The faltering fortunes of Wall Street and its implications for NYC bring up a new question: Can this crisis make a case for a third Bloomberg term? After all, he did manage the city after September 11. City Council member Eric Gioia, who is against changing term limits without a voter referendum, told the NY Times, "There aren’t a lot of people who have his experience, connections and gravitas." But City Council member John Liu said, "As the economy goes south, so will his popularity ratings. No one, not even this mayor, can control the economy.” Interestingly, though Bloomberg has reportedly asked the city's media moguls about overturning term limits, the Post's editorial page editor Bob McManus says Bloomberg is ambivalent about what he wants to do.





He led us after 9-11, but he presided over this current mess.
Don't mess with term limits Bloomie, but keep floating it to keep the others off guard.
The people of NYC voted on term limits. There are no exceptions.
Better Bloomberg than one of those half-baked marxist clowns the democrats usually nominate.
amen blablanyc. the people of NYC voted that law into existence. it is not up to a few lawmakers to overturn it in back room negotiations. IMHO Bloomberg is part of the current financial problem, not the solution. if others think he can help fix the current crisis he can always help the next mayor.
Just what we need. Another politician who can stay in office until he dies.
Congress need term limits. ASAP. The politicians there will have an heart attack if that happens.
After seeing what Dinkens and Giuliani did, term limitations were the best choice to go. Who is out there on the political scene that can basically tell Albany to go fuck themselves?
It's just like the HRP people that will not accept the fact that it can't be self supporting without other options. They want to move forward with new piers and the preciousness of the West Side's relationship to the harbor and blah blah blah but they don't have two nickels to rub together. And they fall back on, "Well it's the law!" Screw them! Laws can be amended.
WTF is the mayor supposed to do about the stock market tanking? Start the process of de-gentrification so all the newly unemployed can afford housing?
I agree with @2 absolutely, but actually I think this might be one of the cases where the laws should be changed because it will benefit the city as a whole. We are in really, really big trouble at the moment financially. Whether you like him or hate him, Bloomberg is a smart, fiscally responsible middle of the road guy who can probably steer the ship successfully for four more years. If there are other viable, equally responsible candidates I'm all ears.
The newly unemployed were living on east street for a lot longer than any of the scrubs commenting on this blog. May they rot in Hell!
Bloomberg can't do anything unless he willing to bail these banks with his own money otherwise he is not needed. We voted TWICE for term limits and the fact that he is thinking about it makes me sick. One man will decide what millions of voters have already decided. Bloomberg does not respect the constitution or democracy and he needs to get out. By the way, Bloomberg was not a great mayor.
Bloomberg will need an economic emergency plan. If many new yorkers are plunged into unemployment, the city has to be prepared for the fallout. 1987 resulted in so much pain and it took many years for the city to surmount it. This coming storm could be much worse. If Bloomie has a strong plan and is willing to slog through it, the Council should be open-minded towards allowing him to serve longer.
@NannyState: True, but NYC 1987 was fun. Extreme amounts of fun.
Bloomberg needs to get out. We will survived without him. He sold NYC including the parks (union Square) to the landlord developers and put out alot of residents on the streets. We are better off without him. The man has no compassion. Bloomberg is not a good mayor.
Please let's not hysteria preside. Term limits cam into question during one of the most traumatic time in NYC history and I don' think there are many people here now that would welcome more Guiliani. We have these limits for a reason, and one of those is because we are not fiefs who need a king to solve all our problems. We are a democracy who continue to refresh our leadership with the blood and ideals of the people who give hit about what is going on around us. So I understand your panic but let's take a breath and if the next boss isn't as good as the last boss we vote his ass out in four years. It's a great system, let's not let the power hungry ruin it for the rest of us.
but NYC 1987 was fun
Fun? Were you making a load of money selling drugs or something?
if the next boss isn't as good as the last boss we vote his ass out in four years. It's a great system
Great, 4 years of damage and then we can vote him out and beg Bloomberg back? Is 4 years the new 1 week now?
I believe Augustus Caesar served more than two four year terms and it seemed to work out pretty well for the Romans.
I just can't believe what would have happened if Giuliani did the same and we suffered through four more years of him. He had his moment in the spotlight and then the bulb blew. I still can't stand his pathetic son "Pudgie."
Deja vu all over again. Remember when Giuliani tried to convince people to extend his term after 9/11?
How SEC Regulatory Exemptions Helped Lead to Collapse
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/09/regulatory-exem.html
"...the results of a conscious and willful SEC decision to allow these firms to legally violate existing net capital rules that, in the past 30 years, had limited broker dealers debt-to-net capital ratio to 12-to-1.
Instead, the 2004 exemption -- given only to 5 firms -- allowed them to lever up 30 and even 40 to 1."
I would urge everyone to view this crisis as an application of Chicago economics through methods of the SHOCK DOCTRINE orchestrated to
1. make huge sums of money by deregulation, forming monopolies, and Privatizing Gains while Socializing Risk
2. to SHOCK the people into accepting policies we wouldn't normally agree to unless we are in a state of panic and confusion.
These bailouts are not over for us, then we will be broke as a nation, from war and bad economics, and then will tell us no more Social Security, no Medicaid etc... you live in a free market utopia now, get some boot straps and get to work.
but who knows, we might just get Obama, and hopefully the wall street money he and Biden get won't prevent them from wising up and turning away from these unsound economic policies.
McCain was one of the most ardent deregulators in the Senate and his good pal possible Treasury Secy., Phil Grahm and his wife were the main governmental architects of these deregulatory schemes.
Also Clinton jumped aboard with this so I'm skeptical of Democrats as well, but Dems have a base that is more likely to push politicians away from anti worker pro Wall Street Chicago Economics.
"I believe Augustus Caesar served more than two four year terms and it seemed to work out pretty well for the Romans."
FDR served more than two terms and it worked out well for the USA.
Term limits deny voters the right to choose for themselves whether a third term is one too many.