Category Archives: New York City

New York City Has a Fiscal Crisis…Right Now!

 

We often hear about out of control unfunded pension liabilities, but NYC government employee’s health insurance is also a ticking time bomb.

The Citizens Budget Committee estimates the current and future retirees now have an unfunded health insurance liability of $95 billion.  And, this figure will grow at an unprecedented rate per year, generating an unfunded liability of $175 billion in ten years.

Let’s put that in perspective.  This year’s total budget is estimated at $87 billion, so unfunded health care alone in ten years will be equal to 200% of this year’s total city budget.

And, we can add the pension liability of an estimated $100 billion, and you have unfunded pension and health insurance liabilities that in ten years will be more than three times this year’s total budget.  This will require a budget in 2027 of equal to 400% of our current budget to fully fund these liabilities.

New York City provides its employees the most generous pension and health plans than any other major city in the United States.

Mayor de Blasio doesn’t seem to be worried.  He is campaigning with Bernie Sanders later today.  Perhaps he believes Bernie’s “Medicare for All” will become law and bail out the city….but who will pay the bill?  We think you know who will be stuck with the tab.

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Filed under Governance of the Government, Healthcare, New York City

Racism, Bigotry or Extreme Political Correctne

 

Perhaps one needs to be older to properly grasp the nuances of what is politically correct and what is racist or bigoted.  Vocabularies change over the years as do their connotations as the younger generations accept/promote different interpretations and meaning.

Like many, the recent few years have offered me several head scratching moments where I was left thinking, “how could they possibly believe that comment was racist or bigoted”.

My hat is off to a young lady at Columbia University who seemed to get a good grip on the situation and did a good job of articulating it.   I only hope she doesn’t get any blowback on her opinion.

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Filed under Diversity, Education, New York City, Politics

New York Mayor Fails Accounting 101

The Mayor’s crude attempt to change generally accepted accounting rules is an insult to the citizens of New York.  http://nypost.com/2014/05/18/key-questions-de-blasio-wont-answer/

Even worse, is the lack of attention to the roll back of the additional student’s instructional time.  Mayor Bloomberg negotiated and paid the union for this additional time.   This now becomes teachers training time?  Please…we all know it will be teacher’s time off and the once again the children lose.

There are one million children who should have been represented at the union negotiations.  They weren’t and they lose!  It is a sad time for public education.

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Filed under Children, Education, New York City

Statehouse Trumps City Hall

Governor Cuomo came out yesterday with a strong endorsement of New York City charter schools. He was responding to a 10,000 plus demonstration of charter school parents and students and against the much smaller union organized rally. www.NYPost.com

Perhaps fairness will reign in this ongoing battle that appears to be union organizers and supporters vs. concerned parents and corporate funding for better education.

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Filed under Children, Education, Governance of the Government, New York City

Two Enemies of Good Government

Ideologues and Political Rhetoric without Action

Good governing only comes with compromise, and ideologues seem to lack the common sense that they can’t prevail at all times.  Simply stated they are incapable of compromise.  Rhetoric without action can be worse since nothing is there to be discussed, modified and ultimately agreed.  Great pronouncement speeches are soon forgotten without the requisite follow through of action.

We have all witnessed these two shortcomings in our politicians, and unfortunately our well-intended new Mayor of New York seems to embrace both.  His Pre-K stance on tax the rich as the only path to offering universal Pre K even though the state has offered to fund it, is an excellent example of an ideologue that refuses to compromise, even when he is getting most of what he wants. He then goes on to embrace the second failing of rhetoric without action by announcing multiple projects and trashing existing ones without any specific plans to launch or improve them.  Take your pick, a rejuvenated Sandy, a “reset” of mid-town zoning, specifics on Pre-K, etc.

I for one am also tired of hearing the new mayor was elected with a 73% mandate.  Let’s take a quick look at those pesky facts:  There are 4.6 million registered voters in New York City.  Only 1.02 million actually voted which is only 22.2 % of eligible voters.  Of this 22.2 percent he did receive 73% of the vote.  This translates, mathematically and factually into 16.3 % of the vote of New York City voters…hardly a mandate.

However, it was clearly a mandate by the unions of New York City.  If 75% of the 300,000 union members of NYC voted for DeBlasio and their partner/spouse also voted for him, along with one parent or parent-in-law, that group alone would have accounted for almost the entire vote he received.  And, let’s not forget, union members are democrats, they vote regularly, and the new Mayor was promising retroactive pay increases.  They totally supported him and if the truth were known, single handedly, elected him. This calculation would leave 3.0 million registered voters who did not cast a vote (shame on them) and gave the Mayor his often-stated “mandate”.

The mayor must start delivering.  Compromise on the Pre-K, and you’ll be lauded and known as the Mayor who gave everyone Pre-K not the Mayor who compromised away his tax increase.  Release specifics on projects and “resets” that make sense and then follow through.

And, a few more thoughts Mr. Mayor.  Those nasty one-percenters are at their desk in the financial district long before your first meeting is scheduled and they show up on time, each and every day.  They are not 40 to 60 minutes late for their scheduled meeting and certainly not for their first of the day.  You’d be surprised to see how active the “street” is at 6AM or 7AM each morning.  Try getting up one morning and checking it out.  You’ll find the “other city” you often refer to up and working very hard long before you’ve had your first cup of coffee.

And above all, don’t become the Mayor Ed Koch spoke of in his memorable words:  “The people have spoken…and now they must be punished”

Good Luck Mr. Mayor.  Everyone really does want you to succeed, as that would be best for the city we all love.  But, you’ll have to get up early, show up on time and avoid the two enemies of good government.

 

 

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Filed under Governance of the Government, New York City, Politics

Charter Schools Under Attack…

What conceivable reasons are there for charter schools in NYC to be attacked other than to protect the teacher’s union?

Many of us have followed the plight of NYC Charter Schools.  They are under a vicious attack with the intention of eliminating them entirely.  How, buy kicking them out of school buildings they currently share, reversing Bloomberg era decisions to place new ones, taking away a quarter of a billion of capital funds dedicated to them and any other way Mayor DeBlasio and his band of merry men and women who have just taken office can conjure up.

These charter schools have improved children’s lives, provided an education most were not receiving in the NYC public school system, and encouraged them to become outstanding members of the community.

I defy anyone to provide a logical and realistic reason as to why the mayor and his friends are taking this position other than to please the teacher’s union.  Why?  There simply isn’t any other reason.

 

 

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Filed under Education, New York City

Musings of a Politically Independent Healthcare Consultant

Welcome to my Blog.

I created this blog to offer my opinion on a variety of subjects.  My areas of interest include politics, healthcare, New York City, fairness, diversity and a desire to help the needy and protect our children.  I do have opinions. I will express them, some will agree and others will not.  My purpose is two-fold:  express myself and instigate a dialogue.  I hope you enjoy my comments even though you may not agree.

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Filed under Children, Diversity, General, Healthcare, New York City, Politics