NY Governor David Paterson awards himself a silver cup for winning Daily Bail's Doofus of the Year for 2010.
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Excuse me while I shift that future liability from over here, to over there. Done. Problem solved. Future generations may kiss my NY State Comptroller Ass.
Repeat after me:
- Extend. Pretend. Borrow. And Spend.
Links, live video from the Talking Heads & David Byrne, and outrage are below.
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Obama:
- "Hey, I just got a super idea. Let's bailout the state of New York."
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State Plan Makes Pension Fund Both Borrower and Lender...
ALBANY — Gov. and legislative leaders have tentatively agreed to allow the state and municipalities to borrow nearly $6 billion to help them make their required annual payments to the state pension fund.
And, in classic budgetary sleight-of-hand, they will borrow the money to make the payments to the pension fund — from the same pension fund.
As word of the plan spread, some denounced it as a shell game and a blatant effort by state leaders to avoid making difficult decisions, like cutting government spending or reducing pension benefits.
“It’s a classic Albany example of kicking the can down the road,” said Harry Wilson, the Republican candidate for comptroller, who holds an M.B.A. from Harvard.
Pension costs for the state and municipalities are soaring, a result of enhanced retirement benefits for public employees and the decline in the stock market over the past two years. And, given declines in tax revenue and larger budget shortfalls, the governments are struggling to come up with the money to make the contributions.
Under the plan, the state and municipalities would borrow the money to reduce their pension contributions for the next three years, in exchange for higher payments over the following decade. They would begin repaying what they borrowed, with interest, in 2013.
But Mr. Paterson and other state officials hope the stock market will have rebounded to such a degree by that time that the state’s overall pension contribution burden will have been reduced.
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Continue reading at the NYT >>
Video: Talking Heads -- David Byrne LIVE -- Stop Making Sense Tour -- 1988
- "Psycho Killer. Qu'est-ce que c'est. You better run run, run run away."