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**valentinesdayyy** · 12-19-2009, 07:13 PM

These are all good thoughts to exchange!

This new member (rscholar) has sure got the conversation going: I like that. He may bit a sharp tounged and rude sometime; but overall civil and very smart. Not to mention an uncanny sense of timing.

Link to article -- "A New York state of mind? Try sad."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...#ixzz0a9NXiyne
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...le+Feedfetcher

Infoshare, I appreciate the sentiment. If you can clean up the board, and get the nonsense off topic stuff dealt with, I will bring over ALOT of people from other poli forum discussion boards that would increase traffic here substantially.

Anywhoo, lofter, what difference does it make if the group is leftwing or rightwing - it is their reporting that counts, and they included leftist editorial newspapers like the Daily News on their site, which tells you their message has teeth.

As for the other poster, yes NY state's overall pop is increasing - BUT, as the report stated, the people coming in are either illegals or those making 15-20% LESS than those leaving.

What that means is the tax base will shrink even further, putting NY State in a worse position than it already is. It cannot even pay its bills now; do you think that a state with obscene regulation levels and the nation's highest tax rate (12.62% in NYC) are going to improve the economy?

These are crucial issues that need addressing, and not just here, but elsewhere too. Otherwise, we are going to end up like a larger version of Detroit:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...636077732.html

"Yet Mr. Bing is a realist, something Detroit hasn't had at the helm for a long time. "We've been paralyzed by a culture in the city of Detroit, and maybe the state of Michigan, of entitlement," by which he means ever-rising union wages. "Our people, I don't believe, truly understand how dire the situation is. There are ugly decisions that need to be made and I'm surely not going to be popular for making them. But I didn't take this job based on popularity."

One group that surely isn't a fan is the public employee unions. He grumbles that there are 17 unions with over 50 separate bargaining units. "I can give you a data sheet that will show you we've got several of those bargaining units with less than 100 people, and each one of them has a president that's paid by the city to negotiate against the city," he says. "Coming from the private sector, I find that insane."

Mr. Bing's gladiator-like brawls with the union bosses have drawn national attention. Earlier this year, he forced nonunionized city workers to take a 10% pay cut and unpaid furloughs. Now he's demanding the same pay concession from the unions. At one point the union got so fed up with Mr. Bing's refusal to buckle to their demands that they asked the courts to toss him in jail for violating their contracts. That didn't happen, but the unions did win a court challenge when the mayor refused to collect union dues out of city paychecks.

"Today in the city of Detroit," he tells me, "our union employee benefits cost 68% of what their base wage is. I don't think that happens in any other place in the country." To give a sense of how excessive those pay packages are, he adds: "When you look at one of the most dominant labor unions in the world, the UAW, they're nowhere close to what we give our city workers.""

12-19-2009, 07:13 PM	#16
valentinesdayyy Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 392 Senior Member	These are all good thoughts to exchange! This new member (rscholar) has sure got the conversation going: I like that. He may bit a sharp tounged and rude sometime; but overall civil and very smart. Not to mention an uncanny sense of timing. Link to article -- "A New York state of mind? Try sad." Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...#ixzz0a9NXiyne http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...le+Feedfetcher Infoshare, I appreciate the sentiment. If you can clean up the board, and get the nonsense off topic stuff dealt with, I will bring over ALOT of people from other poli forum discussion boards that would increase traffic here substantially. Anywhoo, lofter, what difference does it make if the group is leftwing or rightwing - it is their reporting that counts, and they included leftist editorial newspapers like the Daily News on their site, which tells you their message has teeth. As for the other poster, yes NY state's overall pop is increasing - BUT, as the report stated, the people coming in are either illegals or those making 15-20% LESS than those leaving. What that means is the tax base will shrink even further, putting NY State in a worse position than it already is. It cannot even pay its bills now; do you think that a state with obscene regulation levels and the nation's highest tax rate (12.62% in NYC) are going to improve the economy? These are crucial issues that need addressing, and not just here, but elsewhere too. Otherwise, we are going to end up like a larger version of Detroit: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...636077732.html "Yet Mr. Bing is a realist, something Detroit hasn't had at the helm for a long time. "We've been paralyzed by a culture in the city of Detroit, and maybe the state of Michigan, of entitlement," by which he means ever-rising union wages. "Our people, I don't believe, truly understand how dire the situation is. There are ugly decisions that need to be made and I'm surely not going to be popular for making them. But I didn't take this job based on popularity." One group that surely isn't a fan is the public employee unions. He grumbles that there are 17 unions with over 50 separate bargaining units. "I can give you a data sheet that will show you we've got several of those bargaining units with less than 100 people, and each one of them has a president that's paid by the city to negotiate against the city," he says. "Coming from the private sector, I find that insane." Mr. Bing's gladiator-like brawls with the union bosses have drawn national attention. Earlier this year, he forced nonunionized city workers to take a 10% pay cut and unpaid furloughs. Now he's demanding the same pay concession from the unions. At one point the union got so fed up with Mr. Bing's refusal to buckle to their demands that they asked the courts to toss him in jail for violating their contracts. That didn't happen, but the unions did win a court challenge when the mayor refused to collect union dues out of city paychecks. "Today in the city of Detroit," he tells me, "our union employee benefits cost 68% of what their base wage is. I don't think that happens in any other place in the country." To give a sense of how excessive those pay packages are, he adds: "When you look at one of the most dominant labor unions in the world, the UAW, they're nowhere close to what we give our city workers.""
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