Gov. David Paterson unveils dire New York State budget that includes new taxes, layoffs and cuts

DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU ^ | 12/16/08 | KENNETH LOVETT and GLENN BLAIN

[Lazamataz]

This is just the blind leading the.....

Oh wait.

[Fawn]

Hey NY! Merry Christmas!! Happy Hannukah!! LOL

[mass55th]

I'm not sure what union your sister was associated with in NY State (PEF?), but sick time is used to reduce your health insurance fees. The state has a formula, which they use to figure how much money you'll save on your health insurance costs. The formula is based on your age at retirement and your sex. They figure out what age you'll likely be when you die, then pro-rate your cost according to that figure. They use your sick time to pay for your insurance each month. You are limited to amount of sick time you can have on the books. I didn't have that much sick leave left when I retired, so I pay my own insurance costs out of my pension check each month.

Since you aren't allowed to cash in sick time for money in NY State, it's more than likely she had vacation time she turned in. I've never heard of anyone getting a year's pay for vacation time they turned in, since there are restrictions on how much vacation time you can accumulate, and how many weeks of vacation you can turn in. Those restrictions are based on Civil Service Law, not on union agreements, so I find it hard to believe that she got a year's pay from turning in any accumulated time. It just isn't allowed, and there are restrictions on the amount of hours you can keep and not use. Once you reach that limit, you don't earn it anymore.

[mass55th]

"I’m not trashing retirement plans in general. But some are more lucrative than others. "

New York State pensions rates are based on your highest three consecutive years' earnings. They also have several different retirement options you can choose from when you retire, as to how you want to receive your money. I chose the reduced pension option, so that if I die within 15 years of my retirement (I've got five down so far), whatever is left in my pension fund, will be equally divided between my two sons. Since longevity doesn't run in my family (I'm 61, my father died at 72, my mother at 69, my brother at 51), I thought this option was the best so that the state wouldn't get all the money I had mandatorily "donated" each payday. I figured it was better to take a smaller pension check each month, than let the state have what was left if I ended up dying within that 15 years.

[adorno]

I need to get the hell out of here.

Fine, but tell your liberals friends who might be contemplating also leaving the state to stay put.

We don't want them fleeing their state just to go ruin another state with their liberal stupidity, which would include voting for more democrats and higher taxes where they move to.

The liberal side of my family fled the high taxes of NY years ago and came to Florida. Down here in Florida, they've continued voting democrat. I became very enraged when they told me they were voting for Obama.

[Rome2000]

so 50% of the population minimally can't vote in your utopia?....

Not my utopia moron, the USA until 1918, when it started its long decline into socialism.

When it hits the fan, disenfranchising idiots won' be necessary.

There just won't be any elections anymore.

[panaxanax]

>>”Fine, but tell your liberal friends...”<<

Uh, I don't have any liberal friends. Florida would be the last state (next to MA) that we would even consider moving to. I'd think you'd welcome conservatives that are fed up with high taxes and the liberalism into your sucky state of FL. Your problem is that the old retired Jewish folks move down there and continue their voting habits. How they were largely responsible for electing “0bama, The Jew Hater” is beyond me.

We were thinking of heading back to my home base in southern Idaho and take our Conservatism with us. You are angry, aren't you? Why don't you direct in the right direction?

[patton]

NY may aspire to look like WVA, but I don’t think they can make it. NY is too poor, and lacks any sense of proprty rights.

[RobbyS]

West Virginia stated emptying out during WWII and despite Bobby Bird’s roadbuilding is not filling back up. Maybe when corrider H is finished and Canaan’s and Tygart’s River vallies are hooked up to NOVA that part of the state will look more like Vermont. God help WV in that case.

[RobbyS]

They are welcome to come to DFW.

[patton]

I have owned homes in both WVA and upstate NY.

In WVA, nobody broke into my house and stole my woodstove. NY - Yep.
In WVA, nobody trashed my posted land. NY - Yep.
In WVA, nobody hurt themselves trashing my posted land with their tresspassing ATV, and tried to sue me for their own carelessness while lawbreaking. NY - Yep.
In WVA, nobody stole my outhouse. NY - Yep.
In WVA - property tax, $70. NY - $3,000

Upstate NY wishes it were WVA.

[adorno]

Uh, I don't have any liberal friends.

No need to get all upset about nothing. It was just a rhetorical usage of the word "friends". Surely, everybody knows somebody or other who is a liberal. They may not be my friends, but I might know them.

Florida would be the last state (next to MA) that we would even consider moving to.

I lived in NY for too many long years. I got tired of all the high taxes and the long cold winters. Florida didn't have high taxes when I moved down here, and taxes are still a lot less than in any liberal state. That may change, but for now, I'm liking not paying the NY and NY City taxes.

Weather-wise, Florida is still warmer then NY and we don't get any snow and the beaches are always much warmer than any in NY. Plus, I don't ever have to worry about a coat or warm clothing.

I'd think you'd welcome conservatives that are fed up with high taxes and the liberalism into your sucky state of FL

I would be most happy with conservatives moving into Florida, especially to the non-liberal areas of the state. Real conservatives don't like paying high-taxes and they don't tolerate them for too long before moving out of states such as NY and Taxachussetts and Commiefornia..

Your problem is that the old retired Jewish folks move down there and continue their voting habits.

Those are exactly the kind of people I had in mind when I first advised you to "tell your liberal friends to stay put". They may be nice people, but they're so ill-informed or misinformed that they mess up any new neighborhood that they move to.

How they were largely responsible for electing “0bama, The Jew Hater” is beyond me.

Like I said, they're ill-informed, misinformed, ignorant, uncaring, dumb, stupid, or are just blindly following an idiotic family tradition.

We were thinking of heading back to my home base in southern Idaho and take our Conservatism with us.

Like I said before, that's fine by me. Idaho, I believe, is still a sane place for conservatives to move to. However, make sure that no liberals around you are tempted to follow in your footsteps and then mess things up in Idaho.

You are angry, aren't you? Why don't you direct in the right direction?

You sound irritated. But, that's because you're misunderstanding my original post.

If I get angry at all about politics, it's about how the ignorant and uneducated have taken over the country and are close to destroying what took over 2 centuries to create.

I can't get angry with conservatives like you. You are actually my kind of people. I wasn't accusing you of having liberal tendencies or even having liberal friends. Perhaps my "liberal" use of the word "liberal" was what got you upset. Read my original post again. You might find it to be more innocent than you originally thought.

[Clemenza]

The cancer in Florida is spreading. Orange and Osceola are now Dem, thanks to the PRs Disney recruited over the years.

[ncpatriot]

I always thought the GOP 1994 revolution was due to the corruption in the Dem Party - mainly the scandal involving the congressional bank mess.