Lord of New York

I thought this piece by Alex Parrene in Salon.com was right on target:

The 90,000 New Yorkers who control 99% of the city’s wealth are completely segregated, geographically and intellectually, from everyone else in the city and the nation at large, so its no surprise that they tend to be tone-deaf and blind to the inequities and frustrations and resentments of Regular Folk, but billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his charming and powerful partner Diana Taylor are really out-doing themselves in terms of blinkered elite thickheadedness these days.

Let’s start with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is at the moment clearly struggling with his natural impulse to throw every protester in jail without charges for the crime in interrupting the business of the city’s truly important people. His impassioned plea to the people currently participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest: The banks are our friends!

And that's not to say that I think the Wall Street protests are going anywhere. Yet Bloomberg disturbs me more and more as time goes on. I used to find him attractive as a possible third-party candidate.  But the more I watch him, the more I think he has some odious views. One item I would highlight is his appointing last year of Cathie Black--a CEO apparently totally ignorant of educational issues--to be the head of NYC education. She was forced out months ago, a complete failure.

Another example is something I saw on 60 Minutes last week: Bloomberg's turning of the NYPD into a mini-army/special ops force. The cops are looking more and more like Blackwater contractors in Iraq.

Bloomberg seems to believe that to be in business and rich--like him--gives you all the knowledge you need to know to do anything.