Posted on 12/27/2021 6:12:18 AM PST by MtnClimber
Here in New York City, political offices change hands on New Year’s Day. That means that, come Saturday, we will finally be rid of Mayor Bill de Blasio.
De Blasio got a full eight years in office to implement his uber-progressive agenda and finally bring perfect fairness and justice to New York City. He was handed by his predecessor (Mike Bloomberg) a government that did have an unreasonably high level of spending, but still was in relatively good fiscal condition, with crime under control and strong economic growth. With the momentum of the economic growth and a supportive State Legislature and City Council, de Blasio was able to have dramatic increases in revenues, and therefore spending, to achieve his goals. The budget bequeathed to de Blasio by Bloomberg for the fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 was $72.9 billion. The current budgeted spending level, running to June 30, 2022, that de Blasio is bequeathing to his successor, is $102.8 billion.
Surely, you will say, for those huge spending increases, de Blasio must have been able to achieve his goals and more. Let’s check in on a couple of de Blasio’s signature issues to see what results he has been able to achieve for the money.
Income inequality
If there was one issue more than any other that defined de Blasio’s run for Mayor back in 2013, it was income inequality. His signature campaign line was that New York was a “tale of two cities,” one rich and the other poor, and that that dichotomy must be ended by his progressive policies. In his first inaugural address, de Blasio called income inequality “the defining challenge of our time.” Surely, then, with all the additional government spending, de Blasio at least made a substantial dent in the City’s income inequality.
Actually, there is no evidence that de Blasio’s progressive policies and blowout spending made any measurable difference at all in income inequality. Granted, the government statistics on this issue come out with substantial lags, so that the most recent figures are a couple of years old. But I can’t think of any reason to believe that the last couple of years of data, when they emerge, will be anything different. The simple fact is that the only thing the government can do to move the income inequality statistics in a meaningful way is to drive away high income earners.
With regard to available data on New York City’s level of income inequality:
-A Manhattan Institute study released in September 2019 found that income inequality in New York City, as measured by Census data and the Gini coefficient, had actually increased slightly since de Blasio took office. “Household income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, was essentially flat, at 0.5504 in 2017 (the latest year for which data are available). Inequality is up slightly since Mayor de Blasio took office in 2014—but not by much. The key point is that income inequality has not declined.”
-From a study by the Citizen’s Committee for Children, October 2020: “New data from the Census Bureau reinforce a disturbing trend: over the last decade, New York City’s income inequality has worsened. The growth of incomes at the top continued to outpace growth at the bottom, expanding the gap between. . . . The pandemic has entrenched extreme inequalities in New York City. Insecurities surrounding employment, health, education and basic safety are affecting many New Yorkers today, but they are disproportionately experienced in communities with the lowest incomes.”
K-12 education
If the increase in overall City spending under de Blasio seems high, the portion of the increase going to public education is completely absurd. In simple terms, under de Blasio the teachers’ union has gotten whatever it wants, from limits on charters, to toxic Critical Race Theory starting in kindergarten, to higher and ever higher spending. From today’s New York Post cover story, headline “Fat Educats”:
In the last seven years under Mayor de Blasio, the DOE’s annual budget has ballooned from $20 billion to a whopping $31.6 billion – the size of Peru’s government spending, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office. That is not counting another $5 billion in pension costs.
I can’t think of any reason why the $5 billion of teacher pension costs is not part of the cost of educating the kids. So the total cost is $36.6 billion. For how many kids? That’s a number that a lot of people have been trying to get out of the Department of Education, as they shuck and jive to avoid disclosing big enrollment drops during the pandemic. Back in May the DOE released what it called an “audited” figure of some 1.094 million kids for school attendance in November 2020. But the Post reported on May 29, 2021:
Enrollment in city public schools has fallen below 890,000 students — down from more than a million kids a decade ago, according to internal Department of Education records viewed by The Post. In late January, DOE officials pegged this year’s enrollment at “approximately 960,000 students” — a 4 percent drop over last year after 43,000 kids exited the system. The latest school registers indicate an additional loss of 70,000 students.
$36.6 million for 890,000 students would be over $41,000 per student. Educationdata.org gives the national average spending for 2021 as $12,624 per student. In Florida — the state most comparable to New York in population and demographics — the per student spending is $9,616.
But surely for all that spending New York City achieves stellar and sparkling educational outcomes for its students? Get real. In fact, despite all the spending, New York City achieves overall results well below the national average, and particularly poor results for students who are members of minority groups. The best available data come from the NAEP tests, administered by the federal government every two years. Oh, of course the 2021 tests have been postponed to 2022, supposedly due to the pandemic; so the most recent results come from 2019.
Here are the 2019 New York City results for 8th grade students for reading and for math. NYC’s average scores were well below the national average in both categories (for math, NYC students scored an average of 226, versus national average of 240; for reading, NYC average score was 252, versus national average of 262). Particularly embarrassing were the “proficiency” levels achieved in the two subjects by New York City black and Hispanic students. In math, 15% of black students, and 18% of Hispanic students scored “proficient” or better; in reading, it was 14% for blacks and 20% for Hispanics. Both tests are set so that about 50% of students nationwide score “proficient” or above.
According to today’s Post, the new Mayor and his incoming education Chancellor intend to cut at least some of the bloated DOE budget. It’s about time. But the cuts will be far less than the 50% or more that should be on the table.
In upcoming posts I’ll take a look at some other of de Blasio’s big issues, like housing and homelessness. But none of this will surprise anyone who is paying attention. Everywhere you look, it’s more and more spending and no positive results of any kind.
They complained about it being too safe and clean under Giuliani. “Wah, he Disneyfied our city! We loved it dirty and dangerous!”
I wonder how much he and his wife will pilfer from the city as their farewell gift to themselves.
Based on precedent, no.
I didn’t think they could do worse than cuomo and yet, there they are.
“$36.6 million for 890,000 students would be over $41,000 per student. Educationdata.org gives the national average spending for 2021 as $12,624 per student. In Florida — the state most comparable to New York in population and demographics — the per student spending is $9,616.”
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(wow, that could be useful for some private/charter/religious schools...)
Over the last 5-6 years I made some major career decisions built around my desire to get the hell away from that place.
“punish NYC”?
No way, ole Willie i going to run for Governor.
A bus stop at a NYC Greyhound terminal??? If I want to commit suicide, I have many simple household devices with which I can do it painlessly here at home. Receiving an all expenses trip to NYC is a “benefit” like having somebody plant three breeding pairs of Black Mambas in my house, one I would spend much NOT to receive.
Don’t forget the charming First Ms. Chirlaine McCray’s Mental Health Initiative where she cannot account for $850 MILLION NY Taxpayer Dollars. My question is, where is the AG of NY, “Tish” James and her investigation of this rape of the NY taxpayer?
Yep! Please see my post. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...
i lost interest in NYC when its citizens returned him to office for a 2nd term. now they have gotten what they deserved. i’ll watch to see if they put the screws to Adams to return to sanity.
That’s how much.....
Bill De Blasio’s Wife and The Case of the Missing $850 Million in Taxpayer Money
And not a single soul, in any position to do anything about it, cares. I’m betting that having someone break off a little bit of that money and sending it your way makes it very easy to look in another direction.
Maybe but he’s only one person. If the council doesn’t like what he’s doing, he’ll be obstructed in the same manner that President Trump was obstructed by Congress.
But, the unintended consequences of all of this is the mass migration of rich liberals, out of NYC and into the surrounding areas, where they will spread their hypocrisy and arrogance someplace else.
That really is the truth and my son lives there in NYC. He loves it, but he knows that whole trash pile is against everything I ever stood for in my life. It’s very disconcerting to deal with..
I love you, libstripper, for NOT splitting an infinitive.
One of my favorite peeves.
Sorry I don’t know what a Black Mambas is.
I wish him luck.
We used to live 90 minutes from NY and when we visited we were never afraid. That would not be true today, so I know what you mean.
Very happy to be miles away from the place now.
NYC Mayor de Blasio, is in his last few weeks in office, and will walk off w/ billions.......
He cunningly gave his wife charge of four city agencies that overflowed w/ untraceable tax dollars.
The greedy “careless” wife promptly “lost” a $billion from a mental health fund.
Now he’s still showing his hatred of taxpayers who made him filthy rich.
He’s attempting to silence parents critical of public education policies.
He would give the city’s Department of Education the authority to “discipline and remove” elected parents from Community Education Councils (CEC) — the city’s version of a school board — if they criticize the school district they are charged with holding accountable,
Please, please, please don’t come to this country...
I take it you’re referring to Black Mambas instead of DemonRat Blue State residents moving to Red States to spread the corruption that’s ruining their Blue States.
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