Former Mayor of NYC Ed Koch
Very interesting 4 part BBC documentary that explores the near bankruptcy and collapse that New York City experienced in the 1970's. Some of the financial strain stemmed from issues like de-industrialization and white flight, but the lion's share of the blame lay with bloated, fiscally irresponsible city government and rapacious public unions. At it's peak the crisis coincided with a blackout that led to a wave of crime, looting and arson. What is most significant is that producers of the documentary believe that the dramatic changes in governance and fiscal policy that New York City enacted influenced political and economic changes across the globe. In particular, England's Margaret Thatcher was in NYC personally observing and drawing lessons from the reforms that were enacted to stem to the crisis, lessons which she applied to her own England.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex-iMzSNcrE
I like Koch when he was the judge on People's Court.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I don't know too much about his political history, but I like that as far as politicians go, he seems like a straightforward guy. And at the very least he seems like he would be a good guy to have a coffee and bagel with.
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