It's either that or stand up to bankers, and we all know how that goes....
"N.Y. mayor-elect will face immediate fiscal crisis" by Jonathan Lemire | Associated Press, December 01, 2013
NEW YORK — Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will sweep into office in January with a powerful mandate for progressive change, but a looming fiscal crisis threatens to derail his agenda before it begins.
Why bother with politics or elections anymore when it is money and corporate ca$h that drive them on all levels?
I guess it all depends on which party you would like to have deliver the lies of illusion and imagery. Which one do you prefer?
De Blasio, a Democrat, faces a multifaceted dilemma years in the making that he will be forced to confront within weeks of taking office. He will contend with soaring worker health care costs, a still-fragile recovery from the recession, and potentially a dramatic reduction in the vital aid supplied to New York by the state and federal governments.
Yeah, blame the lack of aid from somewhere else for all your problems. It's called passing the buck, and if you don't like it take it to the masters in Albany and Washington D.C. and ask them why Israel, the war machine, Wall Street, well-connected corporations, lavish political lifestyles, and bureaucratic partying are all this government pays for. Ask 'em that!
But de Blasio’s most immediate crisis is presented by some of his staunchest allies: the city’s unions. All 300,000 members of the municipal labor force have been working on expired contracts for years, declining to negotiate with outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg in hopes of striking a more favorable deal with de Blasio.
We will see if he is a Progre$$ive or not.
Related: Walsh Leaves Labor Off Inaugural Guest List
I'm so glad Boston got a mayor from the ranks of Labor!
Labor leaders are asking for current and retroactive raises, a balloon payment that could eclipse $7 billion, which is nearly 10 percent of the city’s entire $72.5 billion budget, according to the Independent Budget Office.
‘‘There is no question this is the biggest fiscal problem the incoming mayor faces,’’ said George Sweeting, deputy director of the nonpartisan agency. ‘‘It will impact everything else.’’
If de Blasio were to fully acquiesce to the unions, his scramble to fund the raises would have immediate and dramatic ramifications.
Agency budgets would be slashed, meaning vital services, from trash pickup to police staffing to school supplies, would likely be cut. City workers would be laid off. And de Blasio would have little choice but to raise the one tax he can control, the property tax, which could drive homeowners and businesses from the city.
‘‘To pay for all that, they would have to be sweeping cuts that would really impact the quality of life in the city,’’ said Carol Kellerman, president of the independent Citizens Budget Commission.
And it would all be the fault of greedy city workers.
Negotiations over the new contracts are expected to begin in January. De Blasio has been steadfastly noncommittal about retroactive raises, and his team declined to comment further.
‘‘He’s in both a political and fiscal bind,’’ said Baruch College political science professor Douglas Muzzio, noting that de Blasio faces a choice between alienating his base or throwing the budget out of kilter.
And gue$$ who cares a lot about balanced budgets.
A compromise may be the most likely outcome, according to analysts. Instead of retroactive raises, de Blasio could offer one-time bonuses for employees that would not be factored into their pensions. He could also ask city workers to start contributing to their health care premiums.
But the fiscal challenges de Blasio faces won’t end with the union contracts.
Like most big-city mayors, de Blasio is uncertain on whether he can count on aid from Washington, where another government shutdown or sequestration could turn off the faucet of federal funds.
There is some good news: New York has bounced back from the last recession better than most big cities, city spending has been cut slightly, and tax revenues are on the rise, thanks in part to Bloomberg’s policies and rising profits on Wall Street.
Yeah, they are really going to miss Bloomberg and those policies.
But....
But what, Globe?
Related: The homeless shelter population has surged under Bloomberg’s tenure
And if they bounced back better than most -- like Massachusetts -- and homelessness is surging in both, how can it have gone down?
Are you as tired of a lying government and its shit mouthpiece media as I am, dear readers?
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Btw, the courts ruled against him on stop-and-frisk so you can add another betrayed constituency to the list. He's building them up almost as fast as Obomber did.
Hey, look, Massachusetts betrayed its unions long ago, and if it happened here in the fa$ci$t one-party state of Democratcy, why would New Yorkers be surprised about another betrayal?
