"What he doesn’t control he likes to destroy"

March 11, 2016 7:33 PM

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's FY2017 budget, which cuts close to $1 billion from New York City’s budget, includes a surprise $485 million dollar cut to the CUNY system, more than 30% of its operating budget, despite this year's near-record budget surplus. Some see this as another blow in the ongoing feud between Cuomo and NYC mayor Bill De Blasio, others think this is about retribution for the CUNY faculty union's refusal to endorse Cuomo in last year’s unexpectedly competitive Democratic primary against Zephyr Teachout (which might also explain why Cuomo's plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 for state university workers specifically excludes CUNY employees) while others think this is part of a plan to take over CUNY and merge it with the state university system.

Village Voice: Cuomo Bares Fangs at CUNY, Puts Final Nail in the Coffin of His Own Progressivism

NY Times (Krugman): Starving Public Education

NY Daily News: Econ 101 for Cuomo

Gothamist: Tonight: Labor Unions, Professors, & Students to Protest Cuomo's CUNY Budget Cuts

posted by overhauser (50 comments total)

The funny thing is, no one is actually talking to each other about this. The mayor's office, the chancellor, the governor's representatives, no one. The budget is due on April 1st and goes into action on July 1st. We're running out of time.

Wait, did I say funny? I meant deplorable.
posted by Liesl at 7:40 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Goddamn do we need to secede from the rest of this stupid state ASAP. Didn't upstate want to secede from NYC a little while ago? Is that still going on? If it is, let's look into that a little more.
posted by Sangermaine at 7:40 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

Cuomo can go do a Cheney, as far as I'm concerned.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:54 PM on March 11, 2016

Shoot his lawyer in the face and then have the lawyer apologize?
posted by axiom at 7:55 PM on March 11, 2016 [16 favorites]

FTA:

“We feel that the governor’s not listening,” said Joseph Awadjie, University Student Senate chair and a graduate student at Brooklyn College. “We feel that he's turned his back on us.”

Joe, dude, he was never on our side
posted by clockzero at 7:56 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

No, he can go fuck himself.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:58 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Utterly corrupt. A shitstain of a human...
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 7:59 PM on March 11, 2016

I'd ask how he could dare be so blatant but uh. Yeah.

Also, Upstate is huge and includes lots of nice people and places. Those are still my homies at least. If you want to make someone from Buffalo really happy, tell them you're from Brooklyn and we're all New Yorkers equally. Because we are.
posted by 1adam12 at 8:14 PM on March 11, 2016 [9 favorites]

In case you're wondering, New York does not have a recall mechanism.
posted by phooky at 8:16 PM on March 11, 2016

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by rtha at 8:20 PM on March 11, 2016 [8 favorites]

I work in the building where Governor Cuomo has his New York City office. Yesterday, there was a protest in support of CUNY lining the entire block across the street.
posted by andoatnp at 8:27 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

neoliberalism fuck yeah!
posted by threeants at 8:29 PM on March 11, 2016 [6 favorites]

Cuomo is a petulant dick. His inaction on NYC's homeless crisis also seems to be primarily motivated by vindictiveness.
posted by Mavri at 8:32 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Goddamn do we need to secede from the rest of this stupid state ASAP. Didn't upstate want to secede from NYC a little while ago? Is that still going on? If it is, let's look into that a little more.

Downstate has sixty-odd percent of the population of the state, so the odds of getting a governor y'all can't live with are minimal. 2014 is a good enough example; downstate voted for Cuomo over Teachout.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:11 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

downstate voted for Cuomo over Teachout.

Yeah but let's state the obvious, it's because people know who Cuomo is and not Teachout, the Democratic ticket had essentially no opposition, and nobody voted anyway because it was an off year.

I voted for Teachout, mostly out of opposition to Cuomo. But I don't count for much.
posted by fungible at 9:40 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

cuts must be distributed amongst one's enemies, or one would have no friends.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:57 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

That Village Voice picture is certainly very...subtle.
posted by coolname at 10:11 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

There is another reason besides the ones cited above: New York is suffering a yearly net exodus of tax payers who pick up and move elsewhere, almost always to states with a lower tax burden. (The most popular destination is Texas.)

Between 2000 and 2010, New York had a net loss of taxpayers with a total yearly Adjusted Gross Income of $45.6 billion, and it's still going on. That made New York the worst state on the list for taxpayer exodus; California was second worst.

If New York tries to maintain the same rate of spending (let alone increasing it), it either means borrowing heavily (ask Illinois how that works) or raising taxes, which would only make the exodus worse.

Or New York can face reality and cut spending.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:12 PM on March 11, 2016

Or introduce a heavy penalty on tax-flight. Just saying.
posted by figurant at 10:28 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Or New York can face reality and cut spending.

Before everyone leaves! It's like a ghost town!
posted by Steakfrites at 10:32 PM on March 11, 2016 [21 favorites]

Or introduce a heavy penalty on tax-flight. Just saying.

The Constitution doesn't permit that.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:41 PM on March 11, 2016 [4 favorites]

People should stop thinking of funding education as luxury spending, but as investment that lowers state welfare and prison costs, as well as generates future economic growth and tax returns.

That's the finding of a recent study of Illinois, according to which funding public education pays for itself:

"... public education in Illinois contributes to investment returns of 9.5 percent for K-12; 15.3 percent for community college; and 13.4 percent for university, respectively, for every dollar that's spent -- returns that are well above the 7.2 percent the money would have earned if invested in an index fund that tracked returns of the S&P 500...

"All told, the state of Illinois' education investment pays for itself every 2.3 years in state budget savings alone."

Cuomo's not making a tough but necessary choice, he's just being a right wing asshole.
posted by airing nerdy laundry at 11:34 PM on March 11, 2016 [35 favorites]

Or New York can face reality and cut spending

Budget. Surplus.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:55 PM on March 11, 2016 [57 favorites]

As an Upstater with close ties to many NYC/LI folks, I don't know a single person, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, who likes Cuomo and the job he's doing as Governor. If it wasn't for his last name, I doubt he'd have a political career.
posted by KingEdRa at 1:25 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Just raise a tax or two, what's the big deal?
posted by clavdivs at 2:22 AM on March 12, 2016

I have a CUNY degree. This makes me want to punch somebody.
posted by angrycat at 3:02 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]

I'm really starting to think that political dynasties should be expressly outlawed. Got a first-degree relative who's ever held an elective office? You're ineligible for that office. Go do literally anything else.
posted by Etrigan at 4:14 AM on March 12, 2016 [6 favorites]

If New York tries to maintain the same rate of spending (let alone increasing it), it either means borrowing heavily (ask Illinois how that works) or raising taxes, which would only make the exodus worse.

Why they would borrow (heavily or otherwise) when they have a budget surplus. This does not seem to logically connect. I appreciate any clarification.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 4:17 AM on March 12, 2016 [6 favorites]

And meanwhile, the hike in tuition was approved....
posted by Liesl at 4:31 AM on March 12, 2016

CUNY always seemed pretty horrible anyways. I know they treated their graduate student TAs worse than any university I've ever heard about, well maybe tied with Purdue. If I recall, CUNY TAs were normally expected to run all over NYC applying for overworked teaching positions at the various CUNYs.
posted by jeffburdges at 4:34 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

.
posted by sciencegeek at 4:36 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Or New York can face reality and cut spending.

Or it can REALLY face reality, wake up to the fact that the federal government gives corporations too sweet a deal, and impose a CITY tax on the corporations that have their headquarters in the city.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:46 AM on March 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

You can only count that as a budget surplus if you ignore a whole crapload of spending obligations.
posted by srboisvert at 4:59 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

impose a CITY tax on the corporations that have their headquarters in the city.

NYC already does. Corporations do fall into the class "anything with money," so of course they're taxed in NY.
posted by jpe at 5:06 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

When was the last time the state of New York had a governor who wasn't a complete unadulterated asshole?
posted by blucevalo at 5:16 AM on March 12, 2016

The Tax Foundation data is not an accurate model. They calculate their tax burden oj a per capita basis which overstates the actual tax burden for a typical tax payer because NY has a progressive tax policy. To illustrate this suppose you had one wealthy person paying one million in tax and nine paying zero. The per capita tax burden is $100,000.
The report also assumes that migration is caused by taxation and not other reasobs such as the fracking boom and the global financial crisis.
posted by humanfont at 5:17 AM on March 12, 2016 [7 favorites]

Shit, I was just going to write to Cuomo and thank him for the transgender legal protections. I guess it's going to be a strongly-worded compliment sandwich, then ("Thanks for the legal protections, I'm very concerned about CUNY funding, I'm hoping that you'll continue to fund public education like you're doing with the libraries...")
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:27 AM on March 12, 2016

I really wish there was a NY figure who could tell Cuomo to shut the fuck up and be heeded.
posted by angrycat at 5:49 AM on March 12, 2016

Would have been nice if the FPP included a definition for CUNY, not everyone is a familiar with that term...
posted by Vindaloo at 6:09 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

When was the last time the state of New York had a governor who wasn't a complete unadulterated asshole?

Ironically, Cuomo's father.
posted by Bromius at 6:36 AM on March 12, 2016 [11 favorites]

When was the last time the state of New York had a governor who wasn't a complete unadulterated asshole?

Spitzer's prostitute problems aside, he had a lot of promise.
posted by dis_integration at 6:39 AM on March 12, 2016 [5 favorites]

There is another reason besides the ones cited above: New York is suffering a yearly net exodus of tax payers who pick up and move elsewhere, almost always to states with a lower tax burden. (The most popular destination is Texas.)

Yeah, wannabe ex-NY ranchers are the main customers for luxury homes in the middle of BFE that my brother builds. They like to put in a deer blind and then put a deer corn feeder under it because real hunting is too hard but the camo shit you get at Cabela's is bitchin'.* They don't care about education because their kids are mostly out of school now, so they vote Republican to keep their taxes low.

Ya'll can come get 'em if you want to.

*to be fair many Texans are guilty of the same. Also the deer get them back if they try to have landscaping/a garden.
posted by emjaybee at 7:24 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, as a CUNY employee, I voted to authorize a strike
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:44 AM on March 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

When was the last time the state of New York had a governor who wasn't a complete unadulterated asshole?

Was Pataki aight, or was he another one of those Republican governors that kinda look moderate if you don't actually live in their state?
posted by box at 8:06 AM on March 12, 2016

Between 2000 and 2010, New York had a net loss of taxpayers with a total yearly Adjusted Gross Income of $45.6 billion, and it's still going on.

Which sounds like a lot -- my goodness, $45 billion! -- until you notice that New York's GDP is in excess of a trillion dollars a year and that the number to compare it to is about $12 trillion. It works out to be a 0.3 percent loss.

And even that sounds like, ermagherd, that'll add up eventually! Except the economy tends to grow over time. So yeah, fine, New York lost $45 billion in taxpayers between 2000 and 2010. But even with the 2008 crash in the panel, during the same time frame New York's GDP (and so tax base) grew by $175 billion per year or a total of $980 billion over those ten years.

So ya know what? Byyyyyyyyye! Don't let the door hitcha where the good lord splitcha, and go vote Republican somewhere else. Have fun ruining Texas and Florida more than you already did, you fucking fuckballs.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:07 AM on March 12, 2016 [32 favorites]

I really wish there was a NY figure who could tell Cuomo to shut the fuck up and be heeded.

Preet Bharara.

My theory all along is that Cuomo is approaching an indictment.
posted by spitbull at 10:03 AM on March 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

My theory all along is that Cuomo is approaching an indictment.

There were three men in a room up in here in Albany, and now there's just one. How Cuomo can be clean in all this mud is a mystery to me. My only fear is that if Bharara takes him down we'll get Pataki or Worse.
posted by dis_integration at 2:27 PM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Bahrara, yes. That's the recall mechanism.
posted by one weird trick at 5:36 AM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

I would honestly prefer the return of Pataki -- a typically corrupt but non-ideological republican business-friendly guy (not nearly as bad as Walker or Scott or Snyder) -- to the sellout bullshit Cuomo has brought to the office.

Unlike many New Yorkers of a leftish persuasion, I never much saw the charm of Andrew Cuomo's father either. He spoke eloquently (if you like that sort of smarmy fake-hightoned eloquence, which I don't much), but he was just about the same in terms of his triangulating, anti-working-class, corrupt bullshit. The lionization of Mario Cuomo in the 80s and 90s made me throw up in my mouth. He was basically an ethnic Bill Clinton who said whatever he thought people wanted him to say but kept business as usual intact. And without the lionization of Mario, there would be no Andrew, who is a pale shadow of his already pretty pasty father.

I just despise Andrew Cuomo.
posted by spitbull at 9:20 AM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

The last good governor New York State had was Hugh Carey. Since then it's been a circus parade of bullshit artists, criminals, incompetent clowns and other assorted pretenders to the throne.
posted by KingEdRa at 6:49 PM on March 13, 2016