[lbo-talk] The Bird-Watching Businessman

[Carl Remick]

>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>
>... [Paulson's] not likely to pursue the same policies as Rubin - he's to 
>the right  of old Bob on fiscal and social issues. All GS people aren't the 
>same  - look at Corzine, who's one of the most liberal figures in American  
>political life.

[IMO, there is more individuality among ants than among investment bankers.  
Here's some recent info on the ultra-mildly-reformist Corzine:]

March 25, 2006

A BUSINESSMAN'S APPROACH TO THE BUDGET

by David P. Rebovich

What happened to the campaign promise to restore property tax rebate checks 
to their 2004 levels and increase them by 10 percent? What about avoiding at 
all costs any increase in broad based taxes? How about support for higher 
education to provide high quality workers for the state's information based 
economy? And remember the "affordability agenda?" For anyone who read about 
Jon Corzine's Budget Address, it seems reasonable to conclude that the new 
Governor conveniently forgot about the key planks of the platform he ran on 
last fall. And according to some critics of Corzine inside and outside of 
government, the Governor may have campaigned as a reformer, but he now looks 
a lot like a typical politician.

However, those folks who watched and listened carefully to the Governor's 
Budget Address are likely to have come to the conclusion that he's not a 
conventional politician. If he was, he undoubtedly would have a better 
bedside manner as a bearer of bad news. If anything, Corzine seems like the 
corporate executive he once was, and his Address was less like a political 
speech and more like an annual report that a CEO delivers to his company's 
board of directors. In this case his report was a reality check about the 
state's fiscal condition and a no holds barred account of what he thinks 
must be done to put the state on the path to a better future.

... Corzine used his Budget Address to explain that the state must get its 
books in order through honest accounting. In his plan almost all of the 
state's spending would be put on a pay as you go basis. Cuts in programs 
were based on determinations about their effectiveness and need. The most 
important and largest tax increase - the hike in the state sales tax from 6 
to 7 percent - was recommended for several reasons. Its effect on the 
typical New Jerseyans will be negligible, despite its regressive quality. 
Its effect on the business climate is considered less negative than an 
increase in income tax rates on middle and upper income earners. ...

<http://politics.nexcess.net/rebovich/2006/03/>

Carl