VTMBH Article: Body
Did you know that the New York City government plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs? Do you know that your property taxes will go up very soon? Did you know that subway services may be reduced and the fare will be raised again? If you are waiting 15 minutes for a train now, you may be waiting a half an hour soon, because of service cuts. Did you know your economic and social opportunities are diminishing rapidly? An initiative is underway to privatize your Social Security benefits. Did you know that in New York alone 15 lakh [one lakh is 100,000] are unemployed? It is difficult to say whether the United States will remain a paradise for common people. The number of hate crimes has skyrocketed. Immigrants are being discouraged in many ways.
Did you know that the American social paradigm changed after September 11th? Were still feeling the impact of that day, and the government's measures seem to focus on exploiting the poor. It is a great arrangement. The rich would not understand why waiting on the subway platform is a problem. Mayor Bloomberg, who travels by private plane, obviously would not understand that.
Meanwhile, as common people are losing their jobs, top corporate executives are earning large amounts of money and the present job of many of these executives is to sketch out the ways and means of axing the average worker. The chief executive of Merrill Lynch David Komansky, got $42 million while laying off 17,400 workers. Lucent Technology distributed pink slips to 46,000 workersand former Lucent chairman Henry Schacht, who orchestrated the layoffs, got $22 million last year.
And, the rich are still benefiting from tax cuts, while the poor suffer from layoffs. Besides, the government is considering imposing tolls on all bridges and tunnels. In this regard too, the rich are not affected in the ways the poor are. Bloombergs property tax increase will ultimately hit people next January. He wants to increase the property taxes as much as possible, to fill this years $1.2 billion budget deficit and next years $5.6 billion projected deficit.
Do you know what else Mayor Bloomberg wants to do? He wants to give his friend Governor Pataki a gift of $450 million to fill out the state budget deficit. This would come from more taxes. Among the tax proposals are tolls on the bridges over the East River and a commuter tax on the workers who live outside New York City. Some of those resources would be used for the city Police, Fire and Sanitation Departments.
Now, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) director proposes a five percent expenditure cut by reducing services. This proposal includes reducing the number of trains and buses between the city and suburban areas. To make up the $663 million budget gap, they plan to increase the subway and bus fare to two dollars each way. Bus and subway fares were increased in 1995which obviously is a great hardship for the poor.
Meanwhile, trade union leaders are busy disputing the layoffs by city authorities, which are coming almost daily since the election. The results of many civil service examinations held this year have not been published. Though examinations are scheduled for next year, in reality no one will be appointed, it is learned. Meanwhile, the city failed to close the deficit even with the proposed tax increases; now they are pondering ludicrous ways of taxing the nightlife of city dwellers.
There is a saying that any place in America is open for dancing. Anyone can dance, but now the authorities are considering issuing licenses for any night club to have dance floors. For that matter, Bloomberg is thinking about changing the 76-year-old cabaret law.
Bloomberg, as city father, is trying to develop the city. But he wants to push out the poornot the poverty. After the election, the matter has again been exposed. The poor, who are already suffering from job cuts, may be subjected to the humiliation of increased taxes at any time.
Did you know that the American social paradigm changed after September 11th? Were still feeling the impact of that day, and the government's measures seem to focus on exploiting the poor. It is a great arrangement. The rich would not understand why waiting on the subway platform is a problem. Mayor Bloomberg, who travels by private plane, obviously would not understand that.
Meanwhile, as common people are losing their jobs, top corporate executives are earning large amounts of money and the present job of many of these executives is to sketch out the ways and means of axing the average worker. The chief executive of Merrill Lynch David Komansky, got $42 million while laying off 17,400 workers. Lucent Technology distributed pink slips to 46,000 workersand former Lucent chairman Henry Schacht, who orchestrated the layoffs, got $22 million last year.
And, the rich are still benefiting from tax cuts, while the poor suffer from layoffs. Besides, the government is considering imposing tolls on all bridges and tunnels. In this regard too, the rich are not affected in the ways the poor are. Bloombergs property tax increase will ultimately hit people next January. He wants to increase the property taxes as much as possible, to fill this years $1.2 billion budget deficit and next years $5.6 billion projected deficit.
Do you know what else Mayor Bloomberg wants to do? He wants to give his friend Governor Pataki a gift of $450 million to fill out the state budget deficit. This would come from more taxes. Among the tax proposals are tolls on the bridges over the East River and a commuter tax on the workers who live outside New York City. Some of those resources would be used for the city Police, Fire and Sanitation Departments.
Now, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) director proposes a five percent expenditure cut by reducing services. This proposal includes reducing the number of trains and buses between the city and suburban areas. To make up the $663 million budget gap, they plan to increase the subway and bus fare to two dollars each way. Bus and subway fares were increased in 1995which obviously is a great hardship for the poor.
Meanwhile, trade union leaders are busy disputing the layoffs by city authorities, which are coming almost daily since the election. The results of many civil service examinations held this year have not been published. Though examinations are scheduled for next year, in reality no one will be appointed, it is learned. Meanwhile, the city failed to close the deficit even with the proposed tax increases; now they are pondering ludicrous ways of taxing the nightlife of city dwellers.
There is a saying that any place in America is open for dancing. Anyone can dance, but now the authorities are considering issuing licenses for any night club to have dance floors. For that matter, Bloomberg is thinking about changing the 76-year-old cabaret law.
Bloomberg, as city father, is trying to develop the city. But he wants to push out the poornot the poverty. After the election, the matter has again been exposed. The poor, who are already suffering from job cuts, may be subjected to the humiliation of increased taxes at any time.