[lbo-talk] Ferrer vs. Bloomberg: Juan Gonzalez thinks there is one hell of a difference

Gar Lipow the.typo.boy at gmail.com
Thu Nov 3 14:34:08 PST 2005


Ferrer vs. Bloomberg: Juan Gonzalez thinks there is one hell of a difference. What is more, he seems to think that those differences are specifically on class issues - taxing the fat boys a bit included. Doug, care to comment?

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/03/1545251 <....>
>One of the things that I encountered throughout my coverage of the
four years of the Bloomberg administration in every working class community that I visit is the local leaders are telling me: "They're taking our land." They are creating all of these huge development projects. They're making it impossible to live, whether it's Williamsburg or Greenpoint in Brooklyn or even the South Bronx.<snip> And what is happening is that the ruling circles have been in the process of dismantling democratic government by taking away the tax base of these cities, so that even if candidates from the working class or minority communities get elected, they will have no ability to manage their cities independently, because the tax base is being eroded,

<...> ...most... progressives and the liberals in this city, amazingly in both the Democratic and the Republican Party and among independents, ... accepted the position of the mass media and the ruling circles of the city that the Ferrer campaign has no issues to speak of, is not representative of the aspirations of the people, when, in fact, when you look at the platforms and the positions of the two campaigns, they're night and day, in terms of, like, the issues that they raise. <...>
>Just one example why Wall Street is so much against Ferrer, he
proposed a re-imposition of a sales tax on stock transfers -- on stock sales in New York City to help fund public education. Everything in New York City is taxed, except the sale of stock. And a penny -- something like a penny sales tax on stocks would produce hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues. As soon as Ferrer proposed that several months ago, he was attacked across the board by all of the media, and he proposed the re-imposition of a commuter tax, because New York City commuters from the middle class who come into this city do not pay income tax, even though they spend eight to ten hours a day in this city using the services that New York City residents pay for. <...>
>Yes, yes. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have both come out in
support of Fernando Ferrer. However, their staffs and their actions have sent a clear signal that they are nominally supporting him, but really not investing much effort and time in the campaign, as has happened with many of the well-to-do Democrats in this race. I mean, Steven Rattner, who is one of the biggest National Democratic Party fund raisers -- his wife is the Finance Chair of the National Democratic Party under Howard Dean -- held a Bloomberg fundraiser and said -- told the New York Post that: "I don't know any Democrat who is backing Fernando Ferrer." And –

Anyhow - I'd appreciate comments from New Yorkers, and those who are knowledgable on this . Nathan had things to say, I seem to remember.



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