The Working File

The New York Times lead editorial today: Concern over swelling deficits should not stop Congress from taking steps to revive the economy. But rising deficits — coupled with long-term budget problems driven mostly by the rising cost of health care — make it imperative to get the most from every dollar that is spent on [...]

This is just about right, but doesn’t go far enough. Lawhawk points out that the so-called austerity budget proposed by Governor Patterson actually increases spending over the previous year. Lawhawk also notes that if Patterson had simply proposed the same budget used 2 year ago, he would have saved $7 billion. I remember New York [...]

There are two ways to assist poor or working-class people: you can (1) improve their situation while they remain poor or working class, or (2) help them rise to a higher economic layer.  As far as I can tell, the Democrats seem completely uninterested in the second method, and even show contempt for people who [...]