Fox Misinforms Again!?!

Fox “News” reported yesterday that, allegedly, Mickey Mouse and Adolf Hitler signed petitions to recall Governor Walker in Wisconsin!  Unbelievable!!!  Well, that is because it’s not true.  I know, Fox “News” misinforming its listeners again!! Knock me over with a feather.

It turns out that what actually happened was that the Wisconsin Accountability Board responsible for reviewing petitions answered a hypothetical question about Mickey Mouse and Adolf Hitler signing the petitions.  They said that, if those signatures were properly dated and gave a Wisconsin address they would be flagged but counted unless challenged. 

That’s a bit different than “reported” on Fox “News” but then facts are so boring.

Middle Class?

So here is how the “middle-class” tax cut breaks down. First let me say that this analysis is not exact because the brackets provided by the Governor and those reported by the Department of Taxation and Finance (T&F) in their personal income tax reports do not match exactly.  Below is the table from their report based on 2008 figures which are the latest available.

				Cumulative
Income Class			Percent	Percent
Under		$5,000	12.2%
$5,000	-	9,999	8.0%	20.1%
10,000	-	19,999	14.8%	34.9%
20,000	-	29,999	12.1%	47.1%
30,000	-	39,999	10.1%	57.2%
40,000	-	49,999	8.0%	65.2%
50,000	-	59,999	6.2%	71.4%
60,000	-	74,999	6.9%	78.3%
75,000	-	99,999	7.8%	86.0%
100,000	-	199,999	10.0%	96.0%
200,000	-	249,999	1.2%	97.2%
250,000	-	499,999	1.7%	98.9%
500,000		and over	1.1%	100.0%
Total			100.0%

The first income bracket given by the Governor to receive a tax cut is from $40,000 to $150,000.  That range saw a .4 percent tax cut.  As you can see from the table 86 percent of New Yorkers made less than $100,000 while just over 11.2 percent made between $100,000 and $249,999.  So, the bottom range represents the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers. 

The next bracket from the Governor is from $150,000 to $300,000.  This bracket sees a .2 percent tax cut.  Given that 10 percent made between $100,000 and $199,999 and another 1.2 percent made between $200,000 and $249,999; while 1.7 percent made between $250,000 and $499,999.  Since this totals 12.9 percent we can assume that at best this represents seven or eight percent of New Yorkers.

Now we get to the “middle-class,” those making over $300,000.  This bracket saw a tax cut of between one percent and 1.12 percent.  As you can see incomes from $250,000 to $499,999 represent 1.7 percent of New Yorkers and only 1.1 percent of New Yorkers are in the $500,000 and over bracket, which is as high as the T&F table goes.  So, only 2.8 percent of New Yorkers live in the “middle-class.”  Odd don’t you think?

Those making over $2 million a year got a cut of .7 percent, nearly double that for 96 percent of New Yorkers.  This group is hard to figure because of the limitations of the T&F breakdown but, given that only 1.1 percent of New Yorkers make over $500,000, we have to assume this is a very tiny fraction of all New Yorkers. 

So, the bottom line is, if you are making less than $300,000 you are in the lower class in New York.  Our Governor and Legislature have defined middle as under three percent.  Now you can see why the Wall St. Journal and the New York Post were so upset!  The wealthiest New Yorkers really took one for the team so that the middle class could benefit.  Ahh, life in the rabbit hole.

DOT Contracting Out

Saw an interesting story about contracting out in DOT.  It turns out that DOT contracted out the the Alexander Hamilton Bridge renovation project in New York City.  According to the Department of Transportation, the project, at $400 million is the “largest single-contract construction project in the history of the New York State Department of Transportation.

So who got the work?  ABC News reported, the project has been bid out to a subsidiary of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.  The report noted, “…the company uses mostly U.S. labor, but many coveted skill jobs such as engineering and design work are Chinese.  The profits will also go overseas.”

So, another contracting out success story, taxpayer money creating good private sector jobs. 

The Voices of the One Percent

So, surprise of all surprises, the New York Post  was quite upset that the Governor and the Legislative leaders agreed to reform New York’s taxes.  Here is where the New York One-Percenter went with this;

 ”Not that Albany doesn’t “need” the hikes. With at least one-third of New Yorkers enrolled in one welfare program or another, where’s the cash to come from?  And that, at the end of the day, is the fundamental issue.

Nobody has the guts to even attempt a serious, sustained effort to control spending.”

Yeah!  How dare you raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers when you could have thrown poor people into the streets!!!!  And cutting taxes on middle-class New Yorkers?!?  How dare you when hedge fund managers are struggling to keep their yachts and jets fully fueled!!!!

Rupert Murdoch and his minions, the voices of the one-percent.

I’m Shocked, Shocked That Consultants Say They Cost Less Than Public Employees

Like Captain Renault in Casablanca it is no surprise that consultant engineers would claim they are less expensive than public employees even if they have to gin up the numbers.  If a study on outsourcing sponsored by the Council of Engineering Consultants of NY (ACECNY) is a display of the analytical skills of those consultants, their clients are in deep trouble.

The study, Engineering Costs:  In House vs. Outsourced Engineering purports to be an objective comparison of the cost of in-house New York State Department of Transportation work versus private consulting engineers.  But the consultants hired to do the study for ACECNY at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University based the research on estimates, assumptions and survey data.  None of that data is solid.

In short, the analysis was done with data conjured out of sand.

Here are some of the problems with ACECNY study:

• It isn’t based on the actual salaries of DOT’s consultants OR state employees.  If the actual data is available, why not use it?
• It contradicts objective studies and audits by the Office of State Comptroller, KPMG and the Fiscal Policy Institute, all of which used actual data from contracts and state employee payrolls, all showing that contract engineers cost significantly more that DOT staff engineers.
• It inflates actual state employee salaries by 168 percent, using unsubstantiated and erroneous overhead assumptions.
• It underestimates the costs of engineering consultants hired by DOT by including the average hourly wages of clerical titles and typists.  How can one suggest that a state engineer is paid too much by comparing his salary with that of a consultant engineer whose salary is averaged with the salaries of low-paid administrative workers?

The ACECNY study is not an valid comparison of the real costs of either NYS Department of Transportation engineers or the cost of contract consultants used by DOT.  Use of actual payroll data provided by the Office of State Comptroller shows that private consulting engineers cost, on average, $99.69 an hour compared with the $53.78 an hour, including benefits, paid on average to state engineers.

The bottom line:
Private consultants cost nearly twice as much as DOT engineers.

Click on this link for a more detailed analysis of the flawed ACECNY study