Bloomberg Urges Super Committee To Go Big, Promotes Higher Taxes For All

By Andrea Salazar

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on federal lawmakers Tuesday to seriously address the nation’s debt and deficit by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire.

In a speech at the left-leaning Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., Bloomberg touted the plan put forth last year by President Obama’s debt commission. The proposal co-crafted by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, featured large spending cuts, scaled-back tax breaks, increases to personal tax rates and tweaks to federal entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“The spending cuts in Simpson-Bowles, plus Clinton-era tax rates, plus closing some tax loopholes and ending wasteful subsidies would save $8 trillion and effectively bring our budget into balance by 2021,” Bloomberg said during a speech at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

Bloomberg warned that the current deficit committee’s goal of $1.2 trillion in cuts “would be almost as bad as getting no deal at all.” He called that figure “a drop in the bucket” compared to the nation’s $14.6 trillion debt.

“It will allow Congress to walk away from real deficit reduction until at least 2013.”

Calling for “a flatter and lower” tax, Bloomberg called on President Obama to allow the Bush tax cuts expire for all tax brackets.

“All income groups have to be part of the solution,” Bloomberg said. “It’s fair to ask those who earn more to bear more of the burden. That is the whole idea behind a graduated income tax,” Bloomberg said. “But all of us should help carry the load.”

However, the Mayor, who also happens to be the 12th richest person in the U.S., acknowledged that his recommendations are not a “cure-all,” adding that entitlement, tax and immigration reforms are also necessary.

Addressing the gridlock in Congress, Bloomberg pushed Democrats and Republicans to compromise. “We are not going to be able to cut our ways out of the problem and we’re not going to be able to just tax our ways out of the problem,” he said. “We must do both.”

“All sides have to be willing to give on something,” Bloomberg added. “We don’t have to slaughter the sacred cows but we do need to get a little milk from them.”

Bloomberg's Stance On Immigration Draws Heavy Criticism

By Adrianna McGinley

Roy Beck, President of NumbersUSA, an immigration reduction organization, offered harsh criticisms of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s comments touting immigration reform as the key to job creation.

“He doesn’t seem to have an idea what’s happening to American workers,” Beck said. “He doesn’t seem to know that there are 22 million Americans who are looking for a full-time job, who can’t find one.”

Beck blasted Bloomberg for saying undocumented college graduates should be allowed to pursue employment in the U.S. saying it sends the wrong message to the parents of citizen graduates.

“It’s very offensive to the parents of today’s high school students and college students for Mayor Bloomberg to continually go around and say that these American children are not worthy of getting the jobs when they get out of college, but instead we need to have a whole lot more foreign students come in and take those jobs,” Beck said.

Beck acknowledged that there is a need for comprehensive immigration reform, saying E-Verify should be made mandatory. The NumbersUSA founder added that the green card system should also be reformed, making permanent residence available only to those with “truly world-class skills.”

According to its website, NumbersUSA is a non-partisan site committed to “bringing federal immigration policy back to a logical place.”

Bloomberg Cites Immigration Reform As Key To Economic Recovery

By Adrianna McGinley

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed an overhaul of the immigration system as a bipartisan key to economic recovery and job creation.

During a speech Wednesday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in D.C., Bloomberg proposed reform focused on opening pathways for international students, entrepreneurs and temporary workers, citing that a mere 15 percent of visas are given for economic reasons, a number that he says drastically lessens the U.S. ability to compete globally.

“Allocating only 15 percent of visas based on economics is just terrible public policy, and it really is holding our economy back. In today’s global marketplace we cannot afford to keep turning away those with skills that our country needs to grow and to succeed. It is sabotaging our economy, I’ve called it national suicide, and I think it really is.”

He said the U.S. can no longer rely on its position as the world’s super power of innovation, as other countries emerge as strong competitors.

“America no longer is the inevitable crossroads for enterprise and innovation. Countries from Asia to South America now beckon with opportunity, so the United States simply has to compete like never before for talent.”

Bloomberg cited programs in China offering incentives including tax breaks, affordable loans, and start up capital for those who study overseas to return to China once they graduate. He said not providing a path for these students to remain and work in the U.S. is “about the dumbest thing we can do” since two-thirds of those earning Ph.D.s in computer science or engineering in the U.S. are foreign students.

“We are saying to those who dream of becoming Americans, who dream of coming here to work and start businesses, we don’t need you, we don’t need your sweat or your skills, we don’t need your ideas or your innovations, but nothing, nothing could be further from the truth,” Bloomberg said. “We desperately need immigrants who want to come here to work, who have the skills our companies need to succeed. The American dream cannot survive if we keep telling the dreamers to go elsewhere.”

Bloomberg urged the public to contact their representatives to push for immigration reform.

American Federation of Teachers: “Reinvest, Don’t Disinvest”

“Let’s choose to advance, not retreat,” said Randi Weingarten, the newly elected president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), who held a press conference on Education and the Economy today. Weingarten continued, “with the exception of vouchers, which siphon scarce resources from public schools, n issue should be off the table, provided it is good for children and fair to teachers.”

The mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg (I-N.Y.), enthusiastically introduced Weingarten as a woman who brought great educational reform to new York City, increased teachers salaries across the board by 43% since 2002, eliminated forced transfers to more challenging schools, and balanced out the number of experienced teachers at each school.

Weingarten said the federal No Child Left Behind Act “has become a stand-in for real discussions at the state and national levels about a robust education policy that prepares our children for the 21st century,” and offered several suggestions for education reform. These included providing universal early childhood education, expanding teacher induction, and having schools offer social services throughout the day such as child care, night classes, dental and medical care, and after school services.

Weingarten also supports teacher tenure, but said it isn’t “a guarantee of a job for life.” She supports peer monitoring and review programs in order to ensure tenured teacher quality. In regard to differentiated pay, Weingarten supports paying more to teachers who take on additional responsibilities, work in hard-to-staff schools or subjects, and who are mentors for their fellow teachers.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke to World Bank Employees about how to use New York's positive example in other cities

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg addressed the World Bank Employees on “Building Better Cities: New York's Experience in Urban Transformation” at World Bank's Urban Sector Day. He said they should be proud of the difference they were making to society. For the first time in human history, he said, most of the world's population is in cities as opposed to urban areas.

There are major responsibilities, he said, because of the economic, social, and environmental consequences of “explosive urban growth.” He said that now we are faced with the challenges of providing people with the health and social services that they need. He said he would explain his formula used with New York City as an example of how to effect changes on a larger scale in the world.

He brought the audience's attention back to 9/11, saying that many people believed that New York's “days of greatness were numbered.” He said that there had been predictions that residents and businesses would leave, the economy would never recover, crime would take over, and that they were on an “irreversible downward spiral of decline.” However, he said, there are four values that are universal and can (and should) be transferred to other parts of the world. First, there is using the forces of immigration and globalization, second, tapping the “power of innovation,” third, instituting accountable governance, and fourth to have the independence to take on 'entrenched interests' when they stand in the way of progress.

Bloomberg said that he believed that some of our national leaders are turning their backs on what he calls his “formula for success.” He says that if they insist on turning away the best and the brightest by protecting jobs instead of promoting them, then the economic problems we are facing in the United States will be here for a long time.

He asked a question to the world: “Do we reap the benefits of globalization and address its difficulties honestly or do we scapegoat globalization and turn away its benefits?” He went on to say that he believed that we should be working to bring the benefits of globalization not only in the United States but in cities around the world.

New York City, Bloomberg said, holds the title of 'America's safest big city.' New York holds the that title because they have been mapping crime trends and then sending police officers to where the crime is specifically based. In New York, he said, many would say that more money is the solution to any problem, but, it is possible to do more with less.

Bloomberg said is it important to make decisions based on the merits of the decision, not based on polls or partisanship. A good example, he said, is how New York City has been very pro-active against smoking. They raised cigarette taxes, made public information campaigns, increased smoking cessation programs, and outlawed smoking in all public places. An area of political independence, and a willingness to fight the 'vested interest,' has really paid off by the results they've seen with reduced smoking and better health for New York City's citizens.

“Globalization, innovation, accountable governance, independent leadership,” he said again, are the four values that should be fostered in cities around the world. “Every generation, in its own way,” he said, “faces the challenge of enlarging the realm of human happiness and opening up new vistas of human possibility.”

At the press conference immediately following the presentation, Mayor Bloomberg answered questions. In response to a question about how to translate crime reduction successes in New York City to other parts of the world, Bloomberg said to take the policies and allocate resources to “problem places” with “problem people.” The politics is usually to put them “where people scream the loudest.” The police represent the community, he said, so the makeup of the police department should match the demographics of the population. You want to make sure that the person feels that the police officer understands you because of who you are, he said.