Zam-Zam
Senator
Some hard truths:
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: But first, here's "My Take."
It's hard to see how the government shutdown and reopening is anything other than a defeat for the Democrats. A high stakes confrontation that ended with their own goals unmet and their message muddled. If they didn't have the leverage or were not willing to use it to prolong the shutdown, then why did they stage it at all?
The shutdown reinforced the image of the Democrats as feckless. They promised wonderful sounding new programs, free childcare. But in fact preside over bloated bureaucracies and inept execution. If America has an affordability crisis, it tends to be in places Democrats govern, like New York, Illinois and California, which all feature high taxes, soaring housing costs and stagnant outcomes in basic areas like education and infrastructure.
Consider New York City, the country's largest and most important metropolis. The mayor-elect wants to spend more money on shiny new programs, but surely it would be worth first asking what happened to the money already raised?
In 2012, toward the end of Michael Bloomberg's mayoralty, the city's budget was about $65 billion. Today it is about $116 billion, an increase of more than 75 percent in just over a decade. Spending has soared while the subway deteriorates. Housing costs rise and public schools remain mediocre despite spending more than $36,000 per pupil last year, the highest in the nation among major school districts.
The result is a paradox that defines much of blue state America. Government that promises more costs more, but delivers less. New York state mirrors the city. Its spending has risen from roughly $70 billion in 2000 to more than $230 billion today, about twice Florida's budget even though Florida has several million more residents. When voters see that record, they conclude, not unreasonably, that more money is not the answer.
Yet Democrats' instinctive response to every problem remains the same -- spend more. The truth is that local government in the U.S. is already living on borrowed time. For decades, states and cities have traded short-term political harmony for long-term fiscal ruin. To keep peace with powerful public sector unions, they promise ever more lavish pensions and benefits, then quietly defer the bill to future taxpayers.
Complete text: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...t_tends_to_be_in_places_democrats_govern.html
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: But first, here's "My Take."
It's hard to see how the government shutdown and reopening is anything other than a defeat for the Democrats. A high stakes confrontation that ended with their own goals unmet and their message muddled. If they didn't have the leverage or were not willing to use it to prolong the shutdown, then why did they stage it at all?
The shutdown reinforced the image of the Democrats as feckless. They promised wonderful sounding new programs, free childcare. But in fact preside over bloated bureaucracies and inept execution. If America has an affordability crisis, it tends to be in places Democrats govern, like New York, Illinois and California, which all feature high taxes, soaring housing costs and stagnant outcomes in basic areas like education and infrastructure.
Consider New York City, the country's largest and most important metropolis. The mayor-elect wants to spend more money on shiny new programs, but surely it would be worth first asking what happened to the money already raised?
In 2012, toward the end of Michael Bloomberg's mayoralty, the city's budget was about $65 billion. Today it is about $116 billion, an increase of more than 75 percent in just over a decade. Spending has soared while the subway deteriorates. Housing costs rise and public schools remain mediocre despite spending more than $36,000 per pupil last year, the highest in the nation among major school districts.
The result is a paradox that defines much of blue state America. Government that promises more costs more, but delivers less. New York state mirrors the city. Its spending has risen from roughly $70 billion in 2000 to more than $230 billion today, about twice Florida's budget even though Florida has several million more residents. When voters see that record, they conclude, not unreasonably, that more money is not the answer.
Yet Democrats' instinctive response to every problem remains the same -- spend more. The truth is that local government in the U.S. is already living on borrowed time. For decades, states and cities have traded short-term political harmony for long-term fiscal ruin. To keep peace with powerful public sector unions, they promise ever more lavish pensions and benefits, then quietly defer the bill to future taxpayers.
Complete text: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...t_tends_to_be_in_places_democrats_govern.html
