Archive for November 21st, 2006
The insanity of New York States fiscal mismanagement continues. The State Court of Appeals has ruled that the State must spend an additional $1.193 BILLION on New York City Schools. That is $1754.55 per student on top of the more than $14,000 the State already spends per student. Anybody who has mastered 6th grade math knows that a private school education is cheaper and better.
Tax Credits and Vouchers, that is what we need . . .not more money poured into a dysfunctional public school system run by a bunch of me first unions. On Day 14 we learn that Eliot Spitzer’s reaction on Day 13 to the Court ruling was that he wants to spend even more!
They noted that Spitzer has already proposed spending far more than the funding level established by the court on Monday; Spitzer has talked of an additional $4 billion to $6 billion being needed each year.
The tax and spend self-serving interests and politicians optimistically note that the Court ruling is just a floor figure and more can be spent. Spitzer wants to tie more spending to more regulations. Not surprising from someone who twisted the law to fleece private enterprises. Every single step that has contributed to our crappy economy can be tied to enactments of more regulation. Regulation does not bring more accountability and increased performance. It hinders innovation and creates liars out of our public officials. President Bush’s “no child left behind” act has resulted in school districts inflating test scores so they wouldn’t loose money. It didn’t improve education, it just costs us more to do the same lousy job.
New York State’s finances have been in a virtual decline since the day I was born and it doesn’t look to get any better. It is amazing when I look back and realize that only a handful of different people have held the Governor’s office in my lifetime. I will discount Harriman, who only had 1 year left when I was born and Malcolm Wilson who served for one year when Rockefeller resigned. During the preceding 49 years we have been fleeced by only 4 different people; Nelson Rockefeller, Hugh Carey, Mario Cuomo and George Pataki.
I am just about to the point of urging all New York State residents, especially Western New York, to make that big vote with their feet and move to another area in the country. It is Day 14 and the road to fiscal responsibility is paved with nothing more than good intentions. We are already reeling from the results of good intentions already!
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Lightning may have struck twice in the HSBC arena last night, but it wasn’t enough for Tampa Bay to overcome the 7 goal second period by the Buffalo Sabres.
I was in for a real treat last night, I had seats just inside the blue line, 13 rows from the ice, on the end where all 9 goals were scored. The view was fantastic. Even though the Sabres had the game well in hand, very few people left early.
The game was an unusual one due to the bizarre 2nd period. First, there was the Sabres scoring 7 goals and making it look extremely easy. Second, the review of one of the Sabres’ goals took forever. Third, the glass was broken and had a nice sized hole which caused the referees to end the period with 2:08 left and tack the time on to open the 3rd period before the teams switched ends.
One of the highlights of the game, at least for me, is the sound that emanates from Max Afinogenov’s skates as he dances around the opposition while still under full steam. That sound is something you can’t really experience watching a game on TV.
The prettiest play of the night is described quite well on Bfloblog.com (read their complete recap here):
a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal from Kalinin to Paille to Gaustad for the tip-in.
Marc Denis did not have a chance on that goal. He positioned himself perfectly for what looked like would be a shot from Paille on his right side, Paille perfectly sent the puck across the net to Gaustad who whacked it in the open side without missing a beat. That goal made it 4-1 Buffalo and left little doubt with the crowd that we were on the way to another Sabres’ victory.
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Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.
- Milton Friedman
