Angry New Yorker

Semi-Daily Rants from New York City's Angry Man

"As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly." - Dr. Samuel Johnson, Boswell, Life of Johnson, Sept. 1783

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Sunday, December 28, 2008
 
Merry Christmas.

We can't wait for this year to end. 2008 has been a very, very rough year from start to finish, personally, professionally, politically and pecuniary, for us here at Angry New Yorker. We can only hope 2009 is better. Given the growing storm we've been caulking the hull, tightening the capstans and fixtures, checking the rigging and basically making ready for the arrival of full gale forces. We pray the storm will pass far from us, but as always hope is not a strategy.

As for New York, the eye of the storm is certain to pass over it to the echo of a million strong chorus of "I told you so's". People are rightfully withdrawing their trust and faith in government, whether state or federal, at levels not seen in the United States in generations, and the consequences could be grim. No one wants to the be that last "sucker" - the last man still following the rules and laws when those all about him flout with impunity what he has determined to be the course.

I'm sure the citizens of Rome were dumbfounded when the empire finally fell. Augustine's epic City of God goes into some tangential detail, but ironically, as noted in The God that Did Not Fail, by Robert Royal, many citizens in the outer Roman lands were relieved when the high burdens of Roman taxation and regulations dissipated.

One idea we were mulling over during the weekend's reflection was that with the closing of the frontier and the civilizing of the western U.S. there was no where for a man to "escape" to build a life anew and leave the baggage of his past failings behind. While this certainly is for the better in many instances (how many conman, crooks and charlatans escaped justice by heading west in previous centuries can never be known), but how amazing would it be to create a "new frontier" right within the U.S. where regulations were few, taxes minute and people chose to accept fewer governmental "services" in exchange for more freedom? More on this in future posts after I decide if this is merely too many holiday alcoholic beverages speaking or worth exploring.

posted by anonymous at 11:56 PM

Wednesday, December 17, 2008
 
Slash & Burn? More like Nick & Slightly Warm

So Governor Patterson announces a budget that news outlets described as a "slash and burn" effort. Excuse me? Patterson says we are in the most severe economic climate since the Depression and the governor's budget cuts... Wait for it... spending to only a 1% increase over last year's budget.

Now we realize that in NYS, addicted to year over year compounded spending increases far higher than inflation, this represents draconian cuts. But it is hardly a "slash and burn" budget by any measure.

Patterson is quickly learning that NYkers are sick and tired of being nickled and dimed to death. As longtime readers know we moved outside NYC to Connecticut last year, so we can watch NYS with a bit more detachment (though CT is in no great budgetary shape), but the outrage we've seen to Patterson's proposals center heavily on the increase in petty fees and NOT his "cuts".

posted by anonymous at 8:12 AM

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