Gothamist: Ford's "Drop Dead" Tactics Actually Helped the City

mickster

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:29:24 -0500

My favorite part of the headline: Stocks Skid; Dow Down 12 Points Remember when 12 points on the Dow meant something? The Dow Jones Average for 1975 was 802.49. So 12 points would have been like 1.5%.

...

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:02:01 -0500

I haven't clicked the link, but I know that the bailout provided came with an interest rate 1% above the national borrowing rate that actually hurt the state and city more than actually helping it -- a fraction of the bailout handed to Chrysler! Further, the EFCB and MAC were put in charge of the budget (and borrowing requests, and union contracts), removing power from the city and state and placing it instead in the hands of more powerful financial interests. In retrospect, Ford was probably right in taking a hard-line against the city and state, forcing the politics of retrenchment to take form and a new type of cutback management to thrive in the decades that followed, that essentially made the city what it is today. Cities were at their worst when they depended on the federal government for this nonsense.

re: sven

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:54:54 -0500

(mobilized "New York’s civic, business and labor leaders to rally bankers in the United States and abroad...") I believe this is how the earlier recovery package wouldn't have saved the city: no one within the community would have done what needed to be done in order to spur the actual economy instead of just taking federal money to pay off debts. Seems pretty straight-forward.

sven

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:39:03 -0500

It would be nice if you had perhaps backed up the claim that an earlier aid package would not have helped the city recover. At least a link?

warren the great

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:21:23 -0500

yep, investment bankers have no sense of civic responsibility or community obligation, they only care about they're investments. scum of the earth.