Our Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg is part of the problem and so far, even the advice of progressive thinker Andrea Batista Schlesinger (who started work for the Bloomberg campaign this past week) has not helped him think about becoming part of the solution. Will falling poll numbers wake him?

Earlier this week Mr. Bloomberg -- in a move that marks him as a principled, not just an opportunistic, disciple of Mr. Bush -- refused to allow 13-14,000 (in my book a large number) of very low income New Yorkers access to food stamps unless they were enrolled in a NYC-run work experience project In my opinion, keeping food from these people is not just cruel (and it is cruel), it's dumb. See, this NY Times editorial in Wednesday's (2-25-09)

As reported in Julie Bosman's excellent NY Times article:

While cities and states are allowed under the stimulus provision to require participation in such workfare programs, advocates for the poor decried the policy as unwise and counterproductive, particularly as the recession swells the ranks of the jobless who need help buying groceries.  read more »

Do you remember Franz Kafta's haunting very short story "The Hunger Artist?" (Click here for an etext). I thought of it while Queens Council Member
Eric Gioia tried to live for a week on an average food stamp allotment of $28. Was it a publicity stunt? Well yes, but in a good cause. The cause, however, is in danger of getting lost.

As it turns out, the way food stamp allotments calculated has not changed in a long while leaving their value diminished and recipients on line at the food pantry. The progressive Fiscal Policy Institute has issued  read more »