City On Track, Despite Financial Turmoil
September 15th, 2008
It’s not a dark day, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, just a sad one.
At a briefing on how Wall Street’s turmoil could affect the city’s economy, Bloomberg, flanked by Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Comptroller William Thompson, said despite the bankruptcy of one major financial firm and the acquisition of another, the city’s budget is still balanced and revenues are coming in as expected.
That’s because, the mayor said at a press conference this afternoon, officials were fiscally prudent, paid down debt in advance, cut spending and factored in job losses during budget negotiations.
While 12,000 people could lose their jobs with Lehman Brothers declaring bankruptcy, the sight of fraught employees carrying out boxes from the company’s Manhattan offices, which have been in New York City since after the Civil War, should not fret the city’s economic observers.
The city was prepared for this, said Bloomberg.
“It’s not a dark day,” said Bloomberg. “It is a sad day. It is sad for those people who lost their jobs. It is sad day for those people who invested and lost a big percentage or all of their investment…. If we’re going to help those people, we have to make sure that our economy continues to grow.”
While the national unemployment rate stands at 6.1 percent, the city’s is only 5 percent, the mayor said. The commercial vacancy rate here, at 5.4 percent, is less than half of the national average. London, the city’s largest economic competitor, has been hurt far more than New York, argues Bloomberg.
The mayor declined to address how the city would face its $2.3 billion deficit for fiscal year 2010, including whether any tax hikes could be on the table. Wall Street firms account for about 25 percent of the city’s income, so any turbulence there trickles quickly into City Hall.
In the immediate future, Bloomberg encouraged New Yorkers to keep spending (to keep routing for the Yankees and the Mets, even). Though about $15 million from the city’s pension fund is invested in Lehman Brothers securities, Thompson says that is a minuscule portion of the more than $100 billion the entire fund is worth. About $550 million of the pension fund is invested in private equity and real estate in the Lehman Brothers Investment Division, which is not a part of the bankruptcy filing, he added.
By Courtney Gross on September 15, 2008, 4:16 pmIn category: Gotham City | 2 Comments »


September 15th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
For those who want to make a buck on the market, read and pass thsi on.
The collapse of the financial markets is the result of one thing and one thing only, American job losses. You can listen to politicians and the media spin this all you want but the collapse of our markets began the minute the Presidential candidates in 2004 mentioned the losing of jobs that they said Americans would not do. They used this catch phrase as the green-light for companies to job American workers and outsource their jobs. Today two of the nation’s largest and well-known financial firms – Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch – closed shop- no more. Lehman has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and speculation is that they are expected to be liquidated. Merrill Lynch is being bought by Bank of America. One of the reasons is that these companies service Americans who could no longer pay their mortgages because their companies have outsourced and jobsourced their manufacturing jobs overseas. If you think this is the end then you are an idiot because it is not and the reason is that idiotic economic professors taught that outsourcing and globalization were good, not because they believed this but because outsourcing and globalization were the new fad and these professors did not want to be the typewriter repairmen of the new decade, these professors were protecting their own asses. Add the scared to death idiotic professors to the uneducated statements about jobs Americans won’t do and you have the equation for disaster. The credit markets and the housing industry are just the results of job losses and they are not the root of the problem, they are merely the symptoms. If we do not level the playing field with China and India immediately and slow the trade deficit then it will only get worse and will never get better. Investors have been urged not to panic and to stay the course but for what reason? If things stay as they are then it will only get worse until we all live like poor peasants in China and penny a day farmers in India. Individual bank accounts are insured for up to $100,000 each and stocks purchased through Lehman or Merrill Lynch are secured as well, but you must remember that the insured amounts may vary. The real shame in all this is that Lehman workers have already have already lost their jobs and many more are likely to so its not just the manufacturing jobs but the support jobs as well and this is why the manufacturing jobs are so important, they provide the base for all other jobs. You must also remember that financial companies are tied to insurance companies and the insurance companies are the next dominoes up to fall. There is already vast speculation on Wall Street that AIG may also falter. This is well past $600 checks, the government needs to slow down the trade deficit and encourage domestic job growth and production or this will all only get worse. All Americans need to realize that it’s not just manufacturing jobs anymore it’s all jobs. A lot of people are going to be losing their jobs on Wall Street alongside their manufacturing brothers in areas like Flint Michigan and Detroit Michigan. It’s time we not only have change but we have action.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am
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