Story from CBS News. (H/T ECM)
Excerpt:
Governor David Paterson said Tuesday that the days of profligate spending in Albany are over and that starting immediately lawmakers must participate in an “age of accountability.”
That said, the governor’s new budget has $1 billion in new taxes and nearly $800 million in cuts for New York City.
[…]”Our revenues have crumbled and our budget has crashed and we can no longer afford this spending addiction that we have had for so long,” Paterson said.
[…]”The mistakes of the past have lead us to the breaking point,” Paterson said.
But in addition to the severe belt tightening, the governor said he would need to raise $1 billion in new taxes and fees — some politically controversial.
* A $1 increase in the cigarette tax, raising the state tax to $3.75.
* A new soda tax that will cost consumers 1-cent per ounce — a 16-ounce bottle will cost 16 cents more, a 64-ounce bottle 64 cents more.
* The governor also plans to legalize and sanction cage fighting.
* And allow wine to be sold in grocery stores.
* And introduce 50 speed cameras on highways to catch unsuspecting motorists with fines of up to $100.
How did this happen?
New York legislators voted to tax the wealthy.
Then the wealthy left New York for red states.
And now Albany has no revenues to pay for all of their government spending on social programs, such as paying delinquent teachers to do nothing all day because the teacher unions won’t allow teachers to be fired, no matter how badly they screw up.
Governor Patterson never wanted anything to do with earlier tax increases on the wealthy. At least these new tax increases are on consumption, not on income, and not on corporations. Consumption taxes cost the fewest jobs, in my opinion. Consumption taxes encourage saving, too.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
Florida is not a red state – it’s currently a blue state, more importantly, it’s one of only a few states that have no state income tax.
It’s going to be an interesting next 10 or so years – the borrow and spend mentality of the reds (started by Reagan) and the tax and spend mentality of the dems is going to have to stop – both parties are driving our nation into the poor house. It’s also going to be interesting to see what programs get cut…unfortunately, I don’t think the massive entitlement programs states like NY have will get cut first, and they have a lot they can easily cut. When I was going through family court and had to pay child support – after the hearing, I had to go visit 3 seperate federal buildings to get all of the paperwork and filings taken care of!! Each place asked the exact same questions and took down the same info…dealing with them now is an effort in futility.
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Please tell me which annual budget deficit is larger: 300 billion or 1400 billion. I’ll wait here. Just tell me which number is bigger, don’t try to make any assertions.
Oh, then tell me which number is bigger: all of Bush’s 8 years of budget deficits, or Obama’s FIRST YEAR of budget deficits. Here’s a hint.
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I never said obama was doing a great job, quite the contrary – he’s spending like Reagan did (a nice site that shows reagan to be more socialist than FDR with plenty of backing info: http://openleft.com/diary/13109/reagan-more-socialist-than-fdr)
Even the cato institute has started calling the republicans the big government party: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=2519
why I don’t like Obama: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/
with the possible exception of Clinton (who still spent more than I like), the past 5 (reagan,bush,clinton,bush,obama) presidents have done nothing but harm to this country.
so you can try and defend your party of choice (I know it’s the republicans), but it will be fruitless in the end.
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Soda companies are good corporate citizens. They employ people in various communities and give to those communities in times of need. One of the first companies to respond to the tragedy in Haiti was Coca-Cola with a donation of $1 million dollars to the Red Cross. On the ground, Coca-Cola is getting four thousands cases of water through to Haiti each day. Keep going Coke — Please keep helping!
Governor Paterson should back off the soda. It is not the source of the obesity problem. Inferior physical and nutritional education, which of course leads to poor exercise habits and ill-advised diets, are the cause of inflated waistlines. Having a salad with a Coke is far better then a bottle of water to wash down a face full of dirty water dogs. Add walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator and you’re golden.
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I think the obesity problem is a parenting problem. Perhaps even a fatherlessness problem. And we know what causes fatherlessness. Feminist policies like no-fault divorce and welfare programs.
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