I know it is a lot of money up front but won’t the cards be good for a year? Plus, If you are a Chase account holder you get $10 for every $150 you spend prior to 03/31.

If you want to rise above all of this and take control of your finances, you’ll need a different perspective and the motivation to act accordingly. So, the next time you’re about to spend money that you don’t have on something that you don’t really need, don’t waste your time feeling guilty (when has this ever worked anyway?). Instead, ask yourself two basic questions:

1. If I can’t pay for it in full this month, what is going to change next month? Where will the extra income or reduced spending come from? Be specific.

2. What fun, motivational one-year savings goal am I working towards?

Note the bolded Question 1. Okay, congestion pricing is extra income, but borrowing against it is not going to help cut down our current debt.

Interestingly, the MTA board and financial whiz Bloomberg don’t see eye to eye on that one:

Aides to Mr. Bloomberg said revenue from the system should allow for a total of $6 billion in borrowing — $1.5 billion more than the authority proposed.

The authority said it came up with a lower number because some congestion revenue should be set aside to cover operating costs, which would rise as it adds service to accommodate people who switch from cars to public transit once the system goes into effect.

The mayor has said that all congestion revenue should go to support capital spending.

Well, if the congestion revenue goes to pay off bonds for previous capital spending, doesn’t that count?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you!

EXACTLY! One of the worst aspects of the mortgage disaster is that in 2003 to 2005, when fixed rate mortgages were the lowest they will ever be, people greedily took/were conned into adjustable rate mortgages to save a few pennies in the short run. How could the mortgage industry have been so sleazy? How could people have been so stupid and greedy?

Well guess what, I did the same thing — because the unaccountable politicians did it on my behalf! It’s like identity theft. I wanted to have a future. I wanted my kids to have a future. The bastards.

I was shocked, and sick, when I found out how much floating rate debt the MTA had.

Oh wow. Sounds like our friend Kalikow borrowed just as wisely as the people who are being foreclosed on out in St. Albans.

Back in 2005 he gave a speech to the LIC Business Development Corporation asking us to back the Transportation Bond Act. I asked him whether it was wise to borrow so much money. He answered, “Do you have a house? Do you have a mortgage on that house?” I said “yes.”

If I’d known I would have added, “… but it’s fixed at six percent!” Did he really expect rates to go down?

THE IND SIGNALS ARE 75 YEARS OLD AND FAILURES ARE SOARING! Have any of you noticed? I certainly have.

The whole thing is being shifted back into neverland. Since the signal system was “finished” in the 1950s, NYCT had been replacing them at a rate that would have replaced them after 60 years. Except for the fiscal crisis, when signal replacement stopped, leading to a potential disaster now.

IN THE CORE PLAN THEY CUT SIGNAL REPLACEMENT TO FISCAL CRISIS LEVELS — INCLUDING STUFF THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ALREADY PAID FOR, AND BORROWING ANOTHER $8.5 BILLION WITH $10 BILLION UNFUNDED!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWJ4mkjT6G0Q&refer=home

To save a few dollars up front while massively increasing risk of disaster later, a variety of NY State agencies issued floating rate debt with an agreement to pay vastly more if ever people wouldn’t agree to pay less. And that is exactly what is happening.

I was shocked, and sick, when I found out how much floating rate debt the MTA had. HOW COULD THEY! THE BASTARDS!

The same financial conditions that are jacking up debt service to the moon will also lead to investment losses for the pension funds. Meaning pension payments will soar from already sky high levels. MORE MONEY FOR NOTHING.

THE BASTARDS! If you weren’t doing everything you could to stop this over the past 10 years, then you let it happen. It was all part of the deal to “save the fare.” “Everybody wins.”