Just the sort of idea you want the mayor of the country’s biggest city casually suggesting during a radio interview with thousands of people listening. But then, Bloomy’s a master of counterproductive speculation. Remember his most famous example?
Larry Kudlow is aghast:
For Bloomberg to come out with this statement is irresponsible and incendiary. But you know what? He’s got a personal agenda. This is a desperate talking point to sell Obama’s jobs plan, which Bloomberg favors as a solution to high unemployment and zero growth…
In fact, Bloomberg is pitching for the whole Obama jobs package — the $450 billion stimulus plan and the $470 billion tax hike. The package is totally unpopular. A recent Bloomberg poll (how ironic) showed that voters disapprove of more Obama stimulus by 51 to 40 percent, and that 56 percent of independents oppose it. Other polls show that more than 60 percent of Americans disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy…
Some political insiders I spoke to believe Bloomberg desperately wants Obama to win a second term. They say the New York City mayor wants to be Obama’s new treasury secretary. Therefore, Bloomberg is hammering Republicans today and absolving Obama from taking any blame or ownership of the current economic mess, which has placed the nation on the front end of yet another recession.
Listen to the clip and you’ll find that he is indeed a fan of The One’s “balanced” approach. What’s especially grievous about the allusion to rioting is that New Yorkers take special pride in the fact that we’ve had no social unrest here in recent decades. Not after 9/11 when the police were stretched as thin as possible and not during the blackout in 2003 when the entire city went dark. Before Hurricane Irene hit, people on Twitter were predicting there’d be looting or even riots if the power went down or the water turned dark for a few days. None of my New Yorker friends thought so. To be fair, Bloomberg’s not suggesting that economic riots would necessarily happen here, but he is, after all, the mayor of NYC. Do the math.
Having said all that, I’m … not anxious to see what the public’s reaction would be if this happened.
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