Opinion

Think of New York State and its 3,200 employer-entities (state, county, municipal, school districts, towns, villages, and public authorities) as the Titanic, steaming on its maiden voyage. Now think of the Empire State’s off-the-books debt as icebergs. New York dodged one financial iceberg April 1 when it approved a balanced budget without the usual resort […]

Maybe it’s my imagination, but we seem to have gotten awfully regal in this country. That’s what came to mind when I heard about the kafuffle over our Secretary of Defense. Leon Panetta has been flying home to California most weekends — on Air Force jets — costing taxpayers $32,000 per round trip. The Defense

Would you take the advice of a financial advisor who told you to invest in only two or three industries? The answer is — of course not. Most individuals, corporations and institutional investors realize the value of diversity within a portfolio. Yet, as a region, we seem to ignore this principle. The good news is

The significant tightening of business credit brought by the recession has begun to lift, with a recent analysis of FDIC data by the Investigative Reporting Workshop finding five straight quarters of increasing overall commercial and industrial lending by banks.   As the credit squeeze eases with improving economic conditions, lenders remain cautious in their underwriting,

According to my American Heritage dictionary, bariatrics is “… [t]he branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity.” A recent study from Cornell University found that obesity among both children and adults is a national crisis, accounting for more than 20 percent of all U.S. health-care spending, twice the amount previously

Suppose you run for the White House. And, suppose one evening during the campaign you address 10,000 voters. Your advisers tell you that maybe 60 percent of them are women. What types of issues do you suppose you will choose to talk about with this group? And, do you suppose you might make sure a

“If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark,” baseball’s Yogi Berra once misquipped, “nobody’s going to stop them.”  Labor bosses must feel the same way about wage and salary workers who are avoiding union halls these days. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest union membership report, only 6.9 percent of

I was pleased to co-sponsor legislation that aims to draw more businesses to Central New York.  In March, the New York Assembly unanimously passed legislation that will expand the foreign trade zone.  The Senate also passed this bill and it awaits Governor Cuomo’s review. The legislation would expand the foreign trade zone, established at Syracuse

I hear it all the time. Our region was once the manufacturing hub of America, which created wealth and employment. Our children remained in the area because of the abundant opportunities and family ties. No more. Today we have lost our industrial base and replaced it with institutions of higher education and health-care facilities. A