By The Editors 8/08/12 12:33pm

opinion

Taking its Toll

The state is suggesting that it may nearly triple the cost of crossing the Hudson River from Rockland County to Westchester County when it replaces the outdated Tappan Zee Bridge in several years. The new bridge is going to cost some $5 billion, and Governor Cuomo needs to figure out how to pay for it.

The plan to hit up drivers for 14 bucks when they enter Westchester County (the bridge has a one-way toll system) is very likely a trial balloon, similar to the Port Authority’s plan last year to impose huge new hikes on its bridges and tunnels that connect New York and New Jersey. Governors Cuomo and Christie expressed horror and outrage, and the PA, as if on cue, immediately reduced its request, but tolls went up all the same.

That’s the likely scenario for the new Tappan Zee Bridge—the toll will be significantly higher than it is now, but it won’t be as high as the request. That’s how politics works. But here’s the problem: Government is making it increasingly expensive for commuters and commercial traffic, and that’s simply not good news for the city and regional economy. Read More

By The Editors 7/24/12 6:39pm

opinion

Leadership from Quinn

There are many ways for a politician to prove his or her leadership skills. One of them, surely, is to put the common good (and common sense) ahead of the narrow interests of supporters. Especially well-known supporters.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn passed that crucial test recently when she refused to back down on an ill-advised bill despite intense public pressure from high-profile supporters, especially feminist Gloria Steinem.

We’ve been critical of Ms. Quinn in the past because she seemed to take positions based not on principle but on political calculation. She is, of course, one of the leading candidates to succeed Michael Bloomberg as mayor next year. As Speaker of the Council, Ms. Quinn is the second most-powerful elected official in municipal politics, so her performance in the role should offer some insight into the kind of mayor she would be. Read More

By The Editors 5/23/12 11:28am

opinion

No Time for a Raise

New York’s economy may be on firmer ground than, say, Michigan’s, but that’s not saying much. Statewide, the unemployment rate of 8.5 percent is nearly a half-point higher than the national jobless rate. In New York City, the unemployment rate is about 9.5 percent.

So now is not the time for politicians to pass an election-year increase in the state’s minimum wage, currently set at $7.25 an hour. Hikes in the minimum wage invariably lead to fewer new entry-level jobs, and that’s something the city and state can ill afford. Read More

By Chris Lehmann 2/15/12 10:31am

Class Warfare

coming-apart

The Bull Curve: Charles Murray’s Coming Apart Doesn’t Hold Together

The American scene has become a forbidding place for professional culture scolds on the right. Amid a sluggish recovery, the traditional memes of conservative Kulturkampf—the runaway excesses of political correctness, the snobbery of coastal elites, the home truths of NASCAR—all come across as elite indulgences of their own. Who but Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly or some other high-priced mercenary in the culture struggle still has the energy to inveigh against, say, the war on Christmas, or the lax work ethic of the dependent welfare class? Read More

By The Editors 10/05/11 9:52am

opinion

The Wall Street Protest

It’s hard to know what to make of the ongoing protests on Wall Street, in part because the protesters themselves haven’t been able to send a clear, coherent message. They are angry, that much is certain. And perhaps some have reason to be angry. But hard times have tested the tempers of many New Yorkers, most of whom have resisted the temptation to block traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Any large protest against the so-called establishment, whatever that may mean, is bound to attract a motley crew of aging baby boomers and feckless hipsters who fancy themselves revolutionaries. But the protesters also include many innocent victims of the terrible downturn, from college-educated young people with few if any job prospects to middle-aged parents who wonder if they’ll ever work again. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 9/25/11 1:01pm

Occupy Wall Street

21 Photos

Pick a sign!

Some Signs as to What Those Wall Street Protesters Might Want [PHOTOS]

Protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement have been marching, sitting, walking, sleeping, chanting, dancing, drumming and proclaiming in and around Liberty Plaza for eight straight days. Planning for the protest began in July with a call for peaceful revolution by the magazine Adbusters, with the hope that complacent Americans might adopt some of the outrage and effectiveness of the Arab Spring.

The Adbusters writers had a clear aim:

On September 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.Tahrir succeeded in large part because the people of Egypt made a straightforward ultimatum – that Mubarak must go – over and over again until they won. Following this model, what is our equally uncomplicated demand? The most exciting candidate that we’ve heard so far is one that gets at the core of why the American political establishment is currently unworthy of being called a democracy: we demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington. It’s time for DEMOCRACY NOT CORPORATOCRACY, we’re doomed without it.

But the leaderless movement, which at any one time must be counted by hundreds rather than thousands, is held together by enterprising volunteers who are coordinating the protest via various working groups. The message about a presidential commission has been completely lost. Media attempting to report on the protest grabbed quotes like, “I want to create spectacles,” and “Oh, we’re just here, like, you know, protesting what’s going on.”

After spending a Saturday at the protest, it did seem the various grievances nursed by protesters had a common theme: a vague but certain notion that the richest percentile of the country remains fat and happy as the going-on-five-year-old recession continues to batter the middle and working class.

What do the protesters want to do about it? Less clear! But we found some suggestions in the hand-made signs they carried over the weekend. Read More

By The Editors 12/07/10 2:30pm

Slideshow

Best of 2010: The Biggest Wall Street Stars of the Year

Many Wall Street heavyweights shy away from the spotlight — with good reason. In a world where moneymaking ability frequently trumps all other considerations, it’s best to avoid public scrutiny. Despite a tight-lipped culture, though, a few emissaries from the financial world emerge each year — occasionally for their fantastic achievements, but equally often by Read More

By The Editors 12/06/10 3:30pm

Slideshow

Best of 2010: The Year’s 10 Most Jaw-Dropping Business Quotes

Wall Street tycoons, government regulators and failed outcasts from the world of finance are often measured in their statements to the press, which is why an accidental moment of truth or irony is exceptionally rich when it makes its way through the PR infrastructure that protects corporate America’s interests. From the victims of the crash Read More