Bloomberg And Quinn Team Up To Bailout Developers

A match made in heaven.

When Michael Bloomberg found Christine Quinn as Speaker of the City Council, there was no limit to how much love wealthy developers could see. In the building boom the city had seen during the last few years, huge developments were green-lighted and long-term residents were screwed by the lack of planning for schools and infrastructure. Now that the economy has soured, beautiful brand-new and expensive apartments are sitting empty and the developers that had them built are not seeing any returns on their investments. How could they solve this problem? Easy, have New York City bail them out under the guise of affordable housing.

Of course, this is really what it is all about:

Deputy Mayor Slush Fund Queen Christine C. Quinn and king Michael R. Bloomberg today announced a $20 million commitment to fund a pilot program that will turn unsold condominiums, market-rate rental buildings and stalled construction sites into affordable housing opportunities for moderate and middle-income families.

First, that the city will overpay for the condos, making this into a developer bailout program.

And second, that too much scarce affordable housing funding will be diverted from the low-income people who need assistance most to higher-income people who can afford the subisidized condos.

Even if the condos are rented to homelessness, the city is paying about 2,700 a month for each apartment such as in Crown Heights luxury condos. What an ineffective use of scarce resources when 2,700 dollars can house more than one family. This plan is to bail out Bloomberg's rich friends.

Ain't that nice?

Is this the type of tactic that makes people approve of Bloomberg?

I get that the people at Related, Vornado and Tishman-Speyer want to re-elect the mayor. The wealthy have a friend in Mr. Bloomberg, he is of course, one of their own. Yet for the vast majority of us who aren't millionaires, it is time for a change so that our money does not go to waste on bailouts like this.

M.T.A. Bill Gets Green Light From Legislative Leadership

Richard Ravitch is happy, Gene Russianoff is happy and the three men in the room are ecstatic over the fact they got something passed to help out the struggling M.T.A. Although Ravitch and Russianoff would have preferred something better, perhaps a little more comprehensive, they realize that in Albany, simply passing a bill, whether it does the job or not is a success. So with all this cheering, what can straphangers expect to find come June?

From The NY Times:

Under the deal, the base fare for a single bus or subway ride would rise to $2.25 from $2. The cost of a monthly MetroCard would probably rise to about $89 from $81, according to officials in the Legislature. Other fares and tolls, including tickets on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad, would go up about 10 percent.[...]

The legislative leaders also agreed to set a single rate for the payroll tax in all 12 counties served by the authority — a tax of 34 cents for every $100 of payroll. An earlier Senate version of the plan called for a lower rate in three outlying counties.

The payroll tax is expected to raise $1.53 billion a year.

The plan also includes a series of charges on vehicles and drivers in the 12- county region: a 50-cent surcharge on taxi rides, a $25 increase in vehicle registration fees, a 25 to 30 percent rise in drivers’ license fees and a 5 percent increase in a tax on car rentals. Those fees are expected to generate a total of $270 million a year.

So there you have it, the damage, so to speak is spread out amongst straphangers, drivers and employers, though more so on the employers. For a last minute maneuver, Silver, Smith and Paterson did a decent job. The only problem is that the M.T.A. is still going to consider another increase in a few months, so we'll see what the Legislature can do when the next deadline looms.

For now though, subway riders will have to pay a little more instead of a lot, drivers won't be tolled on East River bridges, taxi cab riders are only looking at a 50 cent surcharge instead of a dollar and service cuts will be avoided. For the next few months at least, doomsday has been averted.

Yet for some reason I can't get the thought out of my head that this was all some sort of psychological game played out before us. Drivers are still getting higher tolls where tolls exist and their fees are going up. Mass transit riders still have to pay more after an increase in the fare last year (those of us that buy weekly or monthly cards, which is for most New Yorkers), making the increase on a monthly between 2007 and now roughly 18%. Tolls have also risen at an astronomical rate. Then in 2011 and 2013 the fares will go up another 7.5% each time. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that these costs beat the rate of inflation, and at the same time we have a state government that passes bloated budgets every year.

Next year, instead of acting like pigs at a trough, perhaps our represenatives could get together and revamp the way the M.T.A. is funded, so that we do not have to face a crisis over fares whenever the economy sours. Relying on real estate and sales taxes is simply an unstable solution. When the Republicans were in charge, they probably realized this, but instead of remeding the situation, they tacked on more than a billion dollars in debt to the M.T.A. and magnified the problem. Instead of patting each other's backs over this quick fix, Smith, Silver and Paterson would do right by attacking the core of the problem and ensure that we continue to have the best mass transit system in the country for decades to come.

RNC Chair Michael Steele Blasts GOP

Now call me strange, but I always thought that the head of a national political party would be a promoter of his or her own organization. Yet Michael Steele did nothing of the sort this morning, correctly asserting how Republicans started the bank bailouts, not Democrats. He even wentso far as to call Republicans who bad mouth Democrats "disingenuous."



Right on Mike!

Kaptur Asks Why AIG Gets Special Treatment Auto Workers Do Not

The government has been super strict and harsh on an auto companies that has been behind on the curve in the world market of cars. While they need to get their act together, the fact that AIG got a slight slap on the wrist for their fiscal atrocities is just a bit of a double standard. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur makes a point of it on the House floor:

M.T.A. Budget Woes Go From Bad To Worse

The Senate Democrats are finally starting a conversation bill to address the M.T.A.'s massive budget deficit. They might want to add today's news from the transit authority to that talk, as things are even worse than what they seemed to be only a few weeks ago when the doomsday budget was voted on. We aren't just talking a little worse, this is on the scale of hundreds of millions of dollars.

From The NY Times:

Plummeting revenues from ridership, tolls and taxes mean that even after it raises fares by up to 30 percent and slashes service, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority faces a $621 million deficit this year, officials reported on Monday, as they presented a revised budget forecast. According to the new forecast, next year’s deficit will be more than $1 billion.

The authority’s financial outlook has become worse as the regional economy sinks deeper into an economic slump.

The authority has been hoping that the Legislature in Albany would pass a rescue package to help it balance the books this year and next year and provide long-term funding for its crucial capital program, which pays for the purchase of new buses and train cars and critical maintenance and modernization of the transit system.

The economy is putting the hurt on the M.T.A. in so many ways. Less riders and less real estate taxes, coupled with years of being debt-riddled by the legislature is making the situation extremely painful. As long as the state senate remains gridlocked by a few obnoxious and egotistical Conservadems within their ranks, the problems that confront straphangers will continue to mount. What the city needs is a comprehensive plan that funds the M.T.A.'s projects (with good oversight), keeps service going and trims the massive amount of debt that has been lying around. Without a solid plan, New Yorkers will be met with another fare increase, whether it be to $3.00 or more by the same time next year.

Assembly Vs. Senate On M.T.A. Bailout

There is a little more than a month to go before the dreaded twenty-five percent (give or take a few percent depending on what fare you pay) hike in the cost of mass transit coupled with service cuts for the NYC subway system. Up in Albany though, politics and ego, not the deadline is what the leadership in the Assembly and Senate care most about. Sure, they want to get something done to appease their constituents, but "what" they want depends on which side you're on.

From The NY Daily News:

Negotiations over an MTA bailout deal blew up Friday amid bitter squabbling between Senate and Assembly leaders, sources said.

A conference call to discuss the rescue collapsed when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's staff learned the state Senate had already introduced its own bill and planned to vote on it next week, sources said. "Malcolm and Shelly are having a huge fight," said one source with ties to both Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, a Queens Democrat. "The staffs are not speaking."

Multiple sources said Silver was upset Smith formally introduced his bill. "This is one-upping the Senate to show you're still in charge," said a source close to Smith.

It really is pathetic that there has to be so much squabbling over such a dire issue. Millions of people who can't afford another fare increase will be forced to deal with $103 a month for a Metrocard with less service for the price.

While much of the blame can be placed at the feet of the Pataki Administration and the Republican State Senate in the past for putting so much debt on the M.T.A., Smith should have been ready for this when he assumed power early this year. His district is directly affected by this matter, along with many other Democrats that represent the New York City metro area. How he can let Kruger, Espada, Diaz and Monserrate push him around on this is absolutely ridiculous. I hate to say it, but Shelly Silver has the best plan out of anyone on this, and if Smith cares about the city more than his ego, he'll try his best to make sure the closest thing to the Ravitch Plan is what passes when all is said and done.

Another M.T.A. Deal In The Works

With a little more than a month to go until the transit authority hikes fares and slashes services, the state senate is discombobulated on what to do about funding the NYC subway but they do know something has to be done. The latest plan was read from Senator Dilan to reporters earlier this afternoon.

From PolitickerNY:

--A drop-off tax for taxis of either 50 cents or a dollar, depending upon how much is needed for upstate roads bridges

--A car registration surcharge

--A payroll tax, without exemption for school districts or non-profits

--A driver's license surcharge

--The smaller fare hike proposed by the M.T.A.

"We should hopefully have a draft bill today or tomorrow," Dilan said.

Notice that out of all points, there is no toll. The Gang of Four had that as a sticking point, so this bill might actually have legs to carry it across the finish line without the help of the minority caucus. The suburban Dems like Craig Johnson have expressed disapproval of the payroll tax before but if they can be quelled by the taxi surcharge then this thing could be a go.

It is a shame though that funding the M.T.A. has to be such an arduous task. This mess is upon us due to years of fiscal mismanagement and all Albany could come up with this year is a hodge podge of fees along with a second fare hike in about fourteen months. What we need is a more comprehensive, long-term plan though our Senate and its' leaders are too timid to push for a more solid solution. Instead we'll probably be looking at another fare hike next year, whether it be five, fifteen or twenty-five percent.

Yet Another Reason Not To Trust Wall Street

I know, I know, there is already more than enough out there to prove the point Wall Street can't be trusted. Well, here's some more. It seems the billions in bailout money that went to the big banks were not used for what they were intended for. (Gasp!) No really, now there is serious proof. The banks were supposed to start lending more money out to make the economy going. Many CEOs claimed they were doing that in order to fend off any lawmaker who asked them about it. Unfortunately though for the rest of us, they were lying.

From The Huffington Post:

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Treasury Department data, the biggest recipients of taxpayer aid made or refinanced 23% less in new loans in February, the latest available data, than in October, the month the Treasury kicked off the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The total dollar amount of new loans declined in three of the four months the government has reported this data. All but three of the 19 largest TARP recipients with comparable data originated fewer loans in February than they did at the time they received federal infusions.

The Journal's analysis paints a starker picture of the lending environment than the monthly snapshots released by the government and is a reminder of the severity of the credit contraction. One reason for the disparity: The Treasury crunches the data in a way that some experts say understates the lending decline.

Basically the bailout as it played out was wholly ineffective. The banks did not follow instructions from the government and instead went with the attitude of the market and squeezed their lending practices even further. Thanks to almost no oversight from the Congress for the TARP money, there was nothing anyone could do once those billions were doled out.

Now we were told when TARP was being drawn up that everything was going to go by the book and that the banks would do as they were told. The cynics though, we right and there was no reason to doubt them. Unless you have stringent oversight when dealing with Wall Street, the odds are everyone but them is going to get screwed in some fashion. Many of these people should be in jail but then where would they spend those fat bonuses for a job gone horribly wrong well done?

Transit Expert Questions Albany's Sobriety

I was hoping to make last night's forum on the M.T.A.'s current status, but last minute moving responsibilities had me elsewhere. I knew Azi at the Politicker would be there though. He caught one notable moment where panelist Peter Goldmark made a quip about Albany politicians and their ideas concerning the fate of the M.T.A. Although it was meant in jest, I do wonder how far off from the truth that joke was.

From PolitickerNY:

The highlight, I think, came nine-and-a-half minutes into the event, when Peter Goldmark, a former head of the Port Authority and member of the Ravitch Commission, which recommended tolling the East River Bridges, criticized state lawmakers for their alternative plans to fund the M.T.A.

“I have never seen so much squirming, squawking and squealing in my life,” Goldmark said, before referring to one of the alternative plans as “cockamamie.”

“There was one plan that recommended the pension system borough (sp: borrow) money and then lend it to the M.T.A. Are these people smoking something?” Goldmark asked.

If only grandstanding, obstructionism and corruption could be rolled up together into leafy form. Then there'd be a significant number of legislators walking the capitol with red and glazed-over eyes.

Terms Of M.T.A. Bailout Still Up For Debate

The M.T.A.'s deadline passed last week and they did officially raise the fare and move to cut service, but it doesn't take effect for two months. Therefore there is still a limited amount of time for someone to do something. Now that the state budget is nearly passed, legislators are looking to show New Yorkers that they do indeed care about helping straphangers. The question though is how?

From The NY Times:

Lawmakers said that whatever plan emerges, it is expected to include the payroll tax and a smaller increase to fares and tolls.

But they continue to grapple with how to get drivers to contribute without creating new tolls.

Officials have discussed increasing vehicle registration fees in the 12-county region served by the authority.

But some officials said the governor’s office had been considering using an increase in vehicle registration fees to finance the state’s long-term road and bridge construction program.

Many senators have said that financing the road and bridge program is a priority, and they criticized the Ravitch plan for not taking that program’s needs into account.

Then of course there are the legislators that want to get rid of the payroll tax, but that seems unlikely. There is still a lot up in the air, but everyone needs to come down on solid ground soon. The clock is ticking until we see higher fares and reduced service. With the situation we face, outer-borough and extra-borough politicians must realize that New York needs a comprehensive plan to deal with the M.T.A.'s deficit and most certainly the long-term debt. If that includes a vehicle tax or a toll (preferably a toll) then so be it.

Olbermann Goes After The Bailout Double-Standard

Blue collar shirts are worth just as much as white collar ones. So why must we continue to see bankers being treated better than factory workers and retailers? Keith Olbermann examines the subject for us:

Irony Alert Of The Day: Bloomberg References "Network"

Mayor Bloomberg usually has an opinion on things but for the most part, he has remained mum on the M.T.A. since his congestion pricing plan was shut down last year. However, with the deadline for the fare increasing being tomorrow, the mayor has found some faux populism buried in his suit pocket and dished it out for the press today.

From The Daily Politics:

Asked today what people should do if Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders fail to reach an agreement on the MTA bailout before tomorrow's deadline, Mayor Bloomberg replied:

"If Albany doesn't come through, then the straphangers are going to have to bear the brunt of this. I don't think that's good for the system. I don't think it's good for our economy. But we cannot walk away from mass transit. We have to have it. So I hope it doesn't get to that, but if it does, what I would suggest when you see what's going to happen to your commuting costs, you should call your state legislators and say, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.'"

Of course, that's rich (no pun intended) coming from the richest man in town. It would be much easier to fund a bailout of the M.T.A. if the state had more money to spend....and if we taxed the rich...and well, the mayor doesn't approve of that, now does he?

Mayor Bloomberg is no Howard Beale, out of anyone who could tell the people to start yelling out their windows, the billionaire mayor is the last one on the list. If anything, they should be yelling at him.

Paterson Tells Straphangers To Stick It

Another symptom of Paterson's (and Smith's) poor leadership is about to come out this Wednesday, when the deadline for the M.T.A.'s doomsday budget passes. The transit authority has been warning/threatening us for months that a fare increase and service cuts are inevitable if Albany does not bail them out. Now the hour is at hand and Paterson has come up woefully short. To make matters worse (or more real) he spoke today pretty much giving up on a deal to save straphangers from higher costs and poorer system.

From PolitickerNY:

ALBANY—David Paterson said the M.T.A. board should go ahead with raising fares at its Wednesday board meeting, implicitly admitting that state government will not enact a revenue package to mitigate fare hikes beforehand.

"I don't think that the agency should delay any action," Paterson just said at a Red Room press conference.[...]

A reporter asked Paterson if he felt he had failed.

"No, I think it's an aspect of government that we all have to recognize: these two gentlemen run conferences in the legislature that need consensus and the three houses have to agree," he said. "Ascribing any kind of blame to one sector of the triad is often a way that people try to explain it, but you've got to have consensus. That's the way our democracy works."

That is really cute, especially coming from a politician that prefers to work in the dark and keep things as anti-democratic as he can. Whatever Paterson waxes poetic about democracy, the people can do as well. When you register a 19% job approval rating, it shows exactly how you are doing in the eyes of those that will vote (you out) for you in next year's gubernatorial election. Residents of New York City demand and deserve good transit, and this Harlem native is failing to deliver.

State Senate Compromises The MTA

Politics is all about compromises right? Well, "politics" is certainly underway in the State Senate, as Malcolm Smith's fractured caucus (with zero help from the other side of the aisle) has decided to go ahead with a Ravitch-lite plan that helps some of the MTA's ailments but certainly not all. If the Senate gets its' way, this bill would do nothing but put a band-aid on a gunshot wound.

From The NY Times:

The Senate proposal, which was presented privately to Democratic Senators on Monday afternoon, includes a 4 percent fare increase, half of what Mr. Ravitch had proposed. It would also impose a tax of 25 cents on every $100 of payroll on employers within the 12 counties served by the authority. That is significantly less than the 34 cents that Mr. Ravitch had proposed.

“The immediate impact would be, all service cuts are restored, fare increases would be cut in half, and there would be no tolls,” said one of the two people briefed on the plan.

Democratic staff members reviewed some of the authority’s finances in recent days and concluded that a scaled-back plan would suffice in the short term. But the Senate proposal would require the transportation authority to submit to a deeper forensic auditing, a step lawmakers from both parties have demanded as a condition of laying out more taxpayer money for the authority, long dogged by waste and corruption.

Well I certainly applaud the desire for transparency, though the demand comes from an institution that is deeply flawed in that department as well. If the Senate really wanted transparency out of the MTA, they should work hand in hand with the Authority so that they get the facts and figures they need. If the Senate wants transparency, then demand it here and now. Otherwise, this sounds more like a lame excuse more than anything.

What this short-term plan will do, according to MTA head Elliot Sander, is increase the debt load of the Authority and lead to more future problems. Also, as Mr. Ravitch says:

Mr. Ravitch has insisted that any short-term or stopgap solution would only exacerbate the authority’s fiscal woes and create a bigger budget hole next year. In an interview last week, Mr. Ravitch said that the defeat of his plan would be “disastrous to the economy and the people of the M.T.A. region.” Mr. Ravitch declined to comment Monday night on the Senate’s counterproposal, saying he did not know the details.

This is no time for stopgaps, if anything, we need government to help secure our mass transit future now instead of making the problem worse. If only Smith and the several other Dems had the courage to be leaders and do the best for all New Yorkers that use the MTA instead of what they think will get them re-elected in their districts next year. Then again, that would be expecting too much of Smith, Kruger and the rest of the stalwarts up in Albany.

Smith Decides To Get On The Ball For An MTA Bailout

Speaking of train service and mass transit, the fate of MTA's service and price of the fare hangs in the balance. The deadline according to the MTA officials is coming up a week from Wednesday and the State Senate has been dragging its' collective feet on bailing out the struggling transit authority. Last week Majority Leader Smith called the deadline "questionable" and accused them of holding us all hostage. Meanwhile everyone else was quite serious about implementing a bill similar to the Ravitch Commission's proposal and ensuring that the doomsday scenario does not occur. Smith looked foolish in the face of the seriousness of the matter, and now he's finally beginning to realize that.

From PolitickerNY:

ALBANY—After two weeks of public hemming and hawing on the issue of the M.T.A. bailout, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith says he will present a plan to members this afternoon to plug the M.T.A.'s deficit.

Sources involved in formulating plan with Senate leadership said that central staffers worked on the plan all weekend, and are trying to keep it as much under wraps as possible so as not to be co-opted by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver's position is on the table.

"All I'm going to say is that it's good and I think will work for everyone," one of the sources said.

The rest of the article gives a timeline of the MTA bailout battle and is great for anyone that hasn't been following a possible fare hike and simultaneous service cuts for our mass transit system.

As for Smith, he's doing the right thing by realizing that the deadline is a hard date that needs to be adhered to so that straphangers do not have to pay extra and lose service. Hemming and hawwing will not get you anywhere with voters when they start to suffer the effects of political inaction. And for the other Senators that tried to block a bailout bill for the MTA, shame on them as well. Grandstanding does nothing for New York and only a small boost for the politician's already over-inflated ego.

Can Congress Get Our Money Back From AIG?

The news over the weekend about AIG and their hundreds of millions in bonuses have pissed a lot people off, including those in Congress. People like Barney Frank want the taxpayer dollars given back and it appears that Speaker Pelosi wants to get involved too.

From The Gavel:

While American workers see their wages decline and face record job losses, it is unconscionable that AIG, which is receiving more than $170 billion in government assistance, would permit such extravagant executive compensation practices without any accountability to the taxpayer.

I have asked Chairman Barney Frank of the House Financial Services Committee to examine options that are legally available to recover taxpayer funds of companies that abuse the privilege of taxpayer assistance.

I call upon the executives at AIG to right the wrong they have done to American taxpayers, who are footing the bill for the most expensive government rescue in history. They should renounce the bonuses and refuse the excessive retention pay they previously agreed to.

Congress, working with the Obama Administration, has put in place tough executive compensation and responsibility measures to ensure that taxpayers are protected and we will continue to take all action necessary to ensure transparency and accountability.

That sounds great, but examining what to do and actually doing it are two totally separate things. Congress has issued many strongly worded statements before with little punch behind them. For too long the Legislature has been great at handing out large sums of money (whether as tax cuts for the rich or blocks of money known as "bailouts" and "rescue packages"). When it comes to watching what happens with that money and making sure it is effective is another matter. AIG isn't going to part with our billions easily, so Congress must act forcefully...and not just on the Speaker's letterhead.

Shelly Continues To Make Malcolm Look Foolish Over MTA Bailout

Being Malcolm Smith must be tough these days. The man was thrust (willingly I might add) into a position of leadership that he wasn't quite ready to handle. His abilities were already in question before the Dems took power. Then his credibility was further damaged when he gave into the Gang of Three, then stood up to them, then sat back down. Now the budget battle and the connected M.T.A. bailout saga is consuming him and in comparison to Shelly Silver's tight ship in the Assembly, he looks like an amateur.

From PolitickerNY:

ALBANY—Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith is calling the March 25 deadline for the M.T.A. bailout "questionable" and saying that while his members are "working on it every day" there is no consensus on a package to address the authority's deficit.

A few reporters caught Smith on the way to an event on reforming Rockefeller drug laws. He didn't say why he is questioning March 25, but spokesman Austin Shafran said the deadline is "artificial because it came from the M.T.A. board."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, however, after speaking at the same event, said "I'm not going to engage in a game of chicken."

Silver said March 25 is a "hard and fast deadline." He then pointed out that he has put forth the "only proposal on the table."

That is quite a rebuke of the State Senate Majority Leader's talking points. Of course, Silver has had this job forever and with a much more solid majority, so that makes things easier. Still, Smith has not done himself any favors in the last few months when it comes to a test of wills and principles. If he would have held firm with the Gang of Three Three Amigos at the end of last year, perhaps Smith wouldn't have to beg the five Democratic Senators who are causing him trouble to stay in his corner for this. Instead, he has to make excuses such as belittling the deadline...excuses that no one is really buying.

Cleaning Up The M.T.A. In Order To Fund It Is Harder Than It Looks

We still do not have a bailout plan ready to go for the M.T.A. and we mainly have the State Senate to thank for that. I already remarked (perhaps a lil' harshly) a couple days ago about the Gang of Three's role in stalling the bill but I must admit that there are ways we can clean up the Authority in the process of funding it so that we don't have to pay $103 for monthly cards. Some ideas coming from the Senate are listed below.

From The Gothamist:

Word is that a bailout plan for the MTA could begin making its way through state legislatures in the week ahead. This past week was one that only seemed to present stalling for any potential alternatives to the looming threat of a $100 monthly Metrocard. Despite a push from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, any serious talk of bringing tolls to the East River crossings has hit a snag with the Democratic bloc in the State Senate known as the Three Amigos demanding the MTA "go back to the drawing board" and calling for an audit for the agency. The new bailout plan would come with some potential reorganization for the MTA, a full-time chief executive position replacing the two part-time voluntary roles filled by Elliot Sander (pictured) and Dale Hemmerdinger. The legislature could also see a revenue driven proposal from Governor Paterson that would substantially raise DMV registration fees.

Paying a CEO sounds more costly than the $0 perks given to Sander and Hemmerdinger. There are already enough exorbitant salaries paid out to the executives within the transit authority. As for Paterson's idea, raising DMV fees can only a partial solution, since if we raise them too high they'll be another punitive tax on the working class who aren't close to mass transit.

In an ideal world we'd dissolve the Authority and make the apparatus more accountable to the people that ride their buses and trains, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. "Radical change" and "Albany" mix as well as oil and water. For now we'll just have to scream and shout at Albany and hope they'll listen to the needs of straphangers and not intrasigent State Senators who think their South Bronx constituents rely more on taxis than the subway.

GM Makes The Case For Real Government Oversight

Congressional pressure to make the CEO of GM take a car instead of his corporate jet was a nice jesture, but obviously it had no effect on the real operations of the company. The attitude behind the jet is still there, and it can be seen when the auto giant takes a billion dollars of that taxpayer bailout and sends it down to Brazil so that they can grow their business down there.

From The Latin American Herald Tribune:

SAO PAULO -- General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker.

According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."[...]

For Ardila, the injection in Brazil's automobile sector of 8 billion reais ($3.51 billion) recently announced by the federal and state governments of Sao Paulo "has already begun to revive sales," which fell by 12% in October.

It is great to see Brazil's investment in GM so that business comes back in their country, but in these dire times, American bailout money should be focused right here at home. The problem is that these multi-national companies take advantage of national governments around the world, whether it be for giveaways or low-cost labor. If only nation-states got together to combat these companies....oh yeah, I know, that sounds like a pipe dream. However, the money given by the Bush White House to GM via TARP should be revamped by the Obama Administration, so that we can start to get some sort of handle on these corporate behemoths.

Wall Street Defends Their Taxpayer Funded Bonuses

Plenty of scorn has been heaped upon the titans of finance in the last few months. Politicians and plebs alike have railed against the excesses of Wall Street and clamored for reform while making the effort to restart the economy. In the last days of a Republican White House, Democrats in Congress aided the President with $700 billion in relief for Wall Street, so that credit would begin to flow yet again. Now we learn that credit is still stuck and yet, these financiers that tanked our economy took in nearly $20 billion of bonuses last month. The public outrage was not unforeseen, but the reaction to it from bankers and traders is downright obscene.

From The NY Times:

“People come here because they want to work hard and get paid a lot for working hard,” one investment banker said Friday as he wended his way, lunch bag in hand, through the World Financial Center. “I think there’s a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.”

Oh yeah, there is a disconnect for sure. The realities for those struggling to get by and those who struggle to wait for a table at Jean Georges are worlds apart.

“My bonus is ‘shameful’ — but I worked hard to get it,” said John Konstantinidis, a wholesale insurance broker, lunching Friday at Harry’s at Hanover Square.

“I’m a HENRY,” Mr. Konstantinidis added. “High Earner but Not Rich Yet.”

Sounds more like a SCHMUCK than anything else to me. The delusion here is high while the nation suffers miserably in a time where tens of thousands are laid off in a single day. This guy should be grateful he has a job. Then there was the criticism of the President for daring to speak ill of their kind.

“I think President Obama painted everyone with a broad stroke,” said Brian McCaffrey, 55, a Wall Street lawyer who was on his way to see a client. “The way we pay our taxes is bonuses. The only way that we’ll get any of our bailout money back is from taxes on bonuses. I think bonuses should be looked at on a case by case basis, or you turn into a socialist.”

Mr. McCaffrey wouldn't know the definition of socialism if it smacked him open-handed in the face. What does he think the bailout money is, something out of the pages of Keynes or Locke? And then there's this callously-laden gem at the end of the article:

“On Main Street, ‘bonus’ sounds like a gift,” he said. “But it’s part of the compensation structure of Wall Street. Say I’m a banker and I created $30 million. I should get a part of that.”

“There’s got to be a better term for it,” he added, turning to Mr. Novello.

“Earned income credit?” he wondered aloud.

What about the trillions you and brethren have lost over the last couple of years? Where is your contribution towards fixing that? How do you justify being rewarded with bonuses when your company is losing billions upon billions of dollars? Really, there is no excuse, none at all. I swear, in another time and place, their actions would be criminal.