Thanksgiving

By Henry J. Stern
November 28, 2003

    This will be brief, there is no need for you to print it out.

    Ginger Nut and Northside join me in wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to each of you. In general, we Americans are a very fortunate people, and it makes enormous sense to stop once a year to recognize the gifts we have received, and to share our gratitude with people we love, some of whom may not understand how well off they really are. Many of us, by nature or nurture, are never fully satisfied, nor probably should we be, because our situations can always improve. But with the Day of Atonement falling in October, it seems appropriate to observe a Day of Thanksgiving in November, and rejoice in the blessings that we enjoy.

   This is not the day to talk about the Brooklyn judiciary, so I won't, but for those of you who have asked why we cover it so thoroughly, I suggest you think of it as a detective story, and consider whether unraveling the strands of testimony will bring us closer to the truth. I do want to say, however, that Brooklyn is not significantly worse than the other boroughs, it is just that, when it comes to rewarding their mediocre cronies, they are clumsier and maybe a tad greedier than their colleagues in Queens and the Bronx. Manhattan is another story, to be saved for another day.

   You may not have heard that Governor Schwarzenegger's plan for California's budget includes borrowing FIFTEEN BILLION dollars. This will put the Golden State in the No. 1 position in the United States in public debt, surpassing New York State, which will become No. 2. In this derby of debt, New York City is No. 3, and the other forty-eight states, plus hundreds of cities and public authorities (the most recent class of debtors) bring up the rear. One problem with a large debt is that you have to pay interest on it each year, further complicating the job of balancing the budget so that you can begin to pay it off. Of course, the National Debt dwarfs all state and local obligations.

   Hasta la vista.