Author Archive

Demagoguery has never been in short supply in politics, but as the economy tanks and budgets shrink, it’s on the uptick. Take Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who at a press conference two days ago slammed the Mayor for mishandling the City’s homeless population, particularly in Manhattan. But de Blasio offered no real solutions, just demands for more services from a drowning city budget. He criticized the mayor’s proposal to move the men’s intake facility from Bellevue Hospital to Brooklyn... Read More→

It would seem that President Obama’s selection for Supreme Court Justice has all the potential of setting a brush fire the likes only California has experience with. However, I wanted to issue a few words of caution to all those critics and supporters, please step back and look at the facts. This is one of those rare instances in which you witness the demographic evolution of this great country in real time. Aside from being an accomplished justice who allegedly instills the fear of god in... Read More→

I wanted to write a short piece about the public school fiasco that is unfolding downtown between the (Mayor’s) office and several prominent power brokers here in the city. In what is again turning into an absolute embarrassment of comical proportions, the teachers union and a few other notable members of our elected officials want to strip Mayor Bloomberg’s control over the board of education in New York City.They all claim the Mayor has too much power and influence over our children’s... Read More→

How is it possible that after spending $30 Million dollars three years ago to establish a secure database which simply houses every public students grades throughout the state we now have to lobby the Federal Government and the State Tax payers for additional funds to basically scrub the plan and redesign it completely? In an age of companies like Google, Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo, who in essence are giant database managers and sift through trillions of documents across multiple geographic locations... Read More→

Last night I was discussing my latest entry to this blog with my smarter/better half and I was scolded for not being clear enough. So I am going to briefly attempt to clarify my thoughts. As I stated, I am not suggesting the city should take over the day to day operation at Tavern on the Green. The Tavern has successfully attracted masses from all over the world for decades and should remain so. My argument revolves around the paltry returns taxpayers receive in exchange for what is potentially... Read More→

In what is going to be another great example of missed opportunities (and an extraordinarily unfathomable mismanagement by several key members of the city administration) the city has set May 1st at the deadline for bids to operate the almighty Tavern on the Green for years to come. Tavern on the Green, that landmark venue in the heart of Central Park which hosts around 750,000 guests a year and generated $38M in revenue in 2007 has it’s lease and revenue sharing contract coming due at the... Read More→

It appears Mayor Bloomberg has warned labor unions in the city that they must renegotiate their contracts or risk loosing 23,000 jobs. Most of these are going to come out of the Department of Education. No doubt they will push back and we will all come to some sort of understanding that does absolutely nothing for us but push back the inevitable. When are we going to face the problem of wasted resources and uninterrupted bullying by our countless labor unions. Do not misunderstand me, I am all... Read More→

Andrew Jackson (the 7thPresident) closed down the Second Bank of the US in 1836 and aptly justified his actions with the following quote: “Gentlemen, I had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand... Read More→

Among the amazing headlines of praise and ongoing rhetoric this morning I stumbled across one that brought to light Fiat’s (Italy’s premier manufacturer and owner of Ferrari and Maserati) interest in our very own secretly bankrupt Chrysler. While I am not surprised that an industrial conglomerate like Fiat might be interested in coming back to the US after almost 3 decades, it disappoints me a little to read that they are only interested if we fork over another $3B in loans to Chrysler... Read More→