New York Post - 19.08.2019

New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019

nypost.com

22

[email protected]

E-MAIL: [email protected] or WRITE to The Editor, The New York Post, 1211 Avenue of the

Americas, New York, NY 10036. Include name, address and daytime phone number. No unverifiable

letters will be published. The Post reserves the right to edit all letters.

The New York Post is published by N.Y. P. Holdings Inc., 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036.

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman; Sean M. Giancola, Publisher; Stephen Lynch, Editor-in-Chief;

Mark Cunningham, Editorial Page Editor

Israel’s Justified Action:

Banning Omar and Tlaib

THE ISSUE: Israel’s decision to prohibit Reps. Rashida

Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from visiting the country.

Israel is 100 percent cor-

rect in denying Reps. Il-

han Omar and Rashida

Tlaib entry into the coun-

try. (“The bar of David,”

Aug. 16).

Israel has a very clear

law that allows it to deny

entry to BDS activists.

The ultimate goal of BDS

is to eliminate Israel as a

Jewish state. Israel has

every right to defend it-

self against this existen-

tial threat.

The trip was being

sponsored by MIFTAH, a

BDS-supporting, anti-Is-

rael NGO. MIFTAH pub-

lished an article claiming

Jews bake matzoh with

the blood of Christians.

MIFTAH was going to

serve as tour guide for

Tlaib and Omar. Need-

less to say, this was going

to be an extensive anti-

Israel propaganda trip.

There is one Jewish

country in the world;

Tlaib and Omar support

its destruction. Good for

Israel for keeping them

out. Jamie Mitrani

Congers

The map in Rep. Tlaib’s

congressional office has a

Post-It note with “Pales-

tine” written on it and an

arrow pointing to Israel.

So she wants permis-

sion to enter a country

she technically believes

doesn’t exist. Does any-

one really think she is

going there to learn more

about Israel?

Bruce Collins

Toms River, NJ

Israel has every right to

ban these anti-Semitic,

anti-Zionist troublemak-

ers. If someone wanted to

destroy your family, would

you invite them into your

home? JJ Levine

Miami Beach, Fla.

In 2012, the Obama ad-

ministration barred a

member of Israel’s Knes-

set from entering the

United States. The Amer-

ican media did not con-

sider it extraordinary.

When the Israeli gov-

ernment metes out the

same treatment to two

congresswomen, both

anti-Semites, all hell

breaks loose. The media’s

double standard is never

far below the surface.

Last week, 41 Demo-

cratic members of Con-

gress went on a trip to Is-

rael. Why did Omar and

Tlaib not go along with

them? The answer is sim-

ple: They may have

learned something, which

is the last thing they want

to do.

If Omar and Tlaib were

honest women, they

would have participated

in the trip their col-

leagues were on and ex-

tended it into Hamas and

PA-controlled areas, but

they are not.Len Bennett

Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Rep. Tlaib has once

again shown herself to be

a big blowhard and some-

one interested only in

bashing Israel.

After initially banning

Tlaib from visiting, Israel

compromised and said it

would allow her entry on

humanitarian grounds to

visit her elderly grand-

mother, who lives in

Judea and Samaria.

Tlaib then said she will

not go because she does

not wish to be silenced.

Apparently making false

statements about Israel

mistreating Palestinians

takes preference over vis-

iting her elderly grand-

mother. Barry Koppel

Kew Gardens Hills

Prime Minister Benja-

min Netanyahu does not

want Israel-hating pro-

Palestinian troublemak-

ers in his country.

The only newsworthy

issue here is that some

American lawmakers find

the position to be wrong.

Robert Mangi

Westbury

Both Omar and Tlaib

seem unconcerned by

the human-rights abuses

against those who call

themselves Palestinians,

perpetrated by their

so-called leaders.

For example, the last

Palestinian “presidential

election” took place in

2005. Voters elected
      Mahmoud Abbas to a
      four-year term as presi-
      dent of the Palestinian
      Authority.
      Neither congress-
      woman has expressed
      support for sanctions
      against this undemocratic
      disenfranchisement.
      Israel’s decision will be
      criticized no matter what,
      so the decision not to
      admit Tlaib and Omar is
      wise, or at the very least,
      easily justifiable.
      Julia Lutch
      Davis, Calif.

Reps. Ilhan Omar (l.) and Rashida Tlaib EPA

America’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper

I

t’s now beyond official: Gross mismanage-

ment and obscene union contracts are the

chief culprits driving the MTA’s outra-

geous overtime costs. That’s the bottom

line from a scathing 61-page

report released Thursday by

outside auditors.

“For years, MTA leadership

at all levels has been on notice

of management’s failures to

address overtime issues but

has permitted these failures to

persist unabated” nonetheless,

the report said.

Since 2014, extra-hour costs

have soared 53 percent — to a

whopping $1.3 billion last year.

In a series this year, The Post

shined a spotlight on jaw-dropping OT at

the agency’s LIRR division, based on shock-

ing data from the Empire Center.

Some workers clocked more than 3,000

hours of additional pay in a single year.

And “individual high earners of overtime

represent only a small proportion of the

overtime MTA-wide,” noted the auditors,

Morrison & Foerster LLP. They singled out,

in particular, problems at the LIRR, citing

rules that have “little to no modern justifica-

tion” — but that pushed the division’s OT

last year to $225 million.

LIRR workers get nearly

double the OT rates as their

counterparts at Metro-North.

They can “double, triple and

even quadruple” their pay

“from a single shift.” Moving

an engine earns a worker

eight hours pay but takes just

an hour.

Timekeeping systems need

updating, enforcement needs

to be improved and, of course,

work rules need to be fixed.

Many of these problems have long been

known, as Nicole Gelinas notes nearby. Still,

the attention they’re getting now, following

The Post exposés and the Empire Center data

dump, makes them impossible to sweep under

the rug any longer. It’s time for Gov. Cuomo

and MTA Chairman Pat Foye to finally act to

fix what they know needs fixing.

M

ayor de Blasio may want to “tax the hell

out of the wealthy,” but a Citizens Bud-

get Commission study out last week

warned that the city and state are already

too reliant on tax revenue from the rich.

Taxpayers with $1 million or more in tax-

able income accounted for 1 percent of per-

sonal-income-tax filers in fiscal 2016 but

paid 37 percent of the state’s personal-in-

come taxes, the study noted. In the city,

those earning over $1 million paid 39 per-

cent of the personal-income taxes.

Yet the incomes of these top earners are

“highly volatile” and “sensitive to economic

trends,” says the CBC, especially since much

of their earnings come from capital gains,

which can vary greatly year to year.

And when incomes swing, so does tax rev-

enue. Budgets that rely on those revenues

can face sudden, unexpected surpluses — or

huge, painful shortfalls. In fiscal 2008, for

instance, the state’s personal-income tax

revenue jumped by $4.2 billion; the next

year, it plunged by $5.7 billion.

Meanwhile, state and city spending plans

bake in ever-higher outlays; once something

gets a line in the budget, it’s almost impossi-

ble to cut its funding. Which is why budget

shortfalls mean budget crises.

Here’s the really bad news: Both the city

and state are already projecting multibil-

lion-dollar gaps over the next few years.

And everyone says the economy’s next

downturn is just a matter of time.

Meanwhile, the state’s high taxes on mil-

lionaires only encourage them to flee the

state. They won’t be around to help stem the

red ink when it starts to flow.

N

ew Yorkers can’t catch a break: While

ObamaCare fueled sharp hikes in health-

insurance premiums for individuals, the

state itself has helped drive up the cost of

policies paid for by employers — and it’s not

just the bosses who feel the pinch.

As the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond re-

ported, premiums for employer-sponsored

health insurance in New York, which were

already among the nation’s highest, rose

faster than the national average in 2018.

Policies for single adults here soared to

$7,741, a 6 percent uptick over the previous

year, and 15 percent above the national aver-

age. The average for family coverage grew

3 percent, to $21,904, or 12 percent higher

than the national norm.

Don’t think your employer is the only one

to take a hit: Remember, if he or she had lower

insurance costs, you might be paid more. Or

have a better insurance plan. Or your boss

might be able to hire more workers.

Why are New York’s insurance costs so far

off the charts? Some of the blame goes to the

state’s “generally high cost of living” and a

“high rate of unionization among health

workers,” notes Hammond.

But they’re also the result of “heavy state

taxes levied directly on health insurance,”

which has added $5 billion a year to premi-

ums. Albany also routinely mandates “an ev-

er-growing list” of health-care services that

insurers must cover.

“Far from acting to control health spend-

ing, Cuomo and the Legislature keep doing

things that will push it higher,” Hammond

argues. He’s right. And everyday New York-

ers get stuck with the tab.

Fix the OT Money Pit

How ‘Milk the Rich’ Can Backfire

NY Health Costs Will Make You $ick

OFF

THE

RAIL$

OFFOFFOFFOFFOFFOFFOFFOFF

THE THE THE THE THE THE THE

RAILRAILRAILRAILRAILRAILRAIL

OFFOFFOFF

$$