More government transfers

Pataki seems to be making a play for upstate votes with the new budget. To me, it seems destined to fail. The medicaid cuts, while sensible, are going to be painted as tossing the elderly into the street by democrats in the Assembly and Senate. And there are the grants and general alphabet soup of programs for the upstate counties.

The problem is that this money from the state comes from the budget. That budget is made up of the taxes we as New Yorkers pay. So, now we will be paying the state who will then handle the money and eventually distibute it to local govenments who will use it in some of the least efficient ways possible. It does not seem to occur to anyone that we could just keep out money. Of course, NYC would have you beleive that they take on most of the tax burden and upstate gets more than it contributes. They could keep their money if they want to keep their trash loads and the drug dealers who move up here to be near their jailed relatives. By the way, we want our water back too.