Paterson Proposes Spending Cap Legislation

In these sour economic times, Governor Paterson approved the State Legislature's budget that increased spending by a staggering 8.7% a month ago. Now Paterson is attempting to enact a spending cap to prevent future skyrocketing budgets, though with so many big spenders in Albany, the likelihood of this getting traction is slim.

Barney Frank Reminds Republicans Where The Wasteful Spending Is...In Iraq

The GOP has miraculously overnight become the party of fiscal conservatism yet again, claiming that Obama's stimulus package is too expensive. Creating tax cuts for the wealthy is a much higher priority than creating a job in the minority party's eyes. However, Congressman Frank reminds them where all the money really went.

NY Medicare A Fiscal Disaster Unto Itself

Paterson wants to cut a couple billion from the budget next year from a variety of programs. Yet if we just fix our state's Medicare program, we could get off to a good start in plugging that gap. The exact amount of what they waste over there isn't known for sure yet, but if what DiNapoli reported is systemic in their bureaucracy, we could be talking a lot of money.

From The NY Daily News:

In a pair of audits released Wednesday, DiNapoli slammed the state Health Department, which runs the $42 billion Medicaid program, for poor management of its electronic billing system and for allowing too many improper payments to get through.

One audit, which reviewed only a small segment of the automated system's functions, identified $437,655 in overpayments and another $5.5 million in payments that did not receive proper scrutiny.

Another audit found $1.8 million in overpayments to Medicaid providers for services that either already had been covered by the federally funded Medicare program or should have been.

DiNapoli thinks the waste runs into the tens of millions. The fact that nearly two million in overpayments were made is shameful considering it takes just a quick check to see if the Feds cover those bills. I can't even begin to imagine how much the money the state would save if all agencies were properly maintained, meaning carefully watching expenses and trimming the fat from everyone's budgets. The M.T.A. could save untold amounts of cash simply by getting rid of the Admins nobody needs.

Palin Has Road Building Experience

One of the big complaints people have about Sarah Palin is that she has no experience and definitely not enough to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Yet that isn't entirely true, especially being Governor of our nation's eastern-most, northern-most and western-most state. That has to count for something (and I'm surprised if Palin hasn't mentioned it yet) but even if you think that simply living somewhere doesn't give you foreign policy experience, then her infrastructure and Federal earmark skills will simply wow you over.

From Yahoo News:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's transportation department has completed a $25 million gravel road leading to the site of a bridge that Palin, as John McCain's vice presidential candidate, now boasts that she stopped, so as to save taxpayers money. The road was built with federal tax dollars.

Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein said the 3.2-mile road will be useful for road races, hunters and possibly future development. But with no bridge to serve it, that's probably about it.

"I think it will be good for recreational things like a 5K and a 10K," Weinstein said. "And instead of people walking through brush, it may be used for hunting in the area."

You could even say she is promoting a good health lifestyle for Americans so they'll jog on roads that lead to nowhere. Then they'll be able to eat a nice meal by going out and hunting some moose. If she could do that with just $25 million dollars of money she said "Thanks but no thanks," to, imagine what she'd do with the world's largest economy.

Scary shit, eh?

MTA: Good At Wasting Our Money

With a budget in the billions of dollars, fiscal planners might not think much of $200,000. To 99 percent of us that is a hefty chunk of change and no one likes seeing that many dollar bills going to waste. However, the MTA doesn't seem to think much of it, or their riders for that matter when they decided to give the said amount to a man that doesn't even work for them anymore.

From The NY Daily News:

Metropolitan Transportation Authority veteran Thomas Savage will receive a full year's salary as if he was still reporting to work as president of the MTA Bus Co. - even though he stepped down from the executive post last month, the authority said.

Spokesman Jeremy Soffin described the $200,000 as a necessary cost of a larger initiative to consolidate management positions, which the authority expects to lead to financial savings down the road.

Savage retired despite having one year left on his multiyear contract, Soffin said.

Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign had kind words for Savage and the MTA's efforts to streamline operations - but said he believed the MTA is "too generous" when crafting packages for executives.

A necessary cost?

How exactly is a fully loaded salary for someone that left their position necessary for the MTA, or any company for that matter. Especially when the dollars come from taxpayers and/or straphangers, that type of waste is pathetic.

Clinton Donors Unhappy

Hillary may have gotten a couple positive marks from last night's match down in Austin, but the negative stories continue to flow like a broken hydrant on a hot summer day. These things keep flooding the wires as things get worse and worse for her failing campaign. After the story about the $5 million loan everyone had questions about her money situation. Why was she broke? What happened? How could the "most prolific fundraiser ever" have financial woes?

This is how:

Nearly $100,000 went for party platters and groceries before the Iowa caucuses, even though the partying mood evaporated quickly. Rooms at the Bellagio luxury hotel in Las Vegas consumed more than $25,000; the Four Seasons, another $5,000. And top consultants collected about $5 million in January, a month of crucial expenses and tough fund-raising.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s latest campaign finance report, published Wednesday night, appeared even to her most stalwart supporters and donors to be a road map of her political and management failings. Several of them, echoing political analysts, expressed concerns that Mrs. Clinton’s spending priorities amounted to costly errors in judgment that have hamstrung her competitiveness against Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

“We didn’t raise all of this money to keep paying consultants who have pursued basically the wrong strategy for a year now,” said a prominent New York donor. “So much about her campaign needs to change — but it may be too late.”

If she can't keep her finances straight on the campaign, how do we expect her to do so for the country? I feel really bad for her contributors who unwittingly sent their hard earned dollars to staying in nice hotels and paying consultants $15 million in January alone. I would feel much, much worse if that kind of flagrant expenditures became continued with the next administration.

Albany Needs To Go On A Diet

No, I'm not calling the citizens of our state capitol fat. I'm calling for a hardcore diet in our state government. It...and we need it badly. The waste and inefficiency is well known to politicos and generally thought of by most New Yorkers. Now we know how bad, at least in the way of how many people work for the state government.

From The NY Sun:

The state Assembly and Senate totaled 3,428 staff members during its busiest period in 2003, the most recent year for which the National Conference of State Legislatures has employment data. That number is nearly 500 more than the second highest state, Pennsylvania, and it's more than 45% more than either California or Texas, the two most populous states in the union.

The number of employees for the Senate Democrats in New York, however, is paltry compared to the size of the Senate Republican apparatus, controlled by the majority leader, Joseph Bruno. More than 530 central staffers work under his charge, creating a gap that Democrats often point to as a reason why they have remained in the minority for so many years.

The staffing level for New York's state Senate dwarfed its counterparts in other populous states.

In California, each party employs roughly 50 people in the state Senate central leadership and caucus staff, a spokeswoman for the Senate president said. In Florida, the total figure for Republicans and Democrats combined reaches to about 200, a spokeswoman there said.

Damn! What is it that all of these people do?

Oh thats right, we're talking about Albany, obviously they do next to nothing.

The Waste At The MTA

With two days to go until the MTA board officially raises our fares to commute in New York, the Daily News publishes a bombshell investigation showing the glut that can be found across the MTA. The redundant costs, multiple executives and a ridiculous amount of lawyers employed and contracted out shows how despite the board wanting more of New Yorkers' money, they fail to save in some of the easiest ways possible.

From The Daily News:

The records show that in the coming year the agency plans to expand the number of jobs from 69,973 to 70,469. In subsequent years the number of jobs will be reduced by a tiny amount - 138 - leaving the number of workers still above the current level.

Consider this:

• Instead of one president, there are eight - the MTA chief and seven agencies.
• Instead of one chief financial officer, there are six CFOs.
• Instead of a central staff, each agency has its own lawyers, auditors and payroll clerks.
  

That is just the overview, those eight Presidents make between $178 and $340K. They're given housing deferments as part of their salaries even though they live close by to their jobs. Many more employees do the same jobs only in a different office. The duplicative nature of the MTA is a well recognized problem, so what did they do about it? They employed a director for $120K to find a solution last year and there won't even be a report issued until next year.

Maybe it takes so long because of all the lawyers telling him or her what is legal and what is not. One hundred and twelve lawyers are spread out across the transit authorities doing god knows what. Their $12 million dollar cost was supplemented by millions more from outside law firms.

The glut is just overwhelming. Now we're expected to pay for this? Absolutely ridiculous!