Larry Hirsch

In vetoing the Prevailing Wage Bill and threatening to veto the Living Wage Bill, Mayor Bloomberg has called the bills ways that government will interfere with the free market. This is something he says should not be allowed. In fact, he has gone so far as to liken...

An article in the New York Times this weekend detailed how a number of big Obama supporters in 2008 are not wholeheartedly supporting the 2012 campaign. These grassroots supporters of the president were the people whose record amount of small donations and volunteer time helped propel the president to victory....

Reading the arguments for and against the Living Wage Bill currently before the City Council, there seems to be a logical way to move it forward that will both help workers and protect small businesses. First, one needs to look at the provisions of the bill. The Living...

One of the attractions to many of Occupy Wall Street movement is that it leaderless, participatory, inclusive and is committed to not getting involved in political battles. While many say there is not a message, the simple one of economic equality for the 99% is getting through. Why the Republicans...

Much to the relief of Yankee fans (of which I am not one), pitcher CC Sabbathia agreed to extend his 4 year $92 Million contract to one that pays 5 Years and $122 Million. For all the drama generated in print and on sports talk shows one would have thought...

Among many amusing moments watching the Republican debate last night was seeing how they all condemned the 2008 TARP plan to bail out the financial industry. They all made it sound like it was some Democratic government giveaway, which could not be further from the truth.

The original TARP plan...

Great to see President Obama fired up tonight. He truly gave the bottom line to the Republicans. The message of targeted tax cuts and spending on programs that will create jobs is impossible to resist. We need teachers, we need to repair our roads and bridges and our veterans need...

When he was president of his own privately held company, Michael Bloomberg was not accountable to anyone. If he wanted something done, it got done. He did not have to explain his actions to anyone because he was the boss. There were not even any public stockholders in the company...

"Hey I'm tellin ya, I get no respect, no respect at all. I almost win the big Iowa straw poll and the next day it seems the media has forgotten my name." Yes, that could be the lament of Ron "Rodney Dangerfield" Paul. I mean the guy comes this close...

I just recently heard about the massive educational corruption case in Atlanta. Hundreds of teachers, principals and administrators are accused of altering tests to make scores go up. Higher scores make schools look good and could be the difference in educators keeping their jobs. What would make educators...

There was an old Saturday Night Live sketch, where in the middle of an interview with Golda Meir, they plunk Yasser Arafat in the room with her and say the two of them will be locked in a room until they come to an agreement. The point being that these...

Most owners of professional sports teams have gotten that way by being successful capitalists. They have made a lot of money in business that allows them to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy a team. They believe in the free market and have profited by it.

However as...

Of all the incredible things being heard from Washington during this budget debate one that has stood out for me goes something like this. Quoted in the New York Times, I believe it was John Boehner who said that he could not support more taxes for the wealthy because it...

In the early parts of the 2000 campaign, John McCain was proving himself to be a different type of Republican. While he was as conservative as the rest, he became a Maverick by stating what was on his mind and got a reputation for telling the truth. One could disagree...

Mayor Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and the other "education reformers" feel that ending the policy of Last In First Out (LIFO) when it comes to teacher layoffs is the crucial piece to improving public education. LIFO is the practice of having junior teachers be the first to face the ax when...

With skyrocketing pension costs the primary economic threat to many states, it is obvious that there needs to be reform. State workers can still retire with full pensions that are often padded near the end of their careers. The costs are exceeding the contributions and the income made from the...

The recently released Financial Crisis Inquiry Report makes it clear that there is enough blame to go around for the financial collapse of 2008. Wall Street hustlers looking to make quick bucks made huge bets on the housing bubble that ultimately came crashing down, the government not wanting to stop...

The budget compromise President Obama worked out with Republicans is not something many on the left fully agree with. Let's face it, tax breaks for the rich will do very little to hire more Americans or fix our economy (and adds hundreds of billions to the deficit). A permanent extension...

I do not share the beliefs of those in the Tea Party, but I respect the sincerity of those beliefs amongst the grassroots Tea Party activists. They believe government had gotten too big and taxes had gotten too high and changing that situation would bring economic prosperity back. Many Tea...

I was just watching a CNN story about Boeing contract to build a virtual fence at the Texas Border. Over $1 Billion of Federal Money has been paid on this contract with nothing to show for it. This is just another example of how many federal contractors have little accountability,...