Budget « Anne Michaud

Archive for the ‘Budget’ Category

Reasons to shoo away the humbuggers

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

It’s been a Scrooge of a year, wouldn’t you say? Ebenezer Scrooge – whom I caught on television the other night looking a lot like the actor George C. Scott – was a man who refused to share any of his wealth with the world around him. The year 2012 bears a resemblance.

This year, we endured a divisive battle for the presidency, which was fought at times as though the only thing that mattered was how much money either side could raise. That’s a sad statement for a country that stands for democracy.

Thousands were wiped out financially and emotionally by superstorm Sandy. Many innocents were lost to deranged gunmen in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn.

The economy refused to rebound, and Washington wouldn’t come to agreement over anything.

And so the year 2012 was stingy like Scrooge. But in “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens thankfully gives us examples of two people who don’t lose faith in the old miser: his long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit and his nephew, Fred. (more…)

Tags: banking meltdown, Barack Obama, Budget, foreclosure, job loss, Middle Class, parenting, Politics, social effects, Unemployment
Posted in Budget, Consumer Confidence, Economy, Family, Globalization, Mental illness, Middle Class, Politics, President, Public Health, Social problems, Supreme court, Unemployment, Unemployment rate | Comments Off

Democrats should make good on campaign hints to upper-middle class

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

It seems likely that we will be hearing about the tortuous dramas of the “fiscal cliff” until the calendar closes on 2012. The president took his case to business leaders this week and will speak tomorrow to workers at a Pennsylvania toy factory, in an effort to ratchet up pressure on Republicans in Congress.

Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), is threatening to push the country into default unless there are drastic spending cuts. And so the wrestling match continues, teetering as close to the Jan. 1 “cliff” edge as possible.

Many Long Islanders, I suspect, will be watching how the debate settles over who is wealthy and who is middle class. President Barack Obama has drawn the line at earnings of $200,000 for an individual, and $250,000 for a household. He wants to extend tax cuts for everyone below those annual incomes.

However, this income cutoff is unfair to high-cost areas like Long Island, as some Democrats have acknowledged. In 2010, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) floated the idea of raising taxes only on $1-million-plus incomes. A year earlier, Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) was one of eight co-sponsors of a bill, the Tax Equity Act, that would have adjusted federal income tax brackets to account for regional differences in the cost of living. (more…)

Tags: Barack Obama, Budget, Middle Class, New York, suburbs
Posted in Budget, Consumer Confidence, Economy, Long Island life, Middle Class, Politics, President | Comments Off

State ‘mandates’ are like cockroaches: hard to kill

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

First published in Newsday.

Newsday’s editorial board frequently meets with people in public life: school superintendents, state and local elected officials, law-enforcement agents. And one question that comes up all the time is how to reduce the cost of public services.

It was an issue back when the only urgency was New York’s position as No.1 or No.2 in the nation with the highest combined state and local tax burden – a “distinction” New York trades from year to year with New Jersey. Now, as the Great Recession has tightened the screws on public budgets everywhere, the question is more pointed: Which will it be, raise taxes or cut services?

Elected officials, candidates and community leaders usually don’t want to choose between these unpopular alternatives. Sometimes they try a dodge: “Cut waste, fraud and abuse!” Hard to argue with that. No one ever campaigns for more inefficiency, dishonesty and corruption.

The other dodge – or at least that’s how I thought of it until recently – was, “Cut unfunded mandates!” (more…)

Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Budget, David Paterson, Education, New York, Politics, Right-sizing, suburbs
Posted in Andrew Cuomo, Budget, Consumer Confidence, David Paterson, Economy, Education, NY politics, New York, Politics, Right-sizing | Comments Off

Readers respond: Students need layoff facts

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Regarding the column by Anne Michaud, “Keep school budget talk out of the classroom” [Opinion, Dec. 8], I agree that children need to feel secure in school. Their focus needs to be on learning.

A major part of that learning should, in my opinion, be relating knowledge to reality. What good are the three Rs if we don’t see the issues that are facing us daily?

We live in a society that has a small percentage of people voting in general and school elections. This lack of response leads to lack of control over the direction our country takes and sometimes even to corruption in government.

It is imperative that our children learn to be good citizens and participate in our democracy. If this means bringing up budget concerns to students old enough to understand, then they should be mentioned. An open discussion talking about the whole process and not focusing just on layoffs, would be in order. This hopefully would bring students to begin thinking about mundane issues that our society faces on a daily basis. Opening their young minds would undoubtedly lead to a more involved electorate later on.

Steve Tuck, Huntington
(more…)

Tags: Education, Family, identity, job loss, Middle Class, parenting, Politics, Readers respond, Right-sizing, Shame, social effects, suburbs, Unemployment
Posted in Budget, Children, Economy, Education, Family, Long Island life, Middle Class, NY politics, New York, Readers respond, Right-sizing, Shame, Social problems, Unemployment, Youth, job churn | Comments Off