Public Finance

Lap Dances Officially Not "Art," Court Rules

Sorry, strippers -- rubbing your asses on strangers is officially not "art" thanks to a ruling by the New York State Court of Appeals this morning (yes, the court actually had to decide whether lap dances are "art").In a 4-3 ruling, the Court ruled that lap dances are not tax-exempt works of art the ... More >>

Paul Ryan Uses His Own Mama to Defuse Medicare Drama

In Rep. Paul Ryan's 'The Path to Prosperity' budget, Medicare, the health insurance program that is loved by older Americans and hated by deficit hawks, will cease to exist some time around 2022. The program - a lasting stipulation of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society - will be transformed into a vo ... More >>

BREAKING: Supreme Court Has Upheld Individual Mandate, Handing Obama Huge Victory on Healthcare Law

We're listening to the Brian Lehrer show and reading SCOTUSblog's liveblog as the Supreme Court sits for what will probably be the final time of this term. And...SCOTUSblog is saying that the mandate has survived as a tax, and that Chief Justice John Roberts has joined the left in this ruling. The ... More >>

AG Eric Schneiderman Continues Crusade Against Small Tobacco

​New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman apparently is on a mission to rid the state of roll-your-own cigarette businesses, and today he's got another victim in his cross hairs.Schneiderman has filed a federal lawsuit against a business near Syracuse that was running an operation similar to th ... More >>

Eric Schneiderman Takes On Small Tobacco; AG's Office Suing Two Roll-Your-Own Cigarette Businesses

​Bad news, hipsters...Apparently out of bigger fish to fry, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman -- in cahoots with New York City Corporation Counsel Michael Cordoza -- has set his sights on small tobacco; he's filed lawsuits against two roll-your-own cigarette businesses in New York City f ... More >>

Bloomberg and Diaz Jr. Write Op-Ed In Favor of Fresh Direct's Move To The Bronx

​Mayor Bloomberg and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. weighed in on the Fresh Direct controversy stewing in the Bronx in a New York Daily News op-ed Sunday. Writing in favor of Fresh Direct's move to the South Bronx the two politicians tried to assuage critics' fears over the damage the ... More >>

Jesse Jackson Slams Newt Gingrich Over Food Stamps

And the food-stamp fracas continues! The Reverend Jesse Jackson has just blasted Newt Gingrich for his comments that Barack Obama is a "food stamp" president, and has come out against the Republican presidential hopeful, telling Politico: "Food stamps (are the) lifeline for many Americans -- they h ... More >>

Billionaire's March Occupies the Upper East Side

​Yesterday at noon, protesters gathered at 59th Street and 5th Avenue (just across the street from the Plaza Hotel) for the Billionaire's March, a picket of the homes of five of New York's richest men: Rupert Murdoch, David Koch, Howard Milstein, Jamie Dimon, and John Paulson. Separate from ye ... More >>

Rightbloggers: S&P Downgrade of U.S. Means We're On The Right Track

Last week, hot on the heels of the Congressional debt-ceiling fiasco and the ensuing stock market drop, Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of the United States of America from AAA to AA , and placed the ailing superpower on "CreditWatch with negative implications." The reactions of Ame ... More >>

Community Gardens Fear Wilting Under Massive Cuts in Federal Block-Grant Money

Growing dissent: Urban gardeners besiege City Hall​By Adrian Fussell Looming federal budget cuts mean that community gardens across New York City will likely face a severe, life-threatening drought. And the seeds of protest are already sprouting. Supporters of GreenThumb, the city's primary comm ... More >>

House Republicans Give Unemployed the Finger

​Almost 100,000 unemployed New Yorkers whose unemployment benefits are expiring will have a very not-so-merry Christmas this year now that House Republicans have killed a proposed $56 billion benefits extension, the Daily News says.

Mike Bloomberg's Foundation Growing -- in Cayman Islands

​Mike Bloomberg's idea of charity still stops at U.S. taxpayers. The latest filings for the mega-foundation run by New York's richest resident shows that he pumped a whopping $420 million last year into his do-gooder operation - cue the cheers! -- while parking $75 million in offshore tax have ... More >>

Turns Out Alan Greenspan Is An Oil Painting After All

thegallerysagharbor.com​There is, according to the Wall Street Journal, a market in oil paintings of Alan Greenspan, and like most markets it's somewhat depressed of late.

Senate extends COBRA subsidy and federal unemployment filing deadlines

​The Senate voted Saturday to extend the filing deadline for both federally-funded extended unemployment benefits and an additional six months of a 65% COBRA subsidy until the end of February. The current filing deadline is December 31 for both programs. One million of the nine million jobless ... More >>

Paterson Releases Delicious Stimulus $ Report: NYC Gets $8.16 Billion

Governor Paterson released a report today showing where the $18 billion that New York State got in stimulus money is going. You'll be pleased to hear that the counties comprising New York City receive by far the most American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds -- $8.16 billion. Hooray! Secon ... More >>

City Repeals Tax on Freelancers -- But Albany Hits 'Em With Another

​Last week the Freelancer's Union sent an email encouraging its 75,000 members to go out and stump for Michael Bloomberg's reelection campaign. "Will you join us?" asked Union president Sara Horowitz, who said she'd be volunteering personally. The group is supporting Bloomberg because earlier ... More >>

Barrett: Bloomberg's Hypocrisy On View in Ad Slamming Thompson

It was a sports weekend on the Barrett tube and my only companion, throughout the hours of playoff baseball, was Bill Thompson. Not his ad, of course, but the latest one Mayor Mike has on every channel endlessly about Thompson, railing about the comptroller's supposed flip-flop on a millionaire's ... More >>

American Casino Snipes at America's Subprime Bloodsuckers with TV-Blandness

Atlantic Yards Combatants Finally Forced To Sit Through State Senate Hearing

The footprint. Image via Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots. Yesterday was the long-awaited — like, six years long — first state legislative hearing on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, with State Senator Bill Perkins convening his Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Committee ... More >>

IBO Finds NYC Budget About $1 Billion Worse Than Mayor Does (Updated)

Mayor Bloomberg's getting really creative in his attempts in stim the city's failing economy: today he, Anna Wintour, Vera Wang and others announce that they'll hold "Fashion's Night Out" on Thursday, September 10, and call on rag traders "to keep their doors open late." They claim over 100 stores ... More >>

Chinese Arms Shipper to Iran Indicted -- But Maybe Untouchable

Evidently New York banks aren't just good for imploding the world economy and then sucking up taxpayer money in order to rebuild. They're also a good way to send and receive illegal payments. Chinese citizen Li Fang Wei, the manager of Chinese company LIMMT, has just been indicted by the Manh ... More >>

Paterson Threatens 8,900 Layoffs to Close Budget Gap

Governor Paterson is playing hardball, or at least fast-pitch softball, with the civil service unions. He wants them to skip a pay increase and give back some on benefits, or else, he says, he may have to fire 8,900 of them to close his growing budget gap. That's about four percent of the government ... More >>

Daschle Out at HHS

While new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner owed $34,000 in taxes, he had an excuse, if not a good one, in his confusion over his salary arrangements with the World Bank, and it's not like a Treasury Secretary has that much to do with finance anyway. But Tom Daschle, Senate lion and proposed Health a ... More >>

Gelinas: Don't Take That Federal Money, NY, It's a Trap (Updated)

Every New York governmental agency has its hand out for government largesse from tax-and-spend liberal Obama. At the New York Post, the Manhattan Institute's Nicole Gelinas says they shouldn't. It's "a bad idea for wealthy cities like New York to depend on federal policies for rational infrastructur ... More >>

Wayne Barrett: Plaxico, You Should Have Worked for Bloomberg

City to Cut $1.5 Billion Via Layoffs, Tax Cut Rollback, Fines, Etc.

Krauts Sour on Wall Street Bailout

Times: Mayor Talked to Wall St. VIPs, Is "Elder Statesman"

Daily Flog: 'No one convicted!'; nationwide search for Obama's mojo; McCain wallows in blood of Christ

Yankees to City: What’s Another $350M Between Friends?

Pols Feasting on Pork

A roundup of earmarks in the latest Defense bill

Bloomberg's Cash-Back Plan for Poor

Make the Check out to NYC, Rumsfeld!

State of the Union Not Looking So Stately

Big Bush speech creates campaign atmosphere in D.C.

Strike Report 12/22/05
It's Over (Almost), But Pension Battle for All U.S. Workers is Just Starting

Mayor Mike Makes His Case

A feisty Bloomberg sells his record on schools, health, crime, budget & jobs

Weiner & The Rating Game

The Shel Game

Silver and his Albany pals mint hundreds of millions in corporate handouts without anybody noticing

It's the Economy, Stupid

Million-Dollar Tax Dodge

We did it for you, senator: special care and handling for Velella's deadbeat pal

Congress's Dubious Medicare Reform

How a New Prescription-Drug Plan Could Drive Up Prices for the Elderly

Lies, Damned Lies, and Campaign Promises

Pataki Spins Houdini Math

Blood, Stats, and Tears

How the Coming War Stacks Up

Tough Watchdog

Lefþer the Latest to Feel Campaign Board’s Bite

The Other Budget Culprit

Giuliani's Role in Fiscal Woes

Getting Away With Murder

Pataki's Fiscal Follies Pass Unnoticed in Re-Election Fervor

The Goldbug Variations

Rudy's Gift to Mike

A Fiscal Legacy That Will Haunt the Bloomberg Years

A Tear in the Net

As Federal Dollars Disappear, No Security for City’s Poor

Saving the Safety Net

Advocates Mobilize to Revamp Federal Welfare Law