Today’s Headlines

It’s money sucked into the past by Generation Greed. They bonded against it, and spent most of it, and used the rest to pay for part of the past pension increases — in the public sector AND the private sector.

Until someone starts saying so, members of that generation are going to keep saying “we shouldn’t have to pay!” and “we demand more for us!” Pretty easy to just be against everything publicly, after three decades of special deals agreed to privately.

Federal, state and local.

Look at Washington. A desperate fight to point the finger in a circle — after passing a tax cut scheduled to expire right when the last members of Generation Greed retire. It’s all the same. The only argument they have a right to have is whether they are guilty of taking too much out, or putting too little in, in the past. With whom benefitting more than who else.

How about “your selfish generation is riding on our backs and destroying our future” to people like Weprin?

To understand the state we’ve been left in, imagine the Chinese, Russians, Arabs were to get sick of Trump and decide to start selling U.S. Treasury bonds. Lifting the interest rate the federal government has to pay to a moderate, 4.5% or so.

Well, with the national debt at 100 percent of GDP, what would happen? They call this a “shutdown.”

And in the face, and the reality that Social Security payments are scheduled to be cut by 30 percent about the time I retire, they just cut taxes.

No joke. There was that scene in the movie “Too Big To Fail” when the Chinese finance minister tells US Treas Sec Hank Paulson that the Russian gov’t had approached the Chinese to coordinate a massive sale of their US Treasuries in the midst of the credit crisis.

When I was a kid, they used to say “we owe it all to ourselves.”

Now you are using the word “most” for 53 percent. As for the Arabs.

https://larrylittlefield.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/americas-debts-this-is-really-really-really-nauseating/

And remember, the on the books national debt is just the start of it.

There’s a secret national debt that only you know about?
Are you willing to share this arcane knowledge?

What is your definition of “most”? Is it something other that a majority? Why was didn’t they teach me this in school?

Re PBA cards: where is de Blasio on this? Isn’t he supposed to be a leader in the war on cops?

it’s corruption. I had a friend who was in another NYPD union – the one for sergeants or perhaps sergeants and other officers – and he was offering these up. He seems to have no concept of how corrupt this was, or didn’t care.

He was a nice guy to me and to every person I ever saw him interact with. But the concept of “professional courtesy” and perks like this is deeply ingrained in police thinking.

In another case related to this blog, he or another NYPD pal of his was explaining a police crackdown on cyclists by pointed out that TA or some other advocacy group had denounced illegal parking by cops. He was saying it like everyone would act in the same way: “See, that’s why we respond – some cyclist are against us, so naturally we push back.” Naturally.

There’s personal debts, business debts, state and local debts.

https://larrylittlefield.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/totalnonfindebt.jpg

And financial debts — which the federal government seems to be on the hook for. Note what happened after 2008.

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And contingent liabilities.

And everything today’s seniors promised themselves but refused to pay for. We have collectively spent 3-6 percent more than we earned every year for more than 30.

With the number of retired officers exceeding the number of active officers, it’s probably 1.2 million each.

The question is, do they get to break the law in NYC only? Because they spend most of their time elsewhere.

The civilian government defers at all times to the ruling military junta.

These turds have no conception of actual public service. They are entirely self-interested.

This is why we need to abolish the existing police department and start from scratch. We also need to have much higher standards for the hiring of police officers (and much higher pay), with educational requirements that demonstrate expertise in community policing.

Several years ago, I overheard a NYC corrections officer complaining that they couldn’t get out of a speeding ticket while driving in Maryland. Probably the exception that proves the rule.

I can imagine Governor Cuomo’s reaction to all of this. He’s probably really ticked off that he ended up holding the bag for what his crowd — heck his whole generation — did for 35 years. Not fair — to him. I’m sure Christie and Malloy feel the same way.

unfunded future liabilities are extremely different from debt, clearly.
And while healthcare cost inflation is a serious problem (one that the Affordable care act was a first step in addressing), cost growth is lower within Medicare than for private insurance. Medicare and Medicaid and expanded government run health insurance are part of the answer for containing costs.
Social Security has a large reserve and is still taking in more than it pays out (and will continue to do so for 5 more years).
Obviously there need to be changed in Social Security to maintain its long term viability. Some suggest further raising the retirement age or cutting benefits, I oppose those ideas. Should black plumbers have to work until they die because white lawyers are living longer? Should poor retires have to eat cat food so that rich retires can get an extra windfall?

I would suggest, drastically raising or eliminating the limit on income subject to FICA or medicare payroll taxes. Also some mean testing might be needed. But calling social security’s projected deficit in 2025 “debt” is rather absurd. If we’re just having a generalized discussion of “generation greed” (and I suspect we are, because when are we not) then, fine

well, I was hope to learn, specifically where the sales tax and mobility payroll taxes went.
they’ve been completely ignored in this discussion.

I’m in favor of congestion less because of where the money will go and more because of some externalities of driving finally being charged appropriately.

its not a given upstate either (especially with state troopers, I’m told). but it helps more than it hurts.

Let’s say CP does happen. What happens when the transit system nonetheless does not expand but rather continues to degrade?

That’s a more realistic problem.

Cuomo isn’t proposing this because he is in favor of rationing street space by price. He is proposing this because disaster is on the horizon, and he isn’t going to make it to the White House until it occurs.

Everyone is setting up to blame Cuomo for congestion pricing. But no one is setting up to propose that anyone else pay anything. As for that $millionaire’s tax, they’ve already done it. Another one?

Wasn’t he also supposed to be hiring a number of traffic agents for a “crackdown” on placard abuse? That fizzled quickly. Maybe that’s why Cuomo stepped in. It’s also another opportunity for Cuomo to stick it to BdB.

then we hit him with cost controls. Suburbs are just now realizing how CP will harm them and they’ll want to know that the funds won’t be wasted. Strong incentive to finally get those oversight hearings.