Again, notice how they’re no longer citing waste, fraud and DEI etc. when making these chaotic, slash-first-ask-questions-later budget cuts. … Here are the stories on the temporary JFK library closure, the Trump administration’s scramble to rehire fired nuclear safety workers, and the layoffs of desperately needed immigration judges.
Month: February 2025
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More mindless cuts at JFK Library … nuclear safety workers … immigration judges
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And now a pharmacy tax?
First a proposed candy tax. Now a proposed pharmacy tax, as the Herald reports? … If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Massachusetts lawmakers are deliberately trying to provoke a crazed MAGA-like revolt over the size of government. See post immediately below – and see posts strewn throughout on President Trump’s reckless budget slashing at the federal level.
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The state’s soaring budget growth: ‘It’s not sustainable’
The Globe’s Matt Stout has an excellent story on the 50 percent growth of the state budget over the past 7 years – and how the heck that happened. … Basically, the state spent most of the new pandemic-era funds and tax revenues that came its way and never looked back. And yet Gov. Healey is asking for yet more revenue, via a new tax on candy and other items. Even a top Beacon Hill Democrat is warning that spending can’t continue at its current pace: “It’s not sustainable growth.”
My gut tells me something is bubbling out there among voters. People are upset with rising costs of everything. State House Dems better realize this.
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Of course they’re gaming the H-1B visa system
From Bloomberg: ‘Former Staffers Say India’s IT Firm Was Gaming the US Visa System.’ … Well, of course they were gaming the H-1B system – and it was often done in cahoots with U.S. firms that wanted to replace their higher-paid IT staffs with lower-paid H-1B tech workers. And that’s happened right here in Massachusetts, folks … Listen, I support the H-1B program in general. But the system has been abused by U.S. firms, many of them non-tech firms, who just want to outsource their IT jobs to foreign consulting companies who employ H-1B workers. It’s a shell game. The system needs reform.
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Weekend pink slips: 1,200 dismissed at NIH, two programs gutted at CDC, more cuts coming at FDA
No mention of waste, fraud, DEI etc. They’re just taking a machete to budgets. The NYT has the details. …. The reaction of Congress? Nothing. … More cuts expected at FDA as RFK Jr. takes control at HHS.
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Thrown on the defensive, Wu counters Kraft’s housing and bike lane attacks
I’d love to get a look at Mayor Wu’s internal polling numbers because, as the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld notes, she sure seems nervous about some of the issues Josh Kraft has been raising. …
Update – The Globe’s Beth Teitell tackles the bike-lane controversy. … Fyi: I don’t view bike lanes as an either-or issue, as Beth seems to suggest. The problem is that many of them, though not all of them, look hideous. Too many signs and arrows and painted pavement lines, etc. Some of them seem deliberately in-your-face, a form of virtue signaling, I guess.
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Thanks, SCOTUS
I wonder where the president got the following notion, via the NYT: “Trump Suggests No Laws Are Broken if He’s ‘Saving His Country.’” … Maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with this?
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Donald Trump, meet Franklin Pierce
Do you like history? If so, you’ll enjoy Jeff Jacoby’s Globe column this morning on the cautionary tale of Franklin Pierce’s lust for territorial expansion. … Being a history buff, I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t know Pierce was from New Hampshire. Not that New Hampshire is going to openly boast about its only native son to ever serve as president. Pierce was a staunch defender of Southern slave-owners’ interests and his expansionist views were often tied to efforts to expand slavery across the hemisphere. Among other things, he later criticized President Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.
Btw: By coincidence, I’m reading Erik Larson’s latest book, “The Demon of Unrest,” about the events leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War. His descriptions of Charleston’s open slave markets are shocking. More on Larson’s book later.
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It’s that bad: Struggling One Lincoln tower to be auctioned off
The lenders have intervened – and they’re now planning to auction off One Lincoln, the 1.1 million-square foot tower that State Street Corp. used to call home. Banker & Tradesman has the details. … Just when you thought Boston’s distressed office market might be turning a corner, along comes this. … B&T piece via Contrarian Boston.
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A wood-framed, 12-story glass tower?
Banker & Tradesman has the details on BU’s unusual proposal to build a wood-framed – as in timber, not steel or iron – tower at 250 Bay State Road in Boston. … I didn’t know this was even possible, let alone permissible under the International Building Code. … Will it sway on windy days?
Btw – I’m reminded of an old friend who used to joke he was secretly building a wood-fired rocket ship in his garage. … It’s strange how the mind works.
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