She also advocates that judges be permitted to assess the “dangerousness” of a defendant in deciding whether the posting of a bail bond should be required, a “reform” that has been heavily promoted by the Republicans. Hochul wants to increase the number of offenses for which cash bail would be required. This included slightly less draconian bail requirements, thus permitting a somewhat greater number of defendants to remain free prior to trial. This campaign seeks to frame the increase not as a tragic consequence of the social tensions generated by the social crisis and the ruling class’s criminal mismanagement of the disease, but rather as due to New York’s 2019 bail reform legislation. However, far from using the additional resources to meaningfully address the devastating consequences of the pandemic, not to mention the unprecedented levels of inequality that have continued to grow in recent years, the political establishment’s priorities include the strengthening of judicial powers aimed at suppressing the working class, along with boondoggle projects and tax cuts for the wealthy.Īs part of the national push by the ruling class to build up the state’s repressive forces as class tensions increase, both the Republicans and the great majority of Democrats, including New York City’s new mayor, Eric Adams, have been working to whip up a right-wing frenzy over an increase in gun violence that occurred during the pandemic. Portrayed in the bourgeois press as a struggle between so called “moderate” and “progressive” wings of the Democratic Party, the budgetary process constituted nothing more than an “intramural scrimmage,” in the cynical words employed by former president Barack Obama under slightly different circumstances.Ī combination of higher than expected tax revenues and federal COVID-19 relief funding will provide an $8 billion increase over the 2022 budget. Hochul, the former lieutenant governor who replaced Andrew Cuomo last year as governor after the latter was forced to resign from office based on a dubious #Me Too witch hunt, is now running for governor in her own right, and needs to prove her reliability to the ruling class in running the state, which is home to the world’s financial nerve center-Wall Street. The budget’s components, a number of which are not clearly budgetary, include a combination of the reinforcement of police/judicial repression of the working class, largesse for the capitalist elite, and underfunding of social programs, all in the context of rising inflation, a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the escalating US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, which could lead to a nuclear holocaust. It contains a hodgepodge of provisions that do little to disguise the reactionary direction of the state’s ruling class in a period of mounting crisis. The deal was reached between Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature, both houses of which are controlled by the Democrats, nearly a week past an April 1 deadline. It must still be given final approval by the Legislature. An overall agreement on the New York state budget for fiscal year 2023, totaling $220 billion, was announced late Thursday.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |