December 11, 2004
Bloomberg's funny business
For a billionaire, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg certainly has an, uh, interesting idea of financial principles. During his weekly anti-Cablevision radio address, Bloomberg lashed out at ads critical of his $1.4 billion Jets stadium plan, saying they're wrong to say that the $600 million public price tag would come at the expense of raises for city workers. "It is against the law to borrow money to pay our employees," raged the mayor, noting that the money would be raised through bond sales. "We can't do that, it's against the law."
Yes, but bonds are part of a complicated financial instrument known to economists as "debt." Debt, as anyone familiar with those newfangled devices known as "credit cards" could tell you, needs to be paid off with "cash." Unless Bloomberg plans to start running off $20 bills on his inkjet printer, that money needs to come from somewhere in the city's (sorry for all the technical language here) "budget."
In other mayoral huff-related news, Bloomberg announced this week that he's no longer attending Knicks games because of his anger at Cablevision, their corporate parent. Not that he's given up his seats, mind you - he's just been sending his daughters instead. Yeah, that'll show 'em.
—Neil deMause
