Given the way Governor David Patterson lies, cheats, and sticks it to working and middle class New Yorkers with a straight face, he really ought to be a Republican in the Bush administration or the Bloomberg administration.Last week he announced draconian tax increases totaling $121 billion dollars for such items as ipod downloads, haircuts, clothing, soda (but not Mayor Bloomberg's favorite "health drink" - the highly sugared, highly corn syruped Snapple!!!), and lots of other things people in New York use on a daily basis.
He refused to raise taxes on people making over $200,000 a year, however.
It seems rich people are not making enough money these days, what with the stock market down 35% and financial companies like Citigroup, BoA, Goldman Sachs and others needing hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money in order for them to pay dividends to their stock holders and million dollar bonuses to their management level executives this Christmas.
But as for you working class and middle class New Yorkers - the governor thinks you need to carry more of the state's financial burden.
And that especially goes for you free-loading SUNY and CUNY college students and your families.
This week Patterson also announced that tuition at the State University of New York and the City University of New York would increase by almost $400 a year.
Patteron says that tuition has not increased at the state or city schools in over four years and now students at the schools and their families will have to shell out more to help the state in these dire times.
While it is true that tuition has not risen at CUNY or SUNY schools in the last four years, back door increases of "student fees," "activity fees" and "library fees" have ensured that students at the schools are paying hundreds of dollars more this year BEFORE the tuition increase than they were four years ago.
So the governor is full of it when he says students and their families need to carry their share of the revenue burden after enjoying four years of no increases.
Nonetheless Patterson announced new student loan programs that will help students cope with the tuition increases.
Isn't that nice?
The governor's buddies at Chase, Citigroup, BoA and other financial companies who make hundreds of thousands or millions a year not only DO NOT have to pay higher pay roll taxes at a time when the state needs higher revenue and the governor is asking middle and working class New Yorkers to carry much of that burden, they're going to get new business as students from low income families take on even more debt to finance their education.
It's a win-win for Patterson and his wealthy buddies on Wall Street.
With "Democrats" like David Patterson in charge of things these days, the rich and well-connected surely don't need Republicans anymore to stay rich and well-connected, do they?
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