And then there were four.
With just under a year until the Democratic primaries, Assemblyman James Brennan has announced that he is withdrawing from the race to succeed Bill Thompson. That leave Yassky, Katz, Carrión and Weprin still in the running.
All this assuming, of course, that term limits remain in effect…
Brennan Out of Comptroller Race
Second Northside Piers Tower Hits the Market
As I mentioned a while back, I wonder if the shift to smaller units will turn out to be chasing a passing market?
Demolition Begins at McCarren Pool
Great news – the backhoes are out in force at McCarren Pool.
The View of Wall Street from Western Long Island
The Observer reports on the Wall Street crisis from a Brooklyn perspective.
If the coming depression closes down Sea, it might be worth it. (The Brooklyn Inn, on the other hand, would be an epic loss.)
Residents of Greenpoint Home for the Aged Get Organized
Still no GL, so more extra links from the internets for you. First up, Brownstoner has more complete coverage on the seemingly nefarious goings on at the Greenpoint Home for the Aged (the building tucked into the elbow of Oak Street), which NAG first reported earlier in the week.
Bush to Address Nation
A mea culpa would help (don’t hold your breath).
Mother of All Bailouts
Image: Kevin Drum
The image above shows the relative size of Federal bailouts (adjusted for inflation) since the 1970s, starting with Penn Central at the far left, and ending with the Wall Street bailout (estimated) on the far right.
A few things to note: that largish green dot towards the left represents the NYC bailout (yeah, Ford told us to drop dead, but eventually he signed off on a bailout to the tune of $2.3 billion ($9.4 billion today)). Above and to the right of that is a blue dot representing the Chrysler bailout ($1.5 billion then, $3.9 billion now). In all, those two rather iconic bailouts are relatively small potatoes.
And that huge magenta circle? The S&L bailout of 1989 (almost $300 billion today). Until the Wall Street bailout, it was the largest on record, exceeding Fannie/Freddie, Bear Stearns and AIG (and almost equal to the three of them combined).
You wouldn’t know it from reading the papers, but one of the presidential candidates was at the center of the S&L bailout, and not in a good way. In fact, he was reprimanded by the Senate for his role in that fiasco. Here’s a hint – it wasn’t Barack Obama (he was too busy being a community organizer at that time). Here’s another hint.
That’s fiscal experience we can believe in.
[via Kevin Drum]