Government

A Nation in Decline? Commentary by Ed Luce

April 20, 2012 Economics

I’m excerpting liberally below, but you should still consider reading the original. This is a conversation that goes beyond the conventional and superficial. It’s not fun and it’s not optimistic, but if you believe that the first step required in dealing with challenges is to learn and think realistically about them, then this is worth […]

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Doubling Down on Public Pension Investments

April 2, 2012 Budget

Pension costs going up faster than revenue? You have three choices: Raise taxes, cut spending on other items and pay more into your pension reserve. Those are certainly not politically attractive options, but as often as not, these are the options for grown-ups. Reduce pension liabilities by reducing pensions promised. These are politically ugly options, […]

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Wyckoff Heights, New York State, the PPACA, and the Supreme Court: What’s the Connection?

March 26, 2012 Economics

Yesterday in Once Again, Why Universal Coverge, I re-wrote what I written in 2005 and in other terms, even earlier: Because we take the half-step of expecting the healthcare system to provide care to all, but don’t go all the way, we have instead a hidden and half-baked system. The lack of universal coverage provides […]

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Once Again, Why Universal Coverage?

March 26, 2012 Government

I wrote and posted the following on my first blog on February 2, 2005. At some point, I would expect that link to become inactive, so I’ve copied it here in its entirety. I might tinker with a couple of minor things, but for the moment, choose to leave it as originally written: Implicit in […]

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Universal Coverage, “Obamacare,” and the Supreme Court

March 25, 2012 Federal Government

Be careful what you wish for. Coming up this week will be extensive, multi-day arguments before the US Supreme Court on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), labeled derisively by the right as “Obamacare” and perhaps increasing embraced by the Left as “Obamacare.” As Vice President Biden said at the signing ceremony, “this […]

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Intergovernmental Money Movement, Especially Downhill

November 29, 2011 Budget

Little considered or included in public discussions of property tax caps, or limitations on governmental expenditures are intergovernmental financial relationships. This is not merely a matter of mandates but recognition that very large sums of money flow back and forth between all levels of government. What is expenditure for one level of government is often […]

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Another County Nursing Home is Being Sold

November 17, 2011 County Government

Thanks to an alert reader for pointing out that there’s another New York county nursing home on the agenda of New York’s Public Health & Health Planning Council. Unlike Albany’s, this one, in Fulton County, is being sold. We talked earlier here about the large number of counties seeking to offload their nursing homes (and […]

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Good – Voters Turn Down Bond Authorization for Another Arena

August 3, 2011 Debt

Nassau County, NY is already in deep, deep financial trouble. Despite the fact that it is one of if not the wealthiest county in New York, its finances are currently being overseen by a state-sponsored and enforced financial control board. Despite their weakened financial straits, Nassau proposed borrowing $400 million for a new hockey arena. […]

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I’m not the only one

July 28, 2011 Budget

Lawrence O’Donnell just said the solution would be for Boehner to get the Democrats and about 50 “not-crazy” Republicans to pass the debt ceiling increase. Same strategy as I mentioned here. But then he pointed out that Boehner has never done anything to draw Democratic votes. Oh well.

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Postponed House Vote on Debt Ceiling

July 28, 2011 Budget

At this point, the House Republicans has postponed the vote on Boehner’s bill extending the debt ceiling and cutting the budget. Right now, the Republicans don’t have the votes to even pass their own bill. Reminds me of an incident years ago in the NYS Assembly. The parties and positions were the inverse of what […]

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