Two nights ago the Econ Committee had it’s first meeting of 2012. This is a great year for Econ and in the next 360 days we’re going to delve into some of the greatest questions of our day with experts, politicians and, most importantly, the real people who have to live with the answers. Please join as we tackle these issues and develop the policy stances MYD, the Young Democrats and our allies will be fighting for in 2012.

Also, being economic geniuses that we are, we came up with a way to host a free open bar event.

Intrigued yet? Want in? Get involved! Email econ@gomyd.com (although please pardon if the reply is a bit tardy as the keys to the account haven’t been handed over just yet).

The title says it all but you can read more about here. If one or both of your Senators are among the 6, call and thank them. If they are not; call and lambaste them. Phone numbers are here.

Read what is truly a tragic story here.

11. The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism. They cultivate hate and distrust of both Britain and Russia. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.

Oh, but while you’re up there, Mr. President, let’s put the Bush tax cuts back on the table. This doesn’t mean you get a pass for being a crappy bargainer.

Read the full article here.

The Tea Party often pays lip service to the benefits of giving back power to local communities.  But what happens when a community uses that power to do something the Tea Party doesn’t like?

Thanks to Senator Greg Ball, we now have an answer: they go nuts.

Instead of using his office to deal with the many grave issues facing New York State, Greg Ball has attacked his own constituents in the town of Phillipstown to demonstrate his fealty to the gun lobby and his tea party base.   Ball began his latest crusade after the town board modestly proposed banning concealed guns from town buildings.  The ban was proposed in response to an incident that took place less than a week after the Arizona shooting at a January town forum in Phillipstown where a man criticized the Town Board and added that he was “packing.”

Ball, in true Tea Party fashion joined with the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association (NYSRPA), an affiliate of the National Rifle Association (NRA), to intervene in a local matter and intimidate his constituents with a rally outside Town Hall on Thursday.  To make this spectacle all the more outrageous, Ball and his fellow travelers chose to rally for the “right” of gun-toting fanatics to deter public participation and bully their fellow citizens the same week that the state capitol was inundated with e-mails threatening to “pull a Gabby Giffords.”

The planned Astroturf Ball/Tea Party/NRA rally had been promoted aggressively to attract ideologues from around the state, many outside of Ball’s district (the Orange-Sullivan Tea Party openly recruited for the rally, as well as the responsible citizens at AR15.Com/AK47.Net) and outside of Phillipstown in an attempt to pressure the board.  Greg Ball, for his part, sent out the predictably inflammatory mailer above.

Carl Paladino was widely ridiculed for threatening to clean up Albany with a baseball bat.  Greg Ball, apparently, has decided that the thuggery of Paladino was too tame and has opted for weapons of a higher caliber.

The Deputy Mayor’s speech centered largely around the improvements we’ve seen in the city during the Bloomberg administration. A lot of attention was paid to the fact that New York experienced a smaller recession than nearly any other place in the US and was amongst the fastest to recover. He also made the point that crime is down and it’s never been safer to live in New York City. Afterward there were three main areas on which which Deputy Mayor Wolfson was questioned.

Teacher Tenure
Given the economy and the difficulty that older people have finding jobs in particular, there was a lot of questioning regarding the potential implementation of new criteria for letting go of teachers. The Deputy Mayor defended the proposition that teacher retainment should be based on some other criteria than only seniority and expressed a strong personal preference for changing the current system. When asked about what the new criteria would consider he said whether a teacher has

• been convicted of a felony (apparently not a consideration right now)
• been chronically absent
• has received an Unsatisfactory (U) rating

He also mentioned that this is nothing like declaring war on older teachers. For example, only about 2.5% of teachers have even received a U rating. Firings or layoffs will have a clear rubric and will not be dealt out “willy-nilly” amongst the current workforce. He was clear, however, that the Mayor’s office thought “we can do better than just seniority.”

MTA Funding
Close behind teacher tenure was the question of what’s to be done about the ailing MTA. Service cuts and fare raises are cutting New Yorkers even as the State fails to properly fund it; and there’s the problem. Deputy Mayor Wolfson stressed the point that the city does not have control over the MTA and that its 4 members on the board comprise a minority.

When asked about whether congestion pricing for motorists in the city would be revived, he said that it would likely not be as the city had already unsuccessfully made that attempt at a solution, as well as others before, and the political situation in Albany has not really changed. He did make many references to the way the MTA operated in the 1970s, though, and said that no one wanted to return to that.

Rent Control
A huge issue coming up this year which we’ll all be hearing a lot more about is rent and vacancy de-control. If rent control isn’t extended all those lovely affordable units where people are living for less will re-adjust to market rates. When asked whether Bloomberg was going to advocate for Albany to extend rent-control Mr. Wolfson said he was unable to commit the Mayor to that stance at that time.

Other things
Mr. Wolfson also fielded questions about where Mayor Bloomberg was during the blizzard (he was not at a public event so his whereabouts will not be made public. Although he did admit the city and Bloomberg administration did a less than stellar job dealing with it), whether Bloomberg attempted to buy the Independence Party line by making a large contribution to that party (not according to the Deputy Mayor; the Mayor made a legal, individual contribution) and whether Senior Centers will be closed in response to the State budget cuts (unfortunately, that is the fiscal reality).

Conclusion
All told it was a very energetic and educational meeting. If you’re interested in getting more involved and getting opportunities to talk to electeds and government officials in a small setting it’s election year – sign up to run for an open County Committee seat by emailing  openseat@gomyd.com.