I did point out that the overall budget is $150B. $1B is still a lot of money though. I imagine you could think of a lot of things in NY that could be drastically improved with $1B. It’s also worth noting that the amount is two or three times what the NY state government said it would be. So, they either lied to get as much support for the wage hike as they could, or they don’t understand how their own programs work. I’ll let you decide which should be more disconcerting to you as a NY resident.
Yes but $150B is one year’s budget and $1B is the total of three years of costs. These aren’t comparable unless adjusted to be the same time frame. So you need to compare 1B with 450B, not 150B. Anything can look like a lot of money under this scenario if you wait long enough to sum it up but don’t wait to sum up the other.
If you had said: Admittedly, three years of the budget is nearly half a trillion dollars, but $1B sounds like a lot to give up just for a few losers who can’t make as much as I do, that would have been more internally consistent.
I think the arguments about whether minimum wage makes low skills jobs disappear are more worrying and worth debating than the 22 basis point hit to the budget. If the policy works, I think 22 basis points is a reasonable cost. But if it doesn’t work, then it isn’t. That’s the main concern.
^ $1B out of $150B or $1B out of $450B, is a lot of money either way. Even if that is the absolute best use of that $1B, what is the justification for getting the amount so wrong when they “sold” the wage hike to the pubic? It was either an “honest” mistake, which means they don’t understand how their own programs actually work, or they flat out lied.
It’s only a lot of money compared to what I might expect in my bank account. It’s less than one quarter the cost of building a single aircraft carrier. It’s orders of magnitude less than a single basis point change in the S&P 500 total market cap. These things need context before you can say “That’s a lot of money,” unless you are talking about ways to channel those quantities entirely into your personal control.
That’s why percentages are useful.
The criticism of cost estimation is more valid, but then again it is a cost benefit calculation. There are all sorts of strange unknown feedback loops in any public policy choice. If you selectively decide to criticize the mistakes on policies you dislike but overlook them on policies you like, that’s not a fair criticism.
Who could possibly have known that repealing Glass-Seagall would have led to a massive increase in leverage and created a near 1929 style event a decade later. Either those guys flat out lied, or they didn’t know how markets work.
^ Wow, I’d heard that police forces were getting too militarized, but I had no idea that the NY State Police now have aircraft carriers.
^ they had 2 until that commie DeBlasio made the NYPD get rid of theirs. His reasoning of the NYPD not needing to shoot cruise missiles into the Bronx is totally off base & unamerican. Giuliani would most certainly make sure they get it back & with even newer missiles.
New York has a LOT of atoms. Like a way way way LOT. Like a bigly amount.
Are you trying to imply that when talking about the dollar cost of aircraft carriers, context matters??
^ I try to never imply anything.
So trade barriers and protective tariffs that introduce inefficiency and waste are good to feed American workers, but minimum wages are not? So weird.
Did someone here argue for trade barriers and protective tariffs but against minimum wages?