Starting with the NYC Yang report:
The 2021 mayors race in miniature: a day in which Andrew Yang is mired in one controversy and Twitter outrage after another ends with a poll showing him expanding his lead over his rivals https://t.co/LHy0llJ2eW
— David Freedlander (@freedlander) April 16, 2021
What the NY State Budget Means, according to the NY Times:
| On Tuesday, New York State’s leaders announced that they had reached a deal on a $212 billion budget. |
| The agreement, which came nearly a week after the April 1 budget deadline, is packed with proposals long favored by Democratic legislators, like raising taxes on the rich. |
| Much of the budget — which includes aid for renters, undocumented immigrants and business owners — is intended to fuel New York’s recovery from an economically devastating pandemi |
| The budget still needs to pass the Legislature and be approved by the governor. Here are three key elements in the state’s budget, explained: |
Tax hikes for the wealthy and corporations |
| Despite Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s longtime stance against raising taxes on the rich, Democrats managed to include a personal income tax rate increase on individuals making over $1 million and couples earning more than $2 million, and two new tax brackets for incomes over $5 million and $25 million. |
| ||
| The changes are expected to raise more than $4 billion in additional revenue each year, though Republicans have warned that tax hikes could drive wealthy residents out of the state. |
| If these changes in the budget pass, New York City’s wealthiest residents would face the highest combined state and local personal income tax rates in the country. |
The $2.1 billion fund for undocumented workers |
| The budget will provide one-time payments for undocumented workers who did not qualify for federal stimulus checks or unemployment benefits. Applicants for the fund would have to provide documents to verify their identity, residency and eligibility. |
| Many undocumented immigrants work essential jobs in restaurants, at construction sites and in food delivery. Activists and workers have recently held protests in New York City calling for lawmakers to include the aid in the budget. |
| Some Democrats argued against the fund, fearing blowback from moderate suburban voters in 2022. The state Republican Party chairman, Nick Langworthy, slammed the fund, calling it “woke insanity.” |
Relief programs for renters and homeowners |
| The budget carves out $2.3 billion in federal funds for tenants who are behind on rent and at risk of eviction. |
| The proposed rent relief program would help cover up to 12 months of past rent and utilities costs and three months of future rent for those eligible. |
| The deal dedicates additional funds to combat housing issues worsened by the pandemic. It includes $250 million for New York City’s public housing authority and $100 million to convert hotels and vacant property into affordable housing. |
What it REALLY Means according to me:
Jamaal Bowman, Jumaane Williams, AOC, Ron Kim and many others on tape yesterday:
We need to end tax breaks for the wealthy, and begin to take care of our communities devastated by this pandemic.
We need to #InvestInOurNY. pic.twitter.com/gL13EyguqX
— Rep. Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (@JamaalBowmanNY) March 29, 2021
From the editorial Page of today’s NY Daily News in an article titled, The Path from Poverty?
“In South Dakota, no Liberal place, there’s a new groundswell of support for expanding people’s ability to qualify for Medicaid. Before now, South Dakota was among roughly a dozen states that had resisted Medicaid Expansion for years, which became available after Obamacare was implemented.
What gives?” asks the DN. There’s more but the conclusion is, “The message rings clear…helping people stay healthy and out of poverty helps every one of us.”
Missouri was the latest state to expand Medicaid in the 2020 election that also brought us Cori Bush.
We are not going to get the prize—M4A—this year. But we very well may see the Medicare age lowered to 60 and Medicaid in (almost) every state.
The third pillar of my personal goal is for Medicaid income limits be raised to include even more people.
And yes, I am aware that this is selling out in the view of many of our participants.
New York politics was fundamentally changed on Thursday night, even if the governor will likely remain the same.
“On the face of it, the most exciting New York State primary in a long while ended in disappointment for voters seeking change. Incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his hand-picked slate of candidates — incumbent Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and current New York City Public Advocate Tish James for Attorney General — won, after all.
But while Cuomo’s nearly 30-point victory over Cynthia Nixon is being heralded as a landslide, it is also undeniable that New York will be a demonstrably more progressive state precisely because she ran. Nixon may have secured only slightly more than 30 percent of the vote. But she still proved that primaries matter, even if you get trounced during them.”
This article published in 2018 told the story of what was coming very clearly.
Now, on to 2021. How does Your day look?
Covid Rescue Plan is in the rear view mirror and it lacks many things we care about.
Can some follow-up work fill in a few of the holes? IDK. But here’s what I’m thinking:
Biden issued a mask Mandate in Federal buildings. Is there already a separate Federal Minimum Wage and if not, Can Biden declare one?
If not, how about a Stand Alone Bill in both houses of Congress on a minimum wage hike that would take place immediately? For $10.00 NOW.
Similarly the ACA got some improvements but they aren’t as long lasting or sweeping as most of us hoped for. How about a Stand Alone Bill lowering the Medicare age to 60? I think this may pass.
If these measures are widely publicized and the public is as enthusiaztic as I think they’ll be, we just might get some relief in this way.
I’m not sure that individual Senators will be as willing to vote against small immediate fixes as were ready to stand against the bigger packages. Nothing to hide behind. You are for Starvation Wages or you are not.
Narrowing the focus reveals each legislator as exactly who they are and what they stand for. It won’t work on the shameless but it just might on enough of them .
From the New York Daily News this morning: “Here’s a piece of information that sounds like good news, but isn’t really. New York City added 206,000 new housing units since 2010, a time period during which the city’s population grew by 162,000 people. Overall, 2019 census data show, the city had about 3.5 million units of housing and 3.16 million households.” Which is to say: Gotham doesn’t have a housing shortage; it has a shortage of housing that is affordable. The city’s rental vacancy rate hit a record 6.14% in November 2020, and a 2019 study found more than 25% … Continue reading →
First some good news: The United States Covid Death Toll yesterday was 1,517, Significantly better than the 5000+ posted one day last week and continuing yesterday’s 1,300+ drop in fatalities.
If you are interested in following the Impeachment, the Oral Arguments will begin at 1:00 today for 4 hours.
Tomorrow a 16 hour debate begins.
I await the wrap-up of this particular puppet show so we can get back to the usual business of watching the Democrats manage to lose the next election while pretending that they care about what we care about and at the same time achieving so little that the GOP can win back control.
If you think this is too cynical I wonder where you were in 2010.
Good morning all. We have a rare non-snowy day in NYC this morning so I’m headed out to re-stock.
I congratulate Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Scott and @USProgressives for including a $15 minimum wage in the House reconciliation bill. In 2021, a job should lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it. Increasing the minimum wage will give tens of millions of workers a raise. https://t.co/19CkngNsN6
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 8, 2021
