When a prominent member of the Democratic Party, who served in the Legislature with Speaker Silver, states that the state budget "does not adequately respond to today's economic realities" you know there are serious problems, especially when that prominent member is the State Comptroller. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/04/02/2009-04-02_longwinded_lawmakers_in_albany_fail_to_p.html
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04022009/news/regionalnews/dinapoli_rips_fellow_dems_162493.htm

The NY Post Op-Ed piece by Bob McManus enlightens New Yorkers as to where the real power is in New York politics: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04022009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_king_of_ny_162480.htm
The quote of the day has to be from his column "Much of Silver's influence devolves from the irrelevance of Gov. Paterson and of Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith -- neither of whom could make an impression in a pail of wet concrete."

If you are confused about how big the spending increase is in the new state budget, you are in good company. E. J. McMahon, a renowned fiscal expert says in his NY Fiscal Watch column that "One of the many glaring shortcomings of the state budget process is that it is not possible to answer such questions with much certainty until the Division of the Budget (DOB) finally issues an Enacted Budget Report, up to 30 days after budget bills are passed." Read more here:
http://www.nyfiscalwatch.com/?p=1055#more-1055

New Yorker's are being hit hard with all of the new taxes, fees and increase in the PIT. Now comes the federal budget which will extract even more from us. Candidate Obama campaigned for change, little did we know that we won't even have any change left when both of the budgets are signed into law. http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2009/04/02/house,_senate_poised_to_adopt_pared-back_budget
http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2009/04/01/the_shut_up_and_swallow_congress

Can a leopard change its spots? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123862834153780427.html