Amazon.com Widgets A Stitch in Haste

A Stitch in Haste

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine … But Haste Makes Waste

A collection of real-world libertarian, individualist and laissez-faire rants on law, economics, politics, culture and other current events
by an average, everyday lawyer & investment banker and part-time pop scholar.


A Stitch in Haste header image 4

Entries Tagged as 'New York City & State'

The Perils of the Democracy Fetish — Part Two

March 29th, 2009 · 1 Comment

On our "weakest, dumbest and most venal" politicians.

[Read more →]

Tags: Activist Legislators & Nanny Statists · Gay Rights and Issues · New York City & State · Politics · Society, Religion, Culture Wars

NYPD Accused of Repeated Gay Prostitution Entrapment

February 3rd, 2009 · Comments Off

What's more interesting to me than the entrapment analysis is how this scandal relates back to Larry Craig.

[Read more →]

Tags: Constitutional Issues · Gay Rights and Issues · Law Enforcement Abuses · New York City & State · Privacy Issues

How Democratic Policies Will Increase Unemployment

January 5th, 2009 · Comments Off

Canada is, in at least one respect, less welfare-statist than the U.S.? Go figure.

[Read more →]

Tags: Economics & Finance · New York City & State · Personal Topics · Taxation & Fiscal Policy

Apparently Obligatory "Caroline Kennedy" Post

December 22nd, 2008 · 3 Comments

I hear that Caroline Kennedy supports same-sex marriage.
I also hear that she opposes drowning kittens in the East River.
Both are nice to know, but both are totally irrelevant to the question of whether she is qualified to serve as a United States senator generally, or is entitled to be appointed senator from New York specifically.
Caroline [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: New York City & State · Politics

My Own Private "Employee Free Choice Act" Hell

December 9th, 2008 · 1 Comment

To review: For over six months my co-op board has been pushing for shareholder approval to initiate a "transfer tax" — also called a "flip tax" — to raise additional revenue and therefore mitigate increases in monthly maintenance charges and assessments.
Which means that for six months I have been enduring repeated misrepresentations by the board [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Activist Legislators & Nanny Statists · Economics & Finance · Law · New York City & State · Personal Topics · Updates

December 5th, 2008 · Comments Off

To review: Mass transit is not a pure public good, since it is perfectly excludable. It may be a natural monopoly, and it may be a club good, but that would only suggest rate regulation or at most public provision — not taxpayer subsidization. Those who use a subway line or commuter train — and [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Economics & Finance · New York City & State · Public Goods v. Private Goods

Another Four Years of This?

November 21st, 2008 · 1 Comment

I'm having trouble coming up with a non-expletive term for our infamous local megalomaniac:
After being dealt a rare public embarrassment by the City Council, which forced his administration to acknowledge on Monday that he was legally required to send out $400 rebate checks promised to hundreds of thousands of New York homeowners, a defiant Mr. [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Activist Legislators & Nanny Statists · Law · New York City & State · Progressive Taxation · Property Rights · Updates

Renegade NYC Commission Declares More Eyesores "Historic"

November 20th, 2008 · Comments Off

You may have noticed the current Sidebar Sidetrack, which links to a survey of ugly buildings.
By sheer coincidence, word has come down that New York City's out-of-control Landmarks Preservation Commission continues to justify its own unjustifiable existence by finding new sharks to jump:
Silver Towers/University Village, three concrete towers designed by I. M. Pei that were [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Activist Legislators & Nanny Statists · Law · New York City & State · Property Rights

A Gay Old Day

November 15th, 2008 · 2 Comments

So my plan was merely to attend the morning sessions of "LGBTQ Law 2008: Where Do We Go from Here?" at Columbia Law School and then head home. I've been going to these sort of symposia for years and they tend, quite frankly, to be rather redundant. The talk from one of the lawyers who [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Gay Rights and Issues · Law · New York City & State · Politics · Society, Religion, Culture Wars

D.C. to Commence NYC-Inspired Worthless Subway Searches

November 2nd, 2008 · Comments Off

The District of Columbia's subway bureaucracy has announced that it will commence warrantless, suspicionless searches at subway entrances:
The program is modeled after one begun three years ago in New York that has withstood legal challenges. However, experts said it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of such searches, beyond assuring the public that police are [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Fourth Amendment · Law Enforcement Abuses · New York City & State · Privacy Issues · Terror v. Civil Liberties · Updates