Althouse: "As the 51st governor of New York from 1975 through 1982, [Hugh] Carey led a small group of public servants who vanquished the fiscal crisis..."

August 7, 2011

"As the 51st governor of New York from 1975 through 1982, [Hugh] Carey led a small group of public servants who vanquished the fiscal crisis..."

"... that threatened New York City and the state — the direst emergency a governor had faced since the Depression — by taking on powers over the city’s finances that no governor had wielded before and none has wielded since. A liberal Democrat, Mr. Carey reversed the upward spiral of borrowing, spending and entitlement under his predecessor, Nelson A. Rockefeller, a Republican who had presided in an era of limitless government promise."

He was 92. It's good to remember what happened in the 1970s, what he "vanquished," and how some people back then imagined "limitless government promise."

Hugh Carey was born in 1919. ("He fought with the 104th Division in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, helping to capture Cologne and liberate prisoners at a concentration camp at Nordhausen.") He had 13 children. Nelson Rockefeller, by the way, was born a mere 11 years earlier, and he's been dead since 1979.

34 comments:

rhhardin said...: Part of the NYC bailout was defaulting on NYC bonds - bondholders got nice new bonds with a smaller interest rate and longer maturity for their old dirty bonds.

From which a lot of people learned: never buy municipal bonds.

Full faith and credit isn't worth anything when you have courts to put life into the law.; 8/7/11, 10:29 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/7/11, 10:30 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Reversed the upward spiral of borrowing, spending and entitlement

Original. Somebody ought to try that.; 8/7/11, 10:35 AM
chickelit said...: He had 13 children.

His poor wife. She sounds so oppressed.; 8/7/11, 10:37 AM
SunnyJ said...: Equally interesting is the ongoing destruction of the english language...spinglish definitions are 180 degrees from the description of Republican and Liberal/Democrat.

Message manipulation has allowed yes to become no and no to become yes, and anything inbetween...just so you can vote "present" every time.

Being impeccable with your word has been replaced with say anything and mean anything as a way through, not as a way out.; 8/7/11, 10:37 AM
Fen said...: Obama is playing golf this weekend at Andrews Air Force Base near Camp David.

DHOTUS.; 8/7/11, 10:39 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/7/11, 10:40 AM
Anonymous said...: "A liberal Democrat, Mr. Carey reversed the upward spiral of borrowing, spending and entitlement under his predecessor,.."

He may have just died but the idea of reversing the upward spiral of borrowing, spending and entitlement, died along time ago.; 8/7/11, 10:40 AM
Anonymous said...: "Blogger Fen said...

Obama is playing golf this weekend at Andrews Air Force Base near Camp David.

DHOTUS."

-------
He probably has a couple of O-6's caddying.; 8/7/11, 10:42 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Is it "Cary" or "Carey"?"

Thanks. Sorry. Fixed.; 8/7/11, 10:42 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/7/11, 10:43 AM
Anonymous said...: I remember him vaguely...Those were the days: liberal Dems cut spending and the federal government refused to bail out cities. :)

I thought BTW he sounded very Irish, as they talked about his personal life.; 8/7/11, 10:44 AM
chickelit said...: Bill Proxmire was liberal democratic senator from Wisconsin best remembered for lampooning pork barrel projects with his Sullivanesque "Golden Fleece Award."

Also:
o He was married to a Rockefeller.
o He won Joe McCarthy's old Senate seat.
o He was fired by the Cap Times. His old boss later shot his ex-wife.
o He was into fitness like Jack LaLanne. I'll never forget his admonishment: eat less and less as you get older.

Wisconsin should erect a statue to William Proxmire. His legacy could help them get out of their political quagmire.; 8/7/11, 11:02 AM
viator said...: Hugh Carey, he was the guy who started robbing from the various boards and state funds that up until then had been run very conservatively. At one point the NY Workman's Compensation Board had hundreds of millions of dollars surplus. This money invested fiduciarily earned interest which helped keep NY Workman's Compensation costs low. This fund among others was robbed of all their surplus to keep annual spending costs increasing, just as was the case in the federal government with, for instance, Social Security. In all casees worthless scraps of paper were left in place of the cash. Now we have to both pay the piper and suffer credit downgrades.; 8/7/11, 11:09 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: New York is the state that refuses to learn from its past.

The state and the city seem to careen from liberal loony social policies intended to create Utopia back to Guiliani style retrenchment.

Cary may have solved that crisis, but the crisis was resurrected by David Dinkins.

Liberals seem to be incapable of learning from the past. Not surprising, considering that they constantly insist that the knowledge of tradition is just worthless baggage that should be trashed unless you can prove its logical efficacy.

You know, Althouse, like gay marriage?; 8/7/11, 11:09 AM
ricpic said...: Nelson died in Megan Marshack's luscious arms
While Happy stewed back at "the farm."; 8/7/11, 11:14 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Nelson's old digs.

Not many images of Megan Marshack out there.; 8/7/11, 11:26 AM
Phil 314 said...: My memories of Carey are that he was quiet and effective; a refreshing change from Rocky.; 8/7/11, 11:34 AM
ricpic said...: Fred, if you search Megan Marshack google images a picture of her when she was young and luscious and wore aviator glasses will come up.

Was Happy happy when Nelson died
In the arms of venus with aviator eyes?; 8/7/11, 11:35 AM
cassandra lite said...: "Nelson Rockefeller, by the way, was born a mere 11 years earlier, and he's been dead since 1979."

Yeah, but he went out the way we all want to go.; 8/7/11, 11:39 AM
A. Shmendrik said...: It's not just when Nelson Rockefeller died, it's who he died on. One Megan Marshak.; 8/7/11, 11:57 AM
rhhardin said...: They dressed Rockerfeller up a little before the medics got there, and got the shoes on the wrong feet.; 8/7/11, 12:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Fourteen children. Two died together in a car crash when young and a third got cancer as an adult.

Interestingly, Carey's 12 children who reached adulthood produced only 25 grandchildren, an average of just over two each. I've long had a theory that people who grew up in big families often have smaller families themselves, and vice-versa. Guess this helps support my theory.

Peter; 8/7/11, 12:58 PM
Tom from Virginia said...: I remember one writer comparing him to then NYC Mayor Abraham Beame. One was a hack who looked like a governor. The other was a governor who looked like a hack.; 8/7/11, 1:17 PM
David Smith said...: I'll wager that there weren't 51 governors of New York in the seven years between 1975 and 1982...probably not more than one or two.; 8/7/11, 2:00 PM
lemondog said...: ...Mr. Carey reversed the upward spiral of borrowing, spending and entitlement under his predecessor,...

Sounds as if Pres Ford forced the issue:
NEW YORK: Last-Minute Bailout Of a City on the Brink; 8/7/11, 2:09 PM
jamboree said...: The Rockefeller dalliance was a bit before my time, but I don't think it's ever a good thing to lampoon the pain of a breast cancer survivor whose husband was cheating. Shades of John and Elizabeth.; 8/7/11, 3:38 PM
Cedarford said...: jamboree said...
"The Rockefeller dalliance was a bit before my time, but I don't think it's ever a good thing to lampoon the pain of a breast cancer survivor whose husband was cheating. Shades of John and Elizabeth."

==============
Because "victimhood" gives one Total Moral Authority? Like Max Cleland, Saint Elizabeth, Happy, Betty, any thug from a broken home, and the 9/11 Victim Housewives for Kerry?; 8/7/11, 3:53 PM
Roux said...: The federal government bailed New York City out. Sheesh....; 8/7/11, 7:30 PM
A. Shmendrik said...: jamboree said...

The Rockefeller dalliance was a bit before my time, but I don't think it's ever a good thing to lampoon the pain of a breast cancer survivor whose husband was cheating. Shades of John and Elizabeth.

If it was before your time, then you would have missed out on the fact that the initial press reports coming from statements by the Rockefeller family spokesman, had him being taken by ambulance from one particular office to a hospital, where he was DOA. 99% of the reporters wrote that down and filed their stories, dutifully. One reporter took the time to look at the EMT dispatch logs which indicate who, what and where, and realized that Rockefeller was at an entirely different location at the time of said cardiac arrest. IIRC, the story was out in the next 24 hours, and Rocky's will exonerated a $50K loan he had made to Ms. Marshack.

The wages of sin.; 8/7/11, 8:36 PM
Known Unknown said...: Are you sure you have the right Marshak?; 8/7/11, 8:47 PM
Trooper York said...: The True Story of Nelson Rockefeller's death as told President George HW Bush.; 8/7/11, 10:58 PM
a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...: Nice links Fred. Rockefeller had reproductions made of some of his art/ sculpture which was for sale, displayed at Neiman Marcus. They were attractive, raised the question; Is it the object or the exclusiveness that is the value?; 8/7/11, 11:25 PM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/8/11, 7:15 AM