Monday, December 21, 2009

The convenient "do what I say" philosophy


From the NY Times:

Even for a born-and-bred New Yorker, figuring out this city and some of its leaders can be tricky. Let’s see if we’ve got some recent developments straight.

News item: The City Council killed plans for a shopping mall inside the unused Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx because it wanted the developer to guarantee that workers would be paid more than the bare minimum. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg promised a veto. Public officials shouldn’t be dictating to private industry in this manner, he said.

Do we have this right? The Bloomberg administration considers it overly intrusive when government tells some businesses to pay their employees a living wage but not overly intrusive when government tells other businesses, like restaurants, what kinds of cooking oils they may use.

Got it.

News item: Mr. Bloomberg, who worries mightily about the environment, used his private jet to get to the climate talks in Copenhagen rather than take a scheduled commercial flight.

So the way to save the planet from pollution is by further polluting it.

Got it.

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