NYT Does Itself No Favors Delaying Corrections

By Steve Levy

December 14, 2023

https://www.newsmax.com/stevelevy/new-york-times/2023/12/14/id/1145942/

The New York Times editorial page is an interesting place. In real time it promotes illogical left-wing dogma that runs contrary to common sense solutions. But it’s not unusual in retrospect for the same editorialists to embrace a position that is 180-degrees from that which they espoused months, or years, earlier without ever admitting that they were wrong in the first place.

They did it with the Russia hoax.

They did it with the Wuhan lab theory.

They did it with COVID school closures.

And now they’ve done it once again with New York City’s budget crisis.

An opinion piece by left-leaning Mara Gay reflects upon the irresponsible spending sprees in the de Blasio and Adams administrations, which have placed the city on the precipice of an economic crisis

Many common sense fiscal analysts, including this column, warned that the uncontrolled spending by Bill de Blasio, while money was flowing in buckets in the Trump years, and then by Eric Adams, who waved in hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into the city under his sanctuary city banner, were going to lead to fiscal collapse.

No one at the New York Times seemed to care.

After all, The Times is the oracle of humanitarianism, or so they believe. They claim to care for the poor, therefore unbridled spending on various programs, even if dubious, are extolled by its editorial board.

It’s quite interesting how now Ms. Gay is suddenly lending a critical eye on the near billion dollars squandered by de Blasio on mental health programs. She fails to mention, however, that this was money that went directly into the coffers of the mayor’s wife’s unproven nonprofit. Where was the concern back then?

But now, suddenly, Ms. Gay is sounding the alarm about the mismanagement that took place half a decade ago.

Many fiscal analysts had warned that the city and state had to be careful about overspending in times of plenty during the Trump years, while also controlling the temptation to spend irresponsibly as massive amounts of one shot revenues flowed from the federal government during COVID.

Ms. Gay appropriately noted how de Blasio massively increased the number of employees on the city payroll. That was straight from the playbook of any Marxist official who wants to place as many employees on the dole as possible in order to control their behavior and secure their votes to maintain their control.

It’s hard to see where any of these newly minted positions actually enhanced the quality of life or the providing of services for city residents. But again, The Times editorial board was silent as this explosion of government spending was transpiring.

The next thing you know, The Times will be pointing out how President Biden‘s extravagant spending spree led to inflation on levels we hadn’t seen in 40 years.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for that admission … at least until after the 2024 election.

Admitting the truth is fine for The Times somewhere down the line, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their favorite elected officials maintaining power.

Steve Levy is President of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.” He is the author of “Solutions to America’s Problems” and “Bias in the Media.” www.SteveLevy.info, Twitter @SteveLevyNY, [email protected]