integrity Commission, a law-enforcement agency that regulates public food markets and haulers and carters, among other industries.”

I guess members of the general public have no leverage here. We’ll just have to pay more in taxes, and accept less in public services, to give them whatever subsidies they want, and then pay up because any competing food wholesalers seeking to enter the market would not benefit from those subsidies. Mayor Bloomberg would probably give away the store to seal a deal his successor would have to pay for, but the successor would be under even more pressure to show that he or she is not “against the middle class” by losing blue collar jobs. So those not in on any of these deals, I suppose, will have to accept being worse and worse off. Just as when the rich who sit on each other’s corporate boards enrich each other’s pay packages, then demanded a federal bailout when their house of cards collapses. Just as when the federal government had no choice but to run up the debt to prevent that collapse, but now those debts will force those age 55 and younger to lose federal old age benefits. Just as when the politicians and public employee unions cut deals to enrich their pensions, and then demand even more in taxes or service cuts to pay for it. Just as the Yankees demanded their empty parking garage or they would move to New Jersey, and rich threaten to leave town when taxes rise. They’ve got us. They’ve got our children. If you aren’t in the room, you are the victim, and we aren’t in the room. Does it have to be so? I’ll discuss further on “Saying the Unsaid in New York.”

]]>

 Crain’s New York Business reports that negotiations between the City of New York and the existing food wholesalers at Hunts Point are at an impasse. The existing wholesalers, on public land they receive for nothing, want new, modernized buildings for their operations. There was supposedly a deal for the city, state and federal governments to pay half for their new buildings, but now that deal has supposedly fallen through. “With tensions high, the market could rekindle talks with New Jersey, which had been wooing the vendors with tax breaks and other incentives—though, according to Mr. D'Arrigo, the co-op has not talked to Garden State officials in two years. Complicating the negotiations is the fact that last month the produce vendors sued the city, naming as a defendant the Business Integrity Commission, a law-enforcement agency that regulates public food markets and haulers and carters, among other industries.”

I guess members of the general public have no leverage here. We’ll just have to pay more in taxes, and accept less in public services, to give them whatever subsidies they want, and then pay up because any competing food wholesalers seeking to enter the market would not benefit from those subsidies. Mayor Bloomberg would probably give away the store to seal a deal his successor would have to pay for, but the successor would be under even more pressure to show that he or she is not “against the middle class” by losing blue collar jobs. So those not in on any of these deals, I suppose, will have to accept being worse and worse off. Just as when the rich who sit on each other’s corporate boards enrich each other’s pay packages, then demanded a federal bailout when their house of cards collapses. Just as when the federal government had no choice but to run up the debt to prevent that collapse, but now those debts will force those age 55 and younger to lose federal old age benefits. Just as when the politicians and public employee unions cut deals to enrich their pensions, and then demand even more in taxes or service cuts to pay for it. Just as the Yankees demanded their empty parking garage or they would move to New Jersey, and rich threaten to leave town when taxes rise. They’ve got us. They’ve got our children. If you aren’t in the room, you are the victim, and we aren’t in the room. Does it have to be so? I’ll discuss further on “Saying the Unsaid in New York.”


]]>