Scott from nolita:

I agree with your comment, but how can the private sector expand when many large companies are only hiring overseas?

We have reduced the size of government - there are 1.5 million less public sector workers today than 3 years ago. The only problem is where will those newly unemployed people work? These laid off public sector workers include teachers, police officers and firefighters. These people have mortgages, kids in schools, families to support.

"and dramatically reduce the size of government."
That's right, Scott. We should start from Nolita. Eliminate the police and fire department there. I hope he'll be robbed when his apartment is burning and this .. just the beginning.

I did not hear one mention of reducing the size and scope of government. Our government squanders our hard earned tax dollars and continues to ask for more.

It is not "if" our cities will go bankrupt, but "when". The numbers do not lie. The unfunded pension liabilities that the guest mentioned will ruin the finances of most city, state, and federal government entity's. Taxing alone will not fix the problem. We have to grow the private sector, provide fewer governement services, and dramatically reduce the size of government.

Ryan J
You asked good questions. I have an answer: baby boomers are barbarians, selfish, narcissistic, hypocritical, primitives. Look - what are the contributions of boomers? Where's universal health care, vacations, affordable education and child care? Where, where, where? They benefited from the New Deal and ... dismantled it, this weak safety net the country had, posturing as "liberals" while caring about their precious bodies and bank account only. Bastards.

The state pension system will ultimately fail. All belly aching will not change simple mathematics. We should get our heads around this now, now in a few years, but of course we wont. Proponents of the status quo will keep their heads buried as services and current employees are cut. The total cost of government employment must go down (just think of how many more people we could have working if the costs were not astronomical).

The guy is an absolute barbarian.
- the same people who pay taxes benefit from them - the libraries, police, transportation, etc.
- sacrifices for the poorest means death. What is a meaning of sacrifices of billionaires
How do you produce these Social Darwinist primitive barbarians?
Why do you worship them?

Has California’s property tax cap failed

I don't understand why the babyboomer generation is so eager to dismantle pensions, collective bargaining, and all the other benefits put in place by their parents after world war 2. these are Programs and policies that allowed them to prosper so immensely. Now they are willing to sell out their kids and cut all these same benefits so that they can keep their benefits and leave the current generation to pick up the tab.

Your point?

@caller "Bob from Mountainside"-
Nice try there with your anti-union smear campaign. Where did you get your propaganda from- "Atlas Shrugged"? I enjoyed hearing Ravitch correct you in front of all the listeners.
Have a nice day Bob.

Apparently underlying Richard's analysis are assumptions about tax policy and the legitimacy/ economic viability of current income/wealth inequality. With these, he seems to not question the status quo. His credibility suffers for this.

This morning's wire service stories on PRESIDENT PROSPERITY'S economy-

(er, President "You didn't create anything, the government did.")

Mid-Atlantic Factory Activity Contracts Again in July......

US home sales drop 5.4 pct., fewest since October.....

Jobless claims surge.....

Leading economic index falls 0.3% in June.....

what Mr. Ravitch doesn't want to include is the role of private business and politically connected investors and others - especially in NY with Wall Street - who use the public sector as a milk cow to fill their coffers.
Since Mr. Ravitch left the MTA, the subsequent administrations have been funneling all income to Wall Street while asking the public to pay more for public transit in order to pay for these 'financing vehicles' sold to the state.
Can MR. Ravitch elaborate on the drain that welfare to politically connected businesses have on the public coffers?

The fed has left the people dependant on it as if bernanke is going to solve the "economic crisis"..
anyone with insight can figure that everything is monitored by satan...
If the economy were to be solved, everyone must play a part, for example, if the gurus of the rent will lower only say 5% of the rent than that can be trickled down to make the (renter) dollar$ "circulate"..
Its about spending and buying how we can get back in track to a better economy..