Nicole Gelinas [151 titles]

1. Arguing the Economy
   A recent debate highlights the weaknesses of Obamanomics.
   18 November 2009
2. The Bear Truth
   Criminal prosecutions won’t fix finance.
   11 November 2009
3. Bloomberg at the Warning Track
   There are no indispensable mayors.
   4 November 2009
4. Our Subprime Federal Government
   President Obama’s mortgage plan imitates the lenders who inflated the housing bubble.
   20 October 2009
5. The Downtown Development Drag
   6 October 2009
6. Global Warning
   Iceland’s failed banks offer the West a lesson.
   17 September 2009
7. Krugman, Keynes, and Ketchup
   The Times columnist offers exactly the wrong fix for the financial crisis.
   9 September 2009
8. Failing Up
   The government is endangering the FDIC’s crucial role in market discipline.
   1 September 2009
9. “Too Big to Fail” Must Die
   If we continue to subsidize irresponsible risk-taking, we’ll just get more of it.
   Summer 2009
10. Express Track to New York’s Tomorrow?
    Mayor Bloomberg makes a fresh start on transit.
    6 August 2009
11. Transit for Tomorrow
    The MTA’s labor costs are crowding out money for a twenty-first-century system.
    8 July 2009
12. A Better, Simpler Financial Fix
    Markets don’t need more regulatory discretion; they need clear limits on risk-taking.
    19 June 2009
13. Spendthrift Sunbelt States
    Arizona, Florida, and Nevada have run through the riches of their boom and are starting to look more like cash-strapped New York.
    Spring 2009
14. The Perils of P-PIP
    Waste, fraud, and abuse: not just for defense contractors any more
    7 April 2009
15. Baying for AIG Blood
    A bankruptcy—even a brutal one—could have been better than this.
    23 March 2009
16. Jindal’s Missed Opportunity
    Who better to offer a lesson in what government should do?
    25 February 2009
17. The Developers’ Bailout
    Propping up politically connected real estate won’t help New York.
    24 February 2009
18. Public-Private Peril
    Under Geithner’s plan, the private sector leaps into bed with the feds.
    11 February 2009
19. Cap and Bail
    The government’s new limit on executive pay is a symptom, not a problem.
    5 February 2009
20. Stimulating Some Thinking
    Get the infrastructure part of the recovery package right.
    2 February 2009
21. The President’s First Roadblock
    Yes, we can invest wisely in infrastructure—but how?
    23 January 2009
22. Can the Feds Uncrunch Credit?
    Maybe—but Washington’s unprecedented interventions could make things much, much worse.
    Winter 2009
23. Stalling Out
    Good leadership—from someone willing to address public-sector benefits costs—can save New York from Detroit’s fate.
    14 January 2009
24. Gotham’s Problems Are Camelot-Proof
    Neither Caroline Kennedy nor Washington, DC can solve New York’s fiscal crisis.
    6 January 2009
25. A Tale of Two Paulsons
    The free market is dead; long live the free market.
    21 November 2008
26. Paulson Bails Out the Bailout
    If at first it won’t succeed . . .
    12 November 2008
27. Notes on the Election
    City Journal writers reflect on Tuesday’s results and on the implications of an Obama presidency.
    7 November 2008
28. Bloomberg’s Missed Chance
    The mayor should have asked the city’s biggest labor union for some concessions.
    4 November 2008
29. Sheltering Speculation
    How we could have contained the housing bubble
    29 October 2008
30. Gotham’s “Uncontrollable” Crisis
    Autumn 2008
31. Storm-Proofing the Economy
    We can’t prevent Wall Street turmoil, but we can make it less destructive.
    Autumn 2008
32. Senator Uncertainty
    McCain’s mortgage proposal contradicts the Paulson plan he just endorsed.
    10 October 2008
33. A Better Bailout
    The feds are finally shoring up the foundation of the credit markets.
    7 October 2008
34. Wall Street Explodes
    Background reading from City Journal’s writers
    1 October 2008
35. Five Questions About the Bailout . . .
    . . . if Congress hasn’t passed it by the time you read this.
    26 September 2008
36. Mark-to-Market Isn’t to Blame
    Blaming fair-value accounting for banking misadventures is like criticizing the newspaper for reporting a murder.
    25 September 2008
37. Throwing Bad Debt After Bad—Again!
    Incredibly, Congress still wants to make dangerous loans.
    18 September 2008
38. Construction Safety Woes
    More building shouldn’t mean more deaths.
    Summer 2008
39. Going for Broke
    In bailing out Fannie and Freddie, the feds up the ante on a bet that they may not be able to cover.
    11 September 2008
40. Driving Lessons
    Honk if you want to know just how complicated automobile safety is.
    5 September 2008
41. Katrina, Three Years Later
    Surrounded by both progress and despair, New Orleanians soldier on.
    28 August 2008
42. Andrew Cuomo’s Civil Approach
    Where Eliot Spitzer produced headlines, the new AG produces results.
    12 August 2008
43. New York’s Next Fiscal Crisis
    Mayor Bloomberg needs to prepare the city for the crash of the Wall Street gravy train.
    Summer 2008
44. America, Too Big to Fail . . . Probably
    The feds can bail out Fannie and Freddie, but who will bail out the feds?
    16 July 2008
45. New Twin Towers?
    It may not be too late.
    6 July 2008
46. Tangled Power Lines
    It’s time Con Ed had a long-term capital improvement plan.
    30 June 2008
47. Boston Battles Foreclosures
    But Beantown isn’t home free yet.
    Spring 2008
48. Stock Characters
    Two centuries’ worth of Wall Street highs and lows
    6 June 2008
49. Leave Jindal Alone!
    If John McCain wants to help Louisiana, he should let its governor stay there.
    22 May 2008
50. The Big Easy Rebuilds, Bottom Up
    Ordinary New Orleanians restore their city, avoiding lower Manhattan’s master-planned debacle.
    Spring 2008
51. Matters of Trust
    What’s wrong with giving homeowners a New York–style bailout
    14 May 2008
52. A Safe Haven for Investors
    American regulations protect account holders from around the world; will policymakers thwart them?
    29 April 2008
53. Words Not Deeds
    Governor Paterson’s promising speech—and enormous budget
    14 April 2008
54. A Feckless Foreclosure Fix
    Just the first of many pernicious bailouts
    7 April 2008
55. Memo to Governor Paterson
    Don’t wait for the Wall Street crisis to worsen—start cutting now.
    18 March 2008
56. New York Gets Steamrolled
    The state must recover from Spitzer’s transgressions quickly.
    11 March 2008
57. Criminalizing Capitalism
    Six years after Enron, executives face greater risks—but investors are no safer.
    Winter 2008
58. Mitt Romney’s Smart Tax Plan
    Investment-friendly tax cuts, not one-time rebates
    31 January 2008
59. Don’t Foreclose the Possibilities
    The mortgage meltdown doesn’t have to cause a 1970s replay in Gotham.
    25 January 2008
60. For Whom the Roads Toll
    Under Governor Corzine’s bad plan, toll hikes will pay down New Jersey’s debt.
    14 January 2008
61. Intellectual’s Survival Guide
    Cass Sunstein wants us to reconsider how we assess the risk of catastrophes.
    4 January 2008
62. Banks, Shot
    Wall Street—and New York—face a challenging 2008.
    2 January 2008
63. The Best Disinfectant
    Project Sunlight, a voter-information website with great promise
    19 December 2007
64. Henry Paulson’s Mortgage Mulligan
    A new subprime debacle
    3 December 2007
65. Super SIV to the Rescue?
    The banks’ second thoughts on securitizations may signal a long credit crunch.
    8 November 2007
66. Lessons of Boston’s Big Dig
    America’s most ambitious infrastructure project inspired engineering marvels—and colossal mismanagement.
    Autumn 2007
67. San Diego Saints
    California’s wildfire response took a page from Houston’s playbook, not New Orleans’s.
    30 October 2007
68. Are Poor Students Worth More?
    New York’s schools chancellor thinks so, but taxpayers may disagree.
    16 October 2007
69. Foul-Weather Friends
    Congress knows its hurricane politics, if not its economics.
    4 October 2007
70. Lower Manhattan’s Next Challenge
    In an economic downturn, could downtown survive grabby politicians?
    11 September 2007
71. The Most Dangerous City
    Two years after Katrina, New Orleans desperately needs law and order.
    28 August 2007
72. An Inconvenient Solution
    Carbon trading, the increasingly accepted answer to global warming, will cost far more than we’re being told.
    Summer 2007
73. Notes from the Underground
    A company maintaining the Tube gets off the train early—and provides useful lessons for the U.S.
    23 August 2007
74. The Crumbling of America
    Our precious infrastructure inheritance and how we’re squandering it
    3 August 2007
75. John Edwards’s Tax Muddle
    Under his plan, not only the rich would get soaked.
    31 July 2007
76. DC’s Freddy Ferrer Tax
    The spirit of New York’s failed mayoral candidate lives on in Washington.
    17 July 2007
77. NY’s Mini-Blackout Warning
    The city’s physical infrastructure desperately needs renewal.
    29 June 2007
78. Rewriting Ground Zero’s Reality
    Will New York’s heroic post-9/11 legacy permanently fracture into ugly accusations?
    27 June 2007
79. Patronizing the Poor
    According to the Bloomberg administration, the poor won’t act in their own best interest unless they’re paid to do so.
    21 June 2007
80. Shop ’Til You Drop
    Benjamin Barber, consumed by his own book
    18 June 2007
81. The Obstacle to Bloomberg’s Master Plan
    It’s called the MTA.
    8 June 2007
82. HillaryCare for Tots
    Billions of dollars for kids—and for unions, of course
    25 May 2007
83. Obama’s “Health Care for Hybrids”
    A bad idea
    9 May 2007
84. The Other Green in Bloomberg’s Plan
    Money.
    24 April 2007
85. Mass Murder, Martyrdom, and the Media
    The Virginia Tech killer expertly manipulated NBC and its competitors.
    19 April 2007
86. How Not to Save the Middle Class
    A new study offers “solutions” that will only make life costlier for New Yorkers.
    6 April 2007
87. Baghdad on the Bayou
    To recover from Katrina, New Orleans must defeat the criminals who terrorize its streets.
    Spring 2007
88. Many Happy Returns
    Activist investors may face some Chinese competition.
    Spring 2007
89. The Foundations That Wouldn’t Die
    What Bill Gates can learn from Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon
    30 March 2007
90. Congress to the Rescue?
    A decidedly sub-prime idea for the housing market
    16 March 2007
91. Don’t Knock Down New Orleans’s Projects
    Just sell them off to middle-class homeowners.
    23 February 2007
92. The JetBlue Way
    Flying the friendly skies—probably.
    20 February 2007
93. Spitzer’s Radical Medicaid Surgery?
    It’s really a placebo, but you wouldn’t know it from union screaming.
    8 February 2007
94. Wall Street Worries
    New York should heed (some of) McKinsey’s suggestions.
    22 January 2007
95. Help Us, Governor Spitzer!
    This crusading reformer has his work cut out for him.
    Winter 2007
96. Bonus Boom, But . . .
    Goldman’s stellar results and Gotham
    Winter 2007
97. Kill Off Atlantic Yards
    The Forest City/Ratner project is everything that’s wrong with the Empire State.
    19 December 2006
98. The BoNY-Mellon Merger
    Is it good for Gotham?
    7 December 2006
99. Who Will Run Albany?
    Spitzer or Silver?
    8 November 2006
100. A Social-Uplift Program That Works
     The Queens Library’s secret: help those who help themselves
     Autumn 2006
101. CUNY’s Virtuous Circle
     Donors reward a return to high standards.
     Autumn 2006
102. New York Isn’t Mexico
     The problem with Bloomberg’s cash-transfer program
     20 October 2006
103. Freeing Us from the Freedom Tower
     The Port Authority should save the worst for last.
     21 September 2006
104. Katrina’s Real Lesson
     Blame inadequate infrastructure, not poverty, for the storm’s devastation.
     28 August 2006
105. Spare Some Electricity, Mr. Mayor?
     No—too boring for Bloomberg.
     25 July 2006
106. The MTA and the MTA
     Does New York do better than Boston?
     14 July 2006
107. Is There a New York Housing Crisis?
     Only when government creates one—as Mayor Bloomberg is doing now.
     Summer 2006
108. Stop Storm Dallying
     Unprepared Long Island risks serious hurricane damage.
     Summer 2006
109. Subverting the War on Terror
     Contrary to the Times, the Bush administration did have permission to monitor suspected terrorist banking transactions.
     27 June 2006
110. Homeland Insecurity
     Missing landmarks aren’t the problem.
     2 June 2006
111. Not NYSE for New York
     The stock exchange’s bid for Europe’s stock markets isn’t good news for Gotham.
     24 May 2006
112. Downtown Rising
     Despite Pataki and Bloomberg, the private sector is fixing lower Manhattan.
     23 May 2006
113. Did the Big Easy’s Election Matter?
     New Orleanians don’t seem to know what they want from a leader.
     22 May 2006
114. Half a Loaf at Ground Zero
     Has the Port Authority offered developer Larry Silverstein a fair deal to rebuild the World Trade Center?
     26 April 2006
115. Katrina Kids Suffering?
     Yes, in part thanks to FEMA’s insta-ghettos.
     20 April 2006
116. Crimes and Motives
     Does it matter how violent criminals choose their victims?
     12 April 2006
117. Choreographing a New Budget Dance
     How Bloomberg should shake it up.
     7 April 2006
118. Houston’s Noble Experiment
     Can good government uplift the New Orleans evacuees whom bad government harmed?
     Spring 2006
119. Downtown Rising
     Despite Pataki and Bloomberg, the private sector is fixing lower Manhattan.
     Spring 2006
120. Criminal Negligence
     The feds are paying to rebuild New Orleans on a civic swamp.
     Spring 2006
121. Financial Follies at Ground Zero
     Or are they political follies?
     22 March 2006
122. Criminal Negligence
     The feds are paying to rebuild New Orleans on a civic swamp.
     8 March 2006
123. Reconstructing New Orleans
     Let homeowners serve as the ground troops.
     3 February 2006
124. Why Didn’t Anyone Save Nixzmary?
     Or Josiah, or Dahquay, or Sierra?
     18 January 2006
125. Katrina Refugees Shoot Up Houston
     FEMA should help the Texas city control its crime spike.
     4 January 2006
126. Gotham Needs Wall Street; Does Wall Street Need Gotham?
     New York’s leaders don’t understand how precarious the city’s prosperity is.
     Winter 2006
127. Transit Strike Lessons
     The public-employee shakedown of taxpayers can’t go on.
     Winter 2006
128. Mayor Bloomberg: Get the Buses Running.
     And save New York from a slow-motion economic disaster.
     21 December 2005
129. It’s Time to Privatize Gotham’s Buses
     Striking TWU workers show the danger of a single monopoly system.
     19 December 2005
130. Putting Teeth in the Taylor Law
     In the event of a transit strike, New York pols must hang tough.
     14 December 2005
131. Solving the President’s New Orleans Problem
     Feds should set the direction for recovery.
     11 November 2005
132. A Fair Fare
     The MTA should spread its holiday cheer year-round.
     20 October 2005
133. Who’s Killing New Orleans?
     It’s hard to worry about racism and poverty after you’ve been murdered.
     Autumn 2005
134. They’re Taking Away Your Property for What?
     The Court’s eminent-domain ruling is useless as well as unjust.
     Autumn 2005
135. A Perfect Storm of Lawlessness
     New Orleans’ vicious looters aren’t the real face of the city’s poor—their victims are.
     1 September 2005
136. Will New Orleans Recover?
     Weak and struggling before Katrina, the good-time city now teeters on the brink.
     31 August 2005
137. Bulldozing Small Businesses
     Three Democratic mayoral candidates would willfully destroy small businesses in Brooklyn—and they’re only going along with the Republican mayor’s plan.
     24 August 2005
138. How Not to Fight Urban Terror
     The mayor wants New Yorkers to use their eyes and ears—but his fuss over last weekend’s tour-bus kerfuffle will dissuade them.
     29 July 2005
139. Through a Tunnel Darkly
     Governor Pataki should shine a searchlight on MTA security.
     19 July 2005
140. Phew, No Olympic Gold for New York
     Believe it or not, New York was too capitalist to win.
     7 July 2005
141. A Feasible Fix for Social Security
     Our recipe for saving the system, protecting the poor, and boosting the investor class
     Summer 2005
142. Cheating Great Teachers
     It's past time for merit pay for Gotham's public school teachers.
     Summer 2005
143. Imminent domain?
     Not yet. It’s not too late for state politicians to stop themselves from stealing New Yorkers’ property.
     30 June 2005
144. Harlem Kids Rising
     Gotham’s first generation of charter-school kids is on its way to middle school.
     27 June 2005
145. Cheating Great Teachers
     It’s past time for merit pay for Gotham’s public school teachers
     16 June 2005
146. West Side Profits?
     Maybe, but let private investors take the risk.
     3 June 2005
147. Criminal Mischief
     The New York Times romanticizes violent felons into impulsive hipsters.
     24 May 2005
148. How to Save the Subways—Before It’s Too Late
     Gotham’s critical lifeline is a wreck.
     Spring 2005
149. Pension Funds vs. Free Speech
     Public retirement-fund trustees try to stifle debate on Social Security reform.
     30 March 2005
150. Corporate America’s New Stealth Raiders
     Union-dominated public pension funds seek to control the boardroom.
     Winter 2005
151. Where’s All the School Money Going?
     New York City Council’s Eva Moskowitz asks some tough questions about the city’s education spending.
     18 May 2005

After The Fall: Saving Capitalism From Wall Street—and Washington

by Nicole Gelinas