Selfish New Yorkers Take To Streets
In response to proposed budget cuts by Governor Patterson, 50,000 (supposedly) government sucklers marched in protest in Manhattan. Looks like they didn’t get the memo about “shared sacrifice.” CBS News had the story:
A massive budget backlash came to lower Manhattan on Thursday. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers marched on City Hall, rallying to stop proposed funding cuts.
The rally cries of labor unions, community groups and families outside City Hall could be heard throughout lower Manhattan. Desperation for an economic lifeline brought out more than 50,000 people along several blocks of Broadway in a self-described “Rally For New York.”
Their message for Gov. David Paterson came in the form of booming chants:
“No more cuts! No more cuts!”
Everyday New Yorkers had their own personal messages for the governor as well.
“Governor Paterson, I wish you could have an open heart that we are going to suffer if this budget cut goes through,” said China Lankford of Jamaica.
Paterson has proposed closing a $15 billion state budget gap by making cuts across the board,
including $2.5 billion in education, $3.2 billion in health care and billions more in cuts to vital programs such as senior services, disability services, housing assistance and crisis intervention programs.Protestors insisted Thursday that there’s a better way. They’re asking for what they call “fair tax reform” — raising state taxes for New Yorkers making $250,000 or more on top of the president’s proposed hikes.
“For those of you who prosper during boom time, we ask them pay a little bit more. Pay a little more so New York can avoid cutting the services that our most vulnerable need,” United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said.
To me, this is almost the equivalent of people who have been laid off marching in protest of the corporation who let them go. This is what happens when times are bad economically. People get laid off. Budgets get cut. It’s called “real life.”
Yet, at a time when unemployment has reached 8.1%, “50,000″ people who feed off of the government’s largesse take to the streets in protest over budget cuts? Sorry, it’s just hard to have sympathy when so many people are losing their jobs. Just where do these people think the money comes from anyway?
Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!
