Big-Town Blues

STEPHEN MOORE

TWENTY-FIVE years ago John Kenneth Galbraith proclaimed that there was “nothing wrong with New York that doubling the city budget wouldn’t solve.” City officials have been testing that hypothesis ever since. In fact, between 1965 and 1990 New York City’s expenditures, adjusted for inflation, have not doubled, they’ve almost tripled—from $14 to $37 billion. New York City’s budget is now larger than that of many small nations and all but two states.