New York Politics as usual

I love being around New York politics. It's like all my senses come alive and I learn something new every time I just stand still and listen (which is usually a difficult exercise for me). There is little science to opinion. Opinions can be as broad and as varied as the sea. They are subject to change on a daily or hourly basis. It's not something you can stick in an incubator and analyze as an experiment: a known process for me given my science background. Tonight I chatted with the man who ran Clinton's Campaign and I've chatted at length with the Attorney General twice this month. Politics is my comfort zone: my endlessly intriguing comfort zone. International relations is so vast it can be unmanageable at times. Politics is something I can put my arms around. It's my more manageable passion.

De Blasio actually can't raise New York taxes as Mayor. That is a state responsibility. However, not all banks know that and the result might be dire, especially if Albany sides with the Mayor. The biggest problem with taxing the rich to help the poor is that Wall Street corporations might relocate, the same way the BRICS countries are discussing creating a new World Bank abroad due to their frustrations with U.S. monetary policies. "One of the worst things that ever happened to California is that Bank of America picked up and moved to North Carolina. It bankrupted the state." Schneiderman's bank proposal, which could supposedly be the biggest deal in U.S. history, is less threatening because it's an opt-in policy for the banks. Taxes are not. Moderation in all things, New York. Apparently there's more to conservative wisdom than meets the eye...