...cryptocommie mayor of New York and for some reason a Dem candidate for president in 2020. Corrupt and incompetent, his qualifications for office seem to consist of being married to a black woman, with whom he honeymooned in Cuba. He has a preppy-looking son named Dante, whose Divine Comedy involved getting his back hair up when a police car drove past him slowly. New Yorkers voted for him, so they deserve him...is threatening to pink-slip 22,000 city employees if the feds or state don’t send him cash soon, but the schnook can’t even blackmail properly.
De Blasio trotted out the L-word, layoffs, to stoke fear of a catastrophe. Yet even after letting that many workers go, the city headcount would still be higher, by nearly 7,000, than when Hizzoner took office in 2014.
The growth came with no noticeable improvement in services, so why expect layoffs to make them worse? Some might see a trimming as a necessary step, aid or not. So much for his threat.
Yes, layoffs are painful (especially if you’re getting the ax). But de Blasio spent years recklessly bloating the workforce when the economy was strong and revenue flush; that left the city at risk during the inevitable downturn.
Indeed, despite the pandemic, his April budget called for an even larger workforce by 2022. If he imposes layoffs now, he’d deserve the blame — not DC.
Massive job cuts, of course, aren’t likely. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson says it’s possible to make ends meet without them — and for good reason: There are countless better ways to close the $1 billion gap de Blasio says he’s suddenly facing.
Budget watchdogs, for starters, note 22,000 layoffs would save far more than $1 billion. The Citizens Budget Commission says losing 9,000 jobs over two years via a real job freeze alone could do the trick.