Extension of Remarks: State is in crisis mode

The Buffalo News editorial page tomorrow [you saw it here first!] will make it clear that the state budget crunch is the only issue that now matters in New York state politics: No office holders or office seekers should be taken seriously unless they can explain, in some detail, realistic actions that they would favor to bring state spending into balance with state revenues.

Elsewhere:
* The New York Times suggests some ways to attack the budget problem, including sweeping out all the money hidden away in individual slush funds the governor and individual legislators use to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars to pet programs.
* An analysis from NYT Albany reporter Danny Hakim notes that Gov. David Paterson [left] is learning from the last state budget mess, in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
* The Times Union of Albany opposes the governor's suggestion to sell off state assets, such as bridges or the lottery, and favors a tax increase on the wealthiest New Yorkers, who it says are now undertaxed compared to their less affluent neighbors.
* Newsday credits Paterson for rising to a serious occasion: Gov. David Paterson was sworn in in March, but Tuesday evening he truly became the governor of New York. With his live, televised address about the poor state of the state's finances - and subsequent talk to state agencies Wednesday - Paterson demonstrated leadership and originality in trying to head off a bigger crisis. Whether New York's band of the self-interested will follow remains to be seen.
* The Daily News blasts Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, giving him their "Silver fiddle award," for being the one to urge that the state do, basically, nothing to deal with the budget shortfall.
* The Poughkeepsie Journal says: Without question, all state lawmakers, including Paterson, should have seen this coming.
* New York's Gannett papers, meanwhile, report that, despite his calls for frugality, Paterson has greatly increased the size and cost of The Executive Chamber.

--George Pyle/Editorial Writer
 

Comments

[Al]

The Buffalo News Editorial focuses the spotlight exactly where it needs to be, on the state office holders and seekers. With the demand for them to be explicit on their stands and intentions. These slithery creatures, like night dwellers, will do everything to evade the News Call to Duty. But make no mistake, we know about the Cataracts. These rapids are just the start of a flow of events that could take New York State finances over a cliff. There are no lifeguards or rescuers on this journey. Get the ship of state to the shore, now, in one of the eddies, or the turbulence ahead from a permanently altered global credit market will make this the River of No Return.

[Neil]

The News' opinion on this issue calls for a level of political candor and/or courage seldom if ever seen from our State representatives, indeed it may not exist at all.

[Hank]

NY State AG Andrew Cuomo is suing Citigroup for billions, alleging fraud. Along with Massachusetts and Connecticut, for now, the state governments are to bite the hand that fed them.
Fed them what, you ask? US Banker Morning Scan reports that one Frances Constable, a managing director in charge of Merrill Lynch's auction-rate securities desk sent an email that said on Nov 26: "The gloves are off and we are not concerned about issuer preception of (Merrill Lynch's) abilities and the competition. Gotta move these microwave ovens!!"
This is about sales executives pressuring analysts at the brokerage firm.
The actual "lien" to make up for the state's losses is on the taxpayers. Start with those facts on all elected representatives.

[Barton Keyes]

There is not much doubt that the deficit facing Albany is increasing by hundreds of millions of dollars. But there is a second reality that many pols in Albany would rather concentrate on: their re-election.
And as too many pols see it, re-election calls for down playing the severity of the budgetary problem. To make the admission that there is a severe budget crisis would mean they would need to face the problem BEFORE the election. And that could mean reducing what so many are selling to get re-elected: bennies to constituents.
It would mean cutting that $5,000 to the local boys and girls club, or that $100,000 to create a memorial park in memory of a local hero.
Albany veterans would rather believe they can deal with the problem AFTER the election as they have usually done. And they can do it with the usual bag of budgetary tricks: over estimate future revenue and savings from economizing measures while selling assets or deferring budget losses into future years.

[Al]

What Barton described is the formula for failure. For the News to use the word 'crisis' is the same as saying failure. Optimists will say the glass is half full, pessimists will say it is half empty. Either way, I know what it is full of. Don't drink it. The County Comptroller is happy that Canadians are buying here, and the sales tax they are paying is filling our coffers. But the state's Bucket Has A Hole In It. It will drain coffers faster than they can be filled. So this is a 'crisis' that will not be solved. It will become a catastrophe.

[wallynuts]

The people who paid dearly (always at the very top of the tax brackets) for what they had, will be the ones suffering the losses of mismanagement. AND,...their taxes will NOT go down with those losses they will suffer.

The mismanagers will get raises, health bennies for life, retirements fit for a full-time king, paid days off of a part timer would never ever see, and their cell phones and cars to take home, all at our expense.

The "thrill a minute" pork ride, that's existed for decades, must be shut down.