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 »