Building Bridges: From Egypt to Wisconsin, Is New York Next? - 28:23

From Egypt to Wisconsin, Is NY Next?: Breaking the Silence, NYC’s Protests Against Budget Cuts Buoyed by the new spirit of rebellion flowing from Egypt to Wisconsin, thousands of students, workers & community members from a wide coalition of organizations rallied at City Hall Park, followed by a march on Wall Street to demand higher taxes on the rich, to prevent budget cutbacks. This was the first major NYC demonstration, in an otherwise muted budget debate despite the grim consequences of the State & City proposed cuts. **** Arrests Up The Ante On Albany Budget Negotiations with Barbara Bowen, President, Professional Staff Congress, CUNY and James Parrott, Deputy Director & Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Inst. While Albany budget negotiators are reaching agreement, the real question for the public is how much pain and suffering are legislators prepared to hit us with. We’ll analyze the budget and especially, it’s likely impact on NYC, where Mayor Bloomberg,while sitting on a $3 billion budget surplus is threatening major cutbacks, & thousands of layoffs. Bloomberg, like the Governor refuses to consider a millionaires or a securities transfer tax to prevent a slash and burn policy. In otherwise subdued budget protests this year, the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY led an Albany protest in which 33 people were arrested. They sat down and blocked access to the New York State Capitol's Executive Chamber demanding that Albany not pass an austerity budget that pays for a hefty tax breaks for the wealthy. stream or download