State of the City: $3.1 Billion Deficit
In his State of the City speech last night Mayor Bloomberg warned that this is likely to be a difficult year and announced belt-tightening measures in response to the Independent Budget Office’s projection that the city will see a $3.1 billion deficit in 2009. Bloomberg is ordering all city agency heads to cut their budgets…
In his State of the City speech last night Mayor Bloomberg warned that this is likely to be a difficult year and announced belt-tightening measures in response to the Independent Budget Office’s projection that the city will see a $3.1 billion deficit in 2009. Bloomberg is ordering all city agency heads to cut their budgets by 2.5 percent this year and 5 percent next year. Despite the predictions of economic woe, the mayor said the city would continue to offer the $400 property tax rebate and will roll out a few new services, including one that allows online access to 311. Bloomberg also noted that 2008 is the 130th anniversary of the death of Boss Tweed and said it was time to finally put to rest his style of politics.
Mayor Hails City’s Immigrants and Innovation [NY Times]
Mike Takes Baby Steps in City Plan [NY Post]
Photo from nyc.gov.
Nope, no trust fund union flunky at 5:45.
Worked really hard as a teenager, paid my way through school with my savings and student loans. Studied something ueful and work hard everyday to be competitive, efficient, and a valuable employee.
Dont rely on my “Seniority” or Union Rep to be sucessful. I work at it everyday, and the day I start to suck, I hope I will be replaced or overtaken by someone who is even harder working and deserving – Free market baby…
Easy to be so glib, 7:37, what with your trust fund and all, you asshat.
Yes Bravo 9:03, and 1:36 – Unions are the champions and stalwarts of wealth re-distibutions.
I applaud your position that historically inefficient, archane, and extortionist Unions are actually heroes that we should all be grateful for.
Bravo.
Bravo 9:03.
The destruction of unions in this country, something that our government has been actively involved in since Ronald Reagan, is, I believe, one of the main causes of the extreme disparity in income and wealth that currently plagues our economy. We all know perfectly well that an economy in which the lion’s share of the rewards are accruing to the top 1% is a bad thing. The post-war compact between unions and industry insured that the majority of the population would share in the productivity of the economy. That compact was shattered in the 80s and we have seen the result — a second Gilded Age based on government-enabled, utterly corrupt speculation and corporate welfare gone wild.
Well said 9:03
I’m sorry that all of you highly educated a**holes who are not even originally from New York, but think they are so cool now that they live in Brooklyn, think of City and union employees as a bunch of illiterate idiots. I happen to work for the MTA, and I am a Certified Public Accountant. I used to work for the City Comptroller’s Office as an auditor, and I can tell you that there are a lot of dedicated individuals who worked there, and made a real difference improving City services and programs. Sure, there are bad apples in City agencies, but they are everywhere, including private companies.
There are a lot of highly creative and innovative individuals working for the City. Who do you think keeps it running? Our compensation is far less than the private sector. I dare any of you to work as a bus driver, subway conductor, train operator or sanitation worker for even one day. You would be crying if you did.
So what’s wrong with a blue collar union worker earning a living wage? Do they only deserve $8 an hour because they did not go to an Ivy league school? Look at all of the non-unionized corporations like Wal-Mart, destroying this country, buying goods from China and paying workers $8 an hour?
Whoa, 12:08: If Trump ran the parks department, they might be clean.
But they’d be full of polished gold statues. Of Trump.
Let’s all unionize. Unionize everything. Let’s all make BILLIONS!!! Not millions. So many millionares these days. It’s about becoming part of the BILLIONARES club not the millionares club. Millions is peanuts. It’s 2008 already. Come on guys lets shoot for the BILLIONS!
I love Bloomberg – I wish he would run for President….