Mayor DeBlasio ran on a blank check. He promised universal PreK without any particular plan in mind and without having costed it out. If he were working in the private sector, he would have been fired. Now he is demanding TWICE what he said he needed to fund this program and insisting that the funding come from the 1%. This is because of DeBlasios view is that we are a Tale of Two Cities, where the wealthy are proactively stealing money from the poor. Someone please send this man to an Economics 101 course. Right now he is using his Cuomos re-election year to try to extort a NEW demand of $342,000,000 to fund free universal preK. Thats not Magic Money friends. DeBlasio has Cuomo by the chutzpah and is determined to wring every nickel he can from him. Mayor Redistributionist. Mayor Socialist. The man who has never run a business, much less a profitable business in his life. The man who has been in office 5 minutes and has not had a chance to immerse himself in the REAL problems facing NYS. The guy who assumes that Rich People are to blame to the fact that a Global Tsunami and technological forces have altered the paradigm. The man who wants what he wants NOW or else. Cuomo is going the Full Monty in appeasing the various factions in his budget process. Hes offering a Mitchel Lama like $750,000,000 middle income housing program to build 100K units, hes promoted a plan for public campaign finance (desperately needed), tax relief for low income renters in NYC. But Dems are whining about tax cuts for the lagging Banking industry, among others (these proposals need to be scrutinized but there is no doubt that COMPETITIVENESS is on the table and that the loss of tens of thousands of finance jobs is an issue). Make a list of the Citys top 5 problems facing it in the next four years. Heres mine: 1. Economic Growth 2. Jobs Creation 3. Security and Safety 4. Balanced Budget 5. Revitalizing NYCs Status as the Leading Global City Here are the next 5: 6. Homelessness 7. Poverty 8. Reforming Education (Testing New Models) 9. Broken Infrastructure (bridges, roads, buildings) 10. Sanitation WHERE on this list do you see funding four year olds early education? And why must this long range (agree it is worth pursuing if there is a PROVEN plan, not just a glorified babysitting service) goal be funded from the top 1%? Because DeBlasio despises Rich People. The man is a reverse racist who has no knowledge of how our economy works (very dangerous) and thinks (ala Lippman) that taking funds out of one box and putting it into another will resolve long standing social and economic challenges. Let me paint a picture for the Redistributionists who enjoy residency in our Great City. Imagine that all the Rich People, who have funded Universities, Museums, Film Industry, Hospitals, Parks, etc suddenly get sick of all the harassment and LEAVE New York. Hello Moscow. Hello Pnongyang. One loaf of bread and a cubicle for everyone. Then imagine a New York City like the one Cuomo inherited. $10,000,000,000 underwater. It was Cuomos calm, measured and balanced approach (dont agree with all of it, but credit is due), that led to a complete reversal of that dangerous trend. That happened because no one was watching the kitty closely enough (Patterson was not as bad as people made him out to be, he took swift action in the economic crisis but he should have sized it up sooner). Then imagine Mayor BlankCheck spending his heart out on all his entitlement programs, wiping out all the reforms. He will if he is not stopped or at least talked to. The Rich are not the enemy Mr. Mayor , the Rich are the foundation of the economic engine called Democracy where Free Enterprise drives growth and progress. They also could be part of the solution if you would stop with the bellicose remarks. Now people talk about the fairness of income inequality. They have incorrectly defined the problem. The problem is NOT income inequality. The problem is that we have just endured the worst Recession (still ongoing as far as I know) in history. Recessions are not fair. They disproportionately hurt the weakest. The top 1% did not set out to screw the rest of the country. They had a right to make as much money as their skills, intelligence and talent allowed them to. Now you might argue that Minorities dont have the same access to skills and education. There you are correct. But the answer lies in ENFORCING our existing Laws and getting rid of the weak activist judges who have been subverting EEO laws that PROTECT Minorities. It also lies in Charter Schools that test innovative ways to educate Minorities, like the Harlem School. We need MORE Minority Charter Schools, not less. There are other programs that can address the skills gap that is holding Minorities back. Yes, getting an early start MIGHT help (the studies show mixed long term results), so we do want to test well thought out programs with the prospect of funding once they are proven. The timing is a key issue here. Get an iron clad agreement to test in 2014 and expand in 2015. Governor Cuomo would support this but you cannot keep upping the price tag and adding features. That should have been all costed out at the start. Then we want you to repeat this mantra every morning when you do your Yoga class: A wealthy nation is a healthy nation.* and New York City is the Capitol of the World. The evidence of this is that the US has pulled out of the recession faster than any other nation. That is because of our vast wealth and Free Enterprise economic model. NYC is the model for the rest of the world. A model which invokes volatility and corrections by definition. Buckle your safety belts, its going to be a bumpy ride. (Betty Davis, All About Eve, TCM). Volatility is here to stay. Lets also re-imagine that it is 2008. You are Mayor. The Economy is tanking because of overspending, poor planning, and general lack of fiscal restraint. Do you want to be Mayor during this kind of crisis? Because the Country is about to lose 8 Million jobs. If you are Mayor BB, whom you have mocked as a flop (he made a mistake on Stop n. Frisk, thats why you were elected), you will win back jobs faster then the other Metro areas. But you still lose 175,000 jobs in two years. It could have been MUCH worse. So is it RIGHT that Middle Income workers were hit harder than the Wealthy in this Recession? No. And something must be done. PreK is a great political idea but it clearly wont turn the economy around or generate then needed HIGH SKILLS jobs. It should be lower on your list of priorities. We are NOT saying it should not be pursued. But taxing the rich at this critical time in the Recovery would send more jobs OUT. More seriously, there are now 1 in 5 people who are Poor in this City. Many are homeless. Thats an urgent and serious problem. This entire issue could have been handled privately. But you wanted Class Warfare. You wanted revenge before you even knew the cause. You might just get it. This is still a fragile recovery. To assume otherwise would be very foolish. *copyright 2014
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:14:39 +0000
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