From The Presidential Dais Ex Machina

Talk about “moral hazards” . . . so basically the city can gamble on getting huge tax revenues from Wall Street in flush years and then get bailed out by the federal government when all that disappears:

President Obama’s economic stimulus package will send nearly $3.4 billion in aid to New York City.

According to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the funds — part of the $10 billion to $15 billion in federal stimulus money the state is expected to receive — should help the city offset its budget deficit and aid shortfalls in education funding.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he fought to include in the stimulus package a provision to send budget aid directly to cities — to ensure New York City gets its fair share.

“This is a lifeline. This is the biggest shot in the arm the federal government has given New York City in a long time,” he said.

The package includes about $1.8 billion in budget aid for New York and $1.6 billion for education, Schumer said.

Maybe you don’t consider the city’s workforce bloated — eh, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t — but a economic stimulus via unionized workers’ paychecks doesn’t quite strike me as the sort of “shovel ready” project we’ve been reading about . . . besides, what happened to all those green construction jobs?

Apparently most of the “budget aid” is intended for Medicaid. Medicaid spending is higher in New York — fine. But the stimulus package isn’t so much about Medicaid as it is about stimulating the economy, right? And if the city doesn’t have to spend that money on Medicaid then they’ll spend it on other stuff that cities spend money on — like labor costs — it’s not like they’re going to build a bunch of bus stops.

Another note — and it’s an honest question and not a lazy rhetorical trope of “raising questions,” because I honestly don’t know the answer — didn’t the governor just expand SCHIP or propose expanding it? So is the “stimulus” a back-door way of funding it?