One thing I have always been willing to do is admit when a politician exceeds my expectations. For example, when he first ran for Assembly, I pretty much had pegged Hakeem Jeffries as being a Bruce Ratner pawn. I think some of his early labor supporters had as well, though they may have seen that as a good thing while I saw it as a bad thing.

I had a low expectation of Hakeem. Although I may not completely agree with him, I have to admit he was far better than I had expected and when Ratner showed he had no sensitivity to the black community and was willing to abandon his affordable housing promises at the drop of a hat, Hakeem Jeffries at least to some degree backed off from his support of Ratner's Atlantic Yards overdevelopment project.  read more »

Banking and Politics: As Old As the Republic

Many economists are now blaming the deregulation of the banking industry by congress as the cause of the nation’s economic crisis. It is important to understand that the intimate relationship between politics and banking policy is not new, nor is its economic influence now unique. Since the nation's beginnings banking regulations have been intimately connected to politics, and the politics of banking is a high stakes game not well understood by the public. It is clearly not understood by today's elected officials who have destroyed Wall Street and the economy of New York City. A review of New York's economic history and banking policy from 1784 to the Civil War clearly shows that banks and banking policy were central to the state's economic development (and closely entwined with politics). It also shows that intelligent banking policy can further economic development while bad policy inevitably causes economic havoc.  read more »

(Note: Again, cross-posted from my website, from which you can also download the 7-page PDF file.)

For the next few weeks, much of the news emanating from Washington will be about whatever "economic stimulus package" Congress eventually passes. Naturally, everyone has gripes about the package as it is reported to stand currently, and everyone will have gripes about the final version of the package, whatever it is. Rather than gripe like all the others, however I thought I'd try something positive - outlining what a good, effective stimulus package should look like.  read more »

As the domestic auto industry falls into desperate straits, and the federal government decides whether to bail them out, we need to take a look at one of the root causes of this crisis.

John Dingell.

As the longtime chairman of the House committee on Energy and Commerce, Dingell has stymied real efforts to force the "Big 3" (GM, Ford, Chrysler) to learn from the disaster of the 70s. Meanwhile, those companies have repeatedly refused to look at what was right in front of their faces. As a result, they are in serious trouble.

I'm not fond of the idea of bailing out the very people who, through their short-sightedness and stupidity, have caused the problems their companies are facing. We should learn from the failures of the current $700 billion bailout. Any federal money spent to bail out the auto industry should come with serious strings:

First, a requirement that the auto industry invest in creating high-speed, electrified rail lines for both passenger and freight rail.  read more »

Democrats rubbed out another five republican Congressmen in the Northeast yesterday, including three in New York, one in New Jersey, and, in a historic victory, finally ending the tenure of New England's last remaining Member of the House, Chris Shays.

In NY-29, Eric Massa succeeded in his second attempt to knock off incumbent Shotgun Randy Kuhl. In NY-13, City Councilman Michael McMahon took Vito "More families, more values" Fossella's formerly safe seat with over 60% of the vote. In NY-25, Dan Maffei will replace retiring republican James Walsh.

So that's that. Republicans just stopped being a national party. Too bad for them.