Return of the '70's... scare tactic or real...

Not a scare tactic...this is the real deal.

Well, NYC and NYS spending as a percentage of NYC and NYS GDP are a LOT higher than they were inthe 70s, and of course NYC & NYS GDP a also a LOT higher...so on an inflation adjusted and GDP adjusted basis, NYC spends SIGNIFICANTLY more than it did back then, both overall and on a per capita basis. So even "draconian" cuts would leave the coty spending far more than it did inthe 70s. NYC excels in wastful spending, moreso than other large U.S. cities.

Another way of looking at it is that there tens of thousand MORE city employees now then there were in the 70s, and he wants to cut 7000. Which would still leave us with thousands more than under Guliani. So no, the 70s are not back just yet.

NYC Law Dept. reported recently that NYC pays something like $600,000,000 per year in tort settlements and judgements. Slips and falls, stuff like that. At least it's trickling down to the populace. The more litigious part of it, anyway.

Was the 70s crime more due to a liberal attitude against crime (a la san francisco 2009) or more due lack of police force/corruption

"Was the 70s crime more due to a liberal attitude against crime (a la san francisco 2009) or more due lack of police force/corruption"

False choice . . . 70s crime was due to more crime being committed.

That is one loaded question. I like to throw out Roe v. Wade, just to get a reaction.

Most of the things that were police were "corrupted" for are now at least semi-legal. The lottery, OTB, "escort services" and downloadable/rental porn eliminated the need for "don't ask, don't tell" on gambling and prostitution. And most of the the penny ante "corruption" (ie beat cops getting free meals, drinks, donuts maybe a $20 here and there from local merchants..) actually helped control street crime not increase it.

Yes, we have far more $$$$ than the 70s, and will probably continue to have more.

Problem is we spend waaaaaaay more.

And most of that can't change. Locked in pensions, entitlements.

Thank god for the unions!

Owners should be hoping the 70s return - NYC apt prices rose almost 3-fold from 1975 to 1980
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/quarterly_review/1980v5/v5n1article3.pdf

wsj covered the dilemma pretty well...

"This is advertised as a plan of "shared sacrifice," but the group that is most responsible for New York's budget woes, the all-powerful public employee unions, somehow walk out of this with a 3% pay increase. The state is receiving an estimated $10 billion in federal stimulus money, and Democrats are spending every cent while raising the state budget by 9%. Then they insist with a straight face that taxes are the only way to close the budget deficit."

At least bloomberg is cutting their jobs, though. It woudl be insane if he weren't.

Or grandstanding anyway.

Unfortunately, union contracts limit who can be laid off.

I remember this coming up when they figured out they needed half the garbagemen, but they ended up just gaving most work half days because they couldn't get rid of 'em.