Fiscal Responsibility-According to the NY Times

In today's NY Times the paper editorializes about the city's budget surplus and, surprisingly, counsels "fiscal restraint." As they say, "Fighting the urge to spend will be a real and pivotal test for the city's elected officials." We say surprisingly because we have never seen a tax increase that the Times didn't immediately fall in love with.

The surprise is, however, only apparent. In the entire editorial the paper doesn't even deign to mention the property tax decrease that was called for this week by a number of council members. Not even mentioned to shoot down? Oh well, with the Times we need to be satisfied with half a loaf, given the paper's history on the topic. As Samuel Johnson is supposed to have said about the dancing dog: "It's not that it dances well, it's that it dances at all."