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May 19, 2013
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 Whose Side Is the New York Times On, Part 2Posted on Mar 21, 2011
The Moshe Pit is Moshe Adler’s blog on economics, media and whatever else piques his interest. Get more here. In the spending cuts game in New York state, The New York Times has apparently assigned itself the role of the good cop, but the editorial board is in desperate need of a math lesson. In an editorial two weeks ago about state workers, the Times declared itself “not to be anti-worker” yet simultaneously proceeded to call on the governor to go further than a salary freeze, relying on numbers that actually contradicted its argument. In an editorial this past weekend, the paper warned that spending cuts will disproportionately hurt “New York’s most vulnerable citizens—schoolchildren, the elderly, the poor, the sick” and urged that cuts not be any “deeper and more painful than necessary.” But its subsequent call for a minimal tax increase of just $2 billion will leave the state with the need to cut spending by $8 billion, implying that these cuts are an absolute necessity. State personal income in New York in 2009 was $908 billion. Thus a flat tax of less than 1 percent would close the deficit entirely, without any spending cuts. The New York Times’ statement that “Gov. Andrew Cuomo has rightly argued that painful spending cuts will be needed” gives the lie to the paper’s avowed concern for New York’s most vulnerable. Moshe Adler teaches economics at Columbia University and at the Harry Van Arsdale Center for Labor Studies at Empire State College. He is the author of “Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science That Makes Life Dismal” (The New Press, 2010). —Posted by Moshe Adler. Advertisement TAGS:
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By dontono7, February 4, 2012 at 1:03 pm Link to this comment
A flat tax would be much more equitable, and would bring in more income from what I’ve heard. However it will never happen in this country because the rich control this country, and the poor are as a group without any power. In fact, if the Republican party has their way, poor people won’t be able to vote pretty soon at all….don’t believe me?
Report thisBy doublestandards/glasshouses, March 22, 2011 at 6:34 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Cuomo sees himself as Obama’s successor so he’s already trying to get on the right side of the bankers and billionaires of NY who will give him the money to run for president in 2016. As if the rich hadn’t gained enough with their federal tax cuts, he extended their state tax cuts also. Everybody is taking a hit in NY except the most wealthy and still Cuomo has the gall to talk about shared sacrifice.
Report thisBy TDoff, March 22, 2011 at 5:05 pm Link to this comment
Hey, for some Wall Street boiler-room hustler of fanciful-derivative Kitty-Litter futures, who makes $10B/year in commissions, a 1% tax would be $100M.
Which is a whole week’s living expenses!
What’s the poor guy/gal supposed to do, go live in a tent in Central Park one week a year, just to pay a lousy new tax? To keep those crummy teachers screwing-up our kids heads? Whatsamattayou, NYT, you nuts?
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