Opinion

We fought the war on poverty, and poverty won  — Peter Ferrara It’s now 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson proposed his war on poverty. To date, the nation has spent $20 trillion to solve the problem, twice the amount spent on all military conflicts since the American Revolution. During this past half century, federal […]

New York state (NYS) has the unfortunate distinction of being a high cost-of-living state, and when it comes to auto insurance, New York lives up to its reputation. Our auto-insurance rates are among the highest in the nation. Although there are several reasons for our high rates, fraud plays a large part. Indeed, according to

Where the hell is our recovery?  How come so few new jobs? Why is our middle class shrinking? Complex questions I know. Many economists and political guys thrash about for answers. They rummage through data. The answer to all these is as fat as a pizza. Yet these guys don’t see it. Because they look

Recently, the Tax Foundation released its state-by-state rankings of business tax climates, and New York’s placement improved by two slots to 48th place. This improvement is good news, but it highlights that there is still much work to be done. New York is not quite ready for a victory lap. Let’s not kid ourselves. Our

“Ethics reform” has been a buzz phrase heard in Albany and around the state a lot over the last few years and for good reason. Lately, there have been several high-profile cases of wrongdoing by state officials. However, as is often the case in state politics, what is meant by “ethics reform” depends on who

Is it 2014 or 1938? I ask because current events are eerily reminiscent of my birth year. In March 1938, Adolph Hitler gobbled up Austria in a so-called plebiscite. This absorption of an independent country into the homeland came on the heels of the German army marching into the Rhineland two years earlier ostensibly to

While the $138 billion spending plan for 2014-15 is not ideal, I am pleased with many components of the New York state budget and, accordingly, voted in favor of many of the budget bills. For one, it restores $602 million of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) for school districts. This is good news for our

Here is a money-making idea for you. Rent a van. Drive to Missouri. Load the van with cigarettes. Drive back and sell them in New York. Sell them for $1 less per pack than the normal price in the state. Voila! If you do this with 10,000 packs of smokes, you pocket more than $30,000.