George Marlin
Latest Articles
Party establishment doomed NY GOP
New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox and his inner circle are giving themselves high-fives today because they believe their political acumen is responsible for the GOP taking back House...
NY GOP suicide
In one of his novels, 19th cen tury British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli featured a politician "distinguished for ignorance" because in his entire career he had only one idea and...
Not-so-fun city
The Museum of the City of New York will open an ex hibit tomorrow called "America's Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York." It celebrates his "efforts...
This insane fiscal cycle has to end
After years of flagrant over spending, fiscal conjuring, ever-increasing taxes, fees and reliance on one-shot revenues, it appears Albany's fiscal day of reckoning is at hand. With the 2010-2011 budget...
The Con-Con con
EVERY time the fiscal excesses of Albany pols catch up with them, they point the finger of blame not at themselves, but at the state Constitution -- and call for...
HIS BATTLE FOR A BETTER NEW YORK
IN the spring of 1969, New Yorkers lived in a city that was going broke. It had polluted air, filthy streets, traffic tie-ups, pot-holed avenues and ever-increasing crime. They also...
DANGEROUS DEBT: NY'S BOND GIMMICK
A MEASURE buried in the latest budget gives the state dangerous new borrowing powers: As first re ported in the Bond Buyer, five designated New York Authorities can now issue...
A TOUGH TENURE FULL OF TRIUMPHS
IN MAY 2000, when Pope John Paul II had to decide on a successor to the late John Cardinal O'Connor, the pontiff rejected Vatican recommendations and plucked from the ranks...
NEW YORK'S DEBT TO CARDINAL EGAN
ON Easter Sunday, April 12, the final day of the arch diocese of New York's bicentennial celebration, Edward Cardinal Egan will deliver his last sermon from the pulpit of St....
TIME TO LOSE SOME LOCAL GOV'T
IN this time of economic ills and budget crisis, it's time to hone in on the hidden costs of New York state's 10,500 local government entities. State leaders can't afford...
UNWISE INVESTOR?
AS New Yorkers have been reading with dread their 401k and IRA statements, Albany bureaucrats working for Comptroller Tom DiNapoli have been assessing the damage to the state pension system...
MARKET MELTDOWN: ADVICE FOR ALBANY
IT'S hard to overstate the cataclysm. The global financial system is in tatters, tens of thousands of Wall Streeters are jobless and the long-term profitability of Wall Street firms has...
CATHOLIC JOE'S ABORTION WOE
AS his vice-presidential running mate, Barack Obama chose a baptized Cath olic from blue-collar Scranton, Pa. - Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. But will an abortion-rights supporter really help Obama...
TREADMILL TO OBLIVION
Most New Yorkers have yet to feel the brunt of the nation's economic woes. Bad home loans and foreclosures are more common out west, and the weakness of the dollar...
BRING ON THE FEDS
THE Port Authority's bungling at Ground Zero has already wasted billions of dollars and years, if not decades. It is, in the words of Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger,...
A HACK IS BACK
GOV. Paterson is poised to hire Richie Kessel to run the New York Power Authority - with likely disastrous consequences for Upstate. NYPA mainly handles Upstate's power needs - and...
A TALE OF TWO TAXES
ALBANY'S annual kabuki dance typically includes demands from employers for cuts in New York's sky-high business taxes - followed by claims from labor and the bureaucracy that state government needs...
ALBANY'S WASTEFUL 'INVESTMENTS'
WITH New York's five- year cumulative deficit now projected to hit an astounding $27 billion, Gov. Paterson has no choice but to cut state spending. Ripe for the chopping block:...
TO TAME THE PA
CHRIS Ward has been nomi nated for Port Authority executive director. When he takes command, he'll face a choice: Go native and become a captive of agency potentates, or battle...
THE MTA'S WHITE-ELEPHANT PARADE
NEW Yorkers are fortunate that Richard Ravitch accepted Gov. Paterson's invitation to advise him on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $30 billion capital plan. Ravitch is uniquely qualified for the job....