There”™s a crack ”“ albeit small ”“ in the seemingly impenetrable gloom that settled on the American economy and national psyche last fall.
As the economy grew darker, so did our outlook on a recovery. Photos of hundreds of people standing in line for 35 firefighter openings in Miami earlier this year reinforced the doomsday atmosphere. We saw similar photos before during our grade-school history lessons. But this time we weren”™t looking at images of bread lines in our history books. We were witnessing the tattered side of life firsthand.
A glimmer of hope emerged last week when The Marist Poll released a survey of 1,118 Americans, of whom 49 percent felt the nation was moving in the right direction.
We”™re not sure exactly if they polled anyone in the Empire State. More on that later.
In the national poll, 40 percent of respondents said the U.S. was going in the wrong direction and 11 percent were unsure.
That”™s quite a gray area that 11 percent, especially when you consider that the margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent. Good or bad, take a stand; don”™t be on the sidelines.
Black and white with no gray was quite evident when it came to political lines.
Not surprising was that Democrats were more optimistic, 80 percent, than Republicans, 20 percent. Some 51 percent of Independents surveyed were also optimistic. On the flip side, 63 percent of Republicans felt the nation was heading down the wrong path, while only 14 percent of Democrats felt the same.
As for a regional breakdown, the Northeast was most optimistic at 59 percent. The Midwest followed at 50 percent, the West at 46 percent and the South at 44 percent.
As for optimism among the sexes, women were more upbeat than men, 53 percent to 44 percent. Men were more pessimistic, 45 percent to 36 percent, when it came to saying the nation is going down the wrong path.
The rise in optimism relatively falls in line with a survey released last week by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association that showed an improvement in the outlook of business executives in the state.
The CBIA couched its polling results as cautious optimism.
“The recession is far from over, but we are beginning to get a sense that some businesses are slowly starting to improve and executives are becoming more confident that the economy will recover and that they will be able to survive these tough economic times,” said Peter Gioia, vice president and economist of the CBIA.
We”™re pretty sure business people in the Empire State are not as optimistic as their counterparts in Connecticut considering the state budget is balanced on tax increases on the state”™s highest earners and on federal stimulus dollars, not to mentions the billions of dollars in new fees.
We”™re unsure whether New York state was included in the Marist survey.
If it had been, we feel the optimistic fervor of the Northeast would have been tempered greatly.
As New York”™s budget sinks deeper with each passing day, we are incredulous by the lack of further action to stem the red-ink tide.
Do legislators think once a budget is passed they can wash their hands?
We think not.
This budget is a travesty. It gives the state the ignoble distinction of being No. 1 again ”¦ in taxes.
In passing the budget, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith said: “With economic conditions worsening by the day and no region of the state immune to the pain of economic challenges not seen since the Great Depression, we made the tough choices these difficult times demand.”
Tough choices? Sounds more like “tough luck, taxpayers.”
He also was quoted as saying: “Don”™t feel bad about this budget, my colleagues. You did the right thing.”
The next “right” thing to do would be to not run for re-election.
Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said: “It”™s no wonder this budget was negotiated in complete secrecy, because it is a complete disaster that could push New York from recession to depression.”
Echoing Skelos”™ remarks, Republican Sen. William Larkin, who represents Orange and Ulster counties, said: “In the doomsday (budget) of Gov. (Hugh) Carey, at least people talked to one another. They weren”™t afraid to discuss what they were doing and why they were doing it. I think that”™s what helped us out of that” fiscal crisis.
“This here is a total disgrace.”
We”™re optimistic things will get worse in the state before they get better.
