Perhaps the reason the Boy Mayor washed out of Pitt as an undergraduate involved mathematics. After labeling his proposed $15 million annual tax on tuition the "Fair Share Tax," Luke -- bidding against himself, the traditional strategy of the desperate or the daft, or, as in this case, the desperate and daft -- indicated that $5 million would suffice, which means the original proposal was a "Three Times What's Fair" Tax reminiscent of Dan Onorato's fondness for overtaxing less-affluent property owners and non-teetotallers.
The underlying issue is that the mayor and his constituents want other people's money to pay the tab for Pittsburgh's long-running bender. The city -- dullards electing losers who hire scammers and cronies to wreck pension plans and waste economic development funds -- is responsible for the debts, and has undertaxed itself for decades instead of funding its taste in inefficient government
.The other people, not surprisingly, object to bailing out unrepentant and unreformed city residents. To get to students' money, the city would be required to get past the courts and the legislature. I doubt it could survive either, even after installing as new city solicitor
Luke is spending the weekend in New York. No, not hanging out with his Big Apple road trip pal Ron Burkle (Burkle has banked his arena subsidies, so Luke is off the 757). Instead, Luke is ogling the genuine clout here at the Pennsylvania Society events. Whatever made Luke and his handlers think they could outmaneuver the Pitts and CMUs and UPMCs is a dangerous delusion for a guy whose real title is Mayor of InsolvenCity.
Until the City of Pittsburgh acknowledges responsibility for its failures, changes its ways and accepts accountability, neither students nor its neighbors nor anyone else should be expected to fund the dysfunction that is InsolvenCity.
1 comment:
Hard to believe Reg on Wry is one of your featured blogs.
Good post.
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