Tag: NYPost

Pray Hochul won’t cave to union calls for a big pension giveaway — at NY taxpayer expense

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2022/03/11/pray-hochul-wont-cave-to-union-calls-for-a-big-pension-giveaway/

Excerpt:

Tuesday will be the 10th anniversary of a state legislative landmark: the creation of a new public-pension “tier” reining in the explosive cost of state- and local-government retirement benefits in New York.

While Tier 6 wasn’t the “bold and transformational” breakthrough touted by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2012, it was a solid net positive for taxpayers, building on incremental changes in the Tier 5 pension reform enacted two years earlier. (Tiers 5 and 6 cover most occupations other than police and firefighters, who belong to other pension plans modified in different ways by the same legislation.)

The reforms have saved billions of taxpayer dollars for the state and local governments over the past decade — including $1 billion this year alone — plus significant added savings for New York City’s separate pension systems.

The state’s well-fed public-sector unions tried to block pension changes at every turn. Now, under the slogan “Fix Tier 6,” they’re pushing the Legislature to roll back pension reform as part of the budget for the fiscal year that starts April 1.

The “fix” sought by the 200,000-member Civil Service Employees Association and other government unions is a return to the state’s enriched pre-2010 pension plans, which (among other sweeteners) required no employee pension-fund contributions after 10 years and allowed for early retirement on full pensions as early as age 55 after a minimum 30 years of service.

Author(s): E.J. McMahon

Publication Date: 11 Mar 2022

Publication Site: NY Post

NY Senate Democrats block subpoena for COVID-19 nursing home death data

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2021/02/01/ny-senate-democrats-block-subpoena-for-covid-nursing-home-data/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

Excerpt:

Democrats who control the state Senate blocked a motion Monday to subpoena records of the Cuomo administration seeking a fuller accounting of nursing home residents who died from the coronavirus.

The motion was made by Sen. Thomas O’Mara, the ranking Republican on the Investigations Committee panel during a virtual meeting

The GOP motion to compel the state Health Department to release records came just days after Attorney General Letitia James issued a blistering report that found Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his health agency withheld an accurate count of the number of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 by some 50 percent by excluding residents who died after being take to hospitals.

Author: Carl Campanile and Bernadette Hogan

Publication Date: 1 February 2021

Publication Site: NY Post

GameStop rally is warning that market bubbles have gone mad

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2021/01/27/gamestop-rally-is-warning-that-market-bubbles-have-gone-mad/

Excerpt:

In the 1630s, it was tulips. In the 1990s, it was Netscape and Pets.com. Later, as we all know, it was housing. Today, the warning sign flashing “danger,” signaling that the stock market has lost its mind, is GameStop.

….

And what’s really worrying is that Dow 30,000 is all about this sort of irrational exuberance. Yes, we laugh at $300 GameStop, but is Tesla really worth $880 a share? It isn’t just Robinhood traders working in concert who are driving up company valuations; it’s hedge funds and Wall Street banks research departments and large mutual funds. Because even as we face record unemployment and a slow economy, they can make money that way.

Author: Charles Gasparino

Publication Date: 27 January 2021

Publication Site: NYPost