Every thing Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg

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Michael Bloomberg

108th Mayor of New York City

In office
January 1, 2002 – December 31, 2013

Deputy
Patricia Harris

Preceded by
Rudy Giuliani

Succeeded by
Bill de Blasio

Personal details

Born

Michael Rubens Bloomberg

February 14, 1942 (age 77)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Political party
Democratic (before 2001, 2018–present)

Other political
affiliations
Independent (2007–2018)
Republican (2001–2007)

Spouse(s)

Susan Brown-Meyer
(m. 1975; div. 1993)

Domestic partner
Diana Taylor (2000–present)

Children
2, including Georgina

Education
Johns Hopkins University (BS)
Harvard University (MBA)

Net worth
US$61.8 billion (January 2020)^[1]

Signature

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Michael Rubens Bloomberg^[2] (born February 14, 1942) is an American politician, businessman, and author. Bloomberg was the mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. He is currently a candidate in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 United States presidential election.

Bloomberg grew up in Medford, Massachusetts and attended Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School. He began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers, before forming his own company in 1981, Bloomberg L.P., a global financial services, software and mass media company that bears his name, and is known for its Bloomberg Terminal, a computer software system providing financial data widely used in the global financial services industry. He spent the next twenty years as its chairman and CEO. As of November 2019, this made him the ninth-richest person in the United States and the 14th-richest person in the world; his net worth was estimated at $58 billion.^[3] Since signing The Giving Pledge whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their wealth, Bloomberg has given away $8.2 billion.^[4]

Bloomberg served as the 108th mayor of New York City, holding office for three consecutive terms beginning his first in 2002. A lifelong Democrat before seeking elective office, Bloomberg switched his party registration in 2001 to run for mayor as a Republican. He defeated opponent Mark J. Green in a close election held just weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He won a second term in 2005 and left the Republican Party two years later. Bloomberg campaigned to change the city's term limits law and was elected to his third term in 2009 as an independent on the Republican ballot line. His final term as mayor ended on December 31, 2013. Bloomberg also served as chair of the board of trustees at his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, from 1996 to 2002. After a brief stint as a full-time philanthropist, Bloomberg re-assumed the position of CEO at Bloomberg L.P. by the end of 2014.

Bloomberg officially launched his campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2020 presidential election on November 24, 2019, following weeks of speculation that he would join the race as a late entry.^[5]

• 
  

Early life and education

Bloomberg was born at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in Brighton, a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, on February 14, 1942, to William Henry Bloomberg (1906–1963), a bookkeeper for a dairy company,^[6] and Charlotte (Rubens) Bloomberg (1909–2011).^[7][8] The Bloomberg Center at the Harvard Business School was named in William Henry's honor.^[9] His family is Jewish. He is a member of the Emanu-El Temple in Manhattan.^[10] Bloomberg's paternal grandfather, Alexander "Elick" Bloomberg, was an immigrant from Russia.^[2] Bloomberg's maternal grandfather, Max Rubens, was an immigrant from what is present-day Belarus.^[11][12]

The family lived in Allston until Bloomberg was two years old, when they moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, for the next two years, finally settling in the Boston suburb of Medford, Massachusetts, where he lived until after he graduated from college.^[13]

Bloomberg is an Eagle Scout.^[14][15] Bloomberg graduated from Medford High School in 1960.^[16]

Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. In 1962, as a sophomore, he constructed the school mascot's (the blue jay's) costume.^[17] He graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. In 1966, he graduated from Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration.^[18][19]

Business career

Michael Bloomberg in the 1980s with an early version of the Bloomberg Terminal

In 1973, Bloomberg became a general partner at Salomon Brothers, a large Wall Street investment bank, where he headed equity trading and, later, systems development. In 1981, Salomon Brothers was bought^[20] by Phibro Corporation, and Bloomberg was laid off from the investment bank.^[21] He was given no severance package, but owned $10 million worth of equity as a partner at the firm.^[22]

Using this money, Bloomberg, having designed in-house computerized financial systems for Salomon, went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems (IMS). His business plan was based on the realization that Wall Street (and the financial community generally) was willing to pay for high-quality business information, delivered as quickly as possible and in as many usable forms possible, via technology (e.g., graphs of highly specific trends).^[23]

Bloomberg, along with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, and Charles Zegar, developed and built a computerized system to provide real-time market data, financial calculations and other financial analytics to Wall Street firms. The machines were first called "Market Master Terminals" and later on became known as "Bloomberg Terminals." In 1983, Merrill Lynch became the company's first customer, investing $30 million in IMS to help finance the development of "the Bloomberg" terminal computer system and by 1984, IMS was selling machines to all of Merrill Lynch's clients.

The company was renamed Bloomberg L.P. in 1987.^[24] By 1990, it had installed 8,000 terminals.^[25] Over the years, ancillary products including Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Message, and Bloomberg Tradebook were launched.^[26]

During this time, colleagues published a pamphlet entitled Portable Bloomberg: The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg. The work included off-color and misogynistic sayings that were attributed to him.^[27][28]

A 2012 Bloomberg Terminal with a multi-monitor set-up composed of six screens

As of October 2015, the company had more than 325,000 terminal subscribers worldwide.^[29] Subscriptions cost $24,000 per year, discounted to $20,000 for two or more.^[30] As of 2019, Bloomberg employs 20,000 people in dozens of locations.^[30] The company earned approximately $10 billion in 2018, loosely $3 billion more than Thomson Reuters, now Refinitiv, its nearest competitor.^[30]

Employees reportedly bragged in the company's office about their sexual exploits.^[28] The company was sued three times by female employees for sexual harassment, including one incident in which an employee said she was raped. In a deposition concerning the alleged rape, Bloomberg said that he would believe the charge only if it were supported by “an unimpeachable third-party” witness.^[31][32]

When he left the position of CEO to pursue a political career as the mayor of New York City, Bloomberg was replaced as CEO by Lex Fenwick.^[33] During Bloomberg's three mayoral terms, the company was led by president Daniel L. Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor under Bloomberg.^[34] After completing his final term as the mayor of New York City, Bloomberg spent his first eight months out of office as a full-time philanthropist. In fall 2014, he announced that he would return to Bloomberg L.P. as CEO at the end of 2014,^[35] succeeding Doctoroff, who had led the company since retiring from the Bloomberg administration in February 2008.^[35][36][37] Bloomberg still owns the business but resigned as CEO of Bloomberg L.P. to run for president in 2019.^[30]

Bloomberg is a member of Kappa Beta Phi.^[38] He wrote an autobiography, with help from Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler, called Bloomberg by Bloomberg.^[39]

Wealth

In March 2009, Forbes reported Bloomberg's wealth at $16 billion, a gain of $4.5 billion over the previous year, the world's biggest increase in wealth in 2009.^[40] At that time, there were only four fortunes in the U.S. that were larger (although the Walmart family fortune is split among four people). He had moved from 142nd to 17th in the Forbes list of the world's billionaires in only two years.^[41][42] Subsequently, Forbes reported his wealth at $22 billion, then $31 billion, then $43.3 billion, and ranked him 11th, then 10th, then 6th richest in the U.S.^[24][43][44] As of November 2019, Bloomberg was the 14th richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $58 billion.^[3]

Political career

Mayor of New York City

Main article: Mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg

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Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus with Bloomberg

Bloomberg assumed office as the 108th Mayor of New York City on January 1, 2002. He won re-election in 2005 and again in 2009. As mayor, Bloomberg initially struggled with a low approval rating from the public; however, he subsequently developed and maintained high approval ratings.^[45] His re-election meant the Republicans had won the previous four mayoral elections (although Bloomberg's decision to leave the Republican Party and be declared an independent on June 19, 2007, resulted in the Republican Party's losing the mayor's seat prior to the expiration of his second term). Bloomberg joined Rudy Giuliani and Fiorello La Guardia as re-elected Republican mayors in the mostly Democratic city.

Bloomberg stated that he wanted public education reform to be the legacy of his first term and addressing poverty to be the legacy of his second.^[46] According to the National Assessment of Educational Performance, fourth-grade reading scores from 2002 to 2009 rose nationally by 11 points, but in May 2010, The New York Times reported that eighth-graders had shown no significant improvement in math or reading.

Bloomberg chose to apply a statistical, results-based approach to city management, appointing city commissioners based on their expertise and granting them wide autonomy in their decision-making. Breaking with 190 years of tradition, he implemented what New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney called a "bullpen" open office plan, similar to a Wall Street trading floor, in which dozens of aides and managerial staff are seated together in a large chamber. The design is intended to promote accountability and accessibility.^[47]

In efforts to create "cutbacks" in the New York City Spending Bracket, Bloomberg declined to receive a city salary. He accepted a remuneration of $1 annually for his services.^[48]

Mayoral elections

2001 election

Main article: 2001 New York City mayoral election

In 2001, the incumbent mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, was ineligible for re-election, as the city limited the mayoralty to two consecutive terms. Several well-known New York City politicians aspired to succeed him. Bloomberg, a lifelong member of the Democratic Party, decided to run for mayor as a member of the Republican Party ticket. Voting in the primary began on the morning of September 11, 2001. The primary was postponed later that day, due to the September 11 attacks. In the rescheduled primary, Bloomberg defeated Herman Badillo, a former Democratic congressman, to become the Republican nominee. Meanwhile, the Democratic primary did not produce a first-round winner. After a runoff, the Democratic nomination went to New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green.

In the general election, Bloomberg received Giuliani's endorsement. He also had a huge spending advantage. Although New York City's campaign finance law restricts the amount of contributions that a candidate can accept, Bloomberg chose not to use public campaign funds and therefore his campaign was not subject to these restrictions. He spent $73 million of his own money on his campaign, outspending Green five to one.^[49] One of the major themes of his campaign was that, with the city's economy suffering from the effects of the World Trade Center attacks, it needed a mayor with business experience.

In addition to serving as the Republican nominee, Bloomberg had the ballot line of the controversial Independence Party, in which "Social Therapy" leaders Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani exert strong influence. Some^[who?] say that endorsement was important, as Bloomberg's votes on that line exceeded his margin of victory over Green. (Under New York's fusion rules, a candidate can run on more than one party's line and combine all the votes received on all lines. Green, the Democrat, had the ballot line of the Working Families Party). Bloomberg also created an independent line called Students First whose votes were combined with those on the Independence line. Another factor was the vote in Staten Island, which has traditionally been far friendlier to Republicans than the rest of the city. Bloomberg handily beat Green in that borough, taking 75 percent of the vote. Overall, Bloomberg won 50 percent to 48 percent.^{[citation needed]}

Bloomberg's election marked the first time in New York City history that two different Republicans had been elected mayor consecutively. New York City has not been won by a Republican in a presidential election year since Calvin Coolidge won in 1924. Bloomberg is considered a social liberal, who is pro-choice, in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and an advocate for stricter gun control laws.

Although 68 percent of New York City's registered voters are Democrats, Bloomberg decided the city should host the 2004 Republican National Convention. The convention drew thousands of protesters, many of them local residents angry over the Iraq war and other issues. The New York Police Department arrested approximately 1,800 protesters, but according to The New York Times, more than 90 percent of the cases were later dismissed or dropped for lack of evidence.^[50]

2005 election

Main article: 2005 New York City mayoral election

Bloomberg was re-elected mayor in November 2005 by a margin of 20 percent, the widest margin ever for a Republican mayor of New York City.^[51] He spent almost $78 million on his campaign, exceeding the record of $74 million he spent on the previous election. In late 2004 or early 2005, Bloomberg gave the Independence Party of New York $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for his re-election campaign.^[52]

Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer won the Democratic nomination to oppose Bloomberg in the general election. Thomas Ognibene sought to run against Bloomberg in the Republican Party's primary election.^[53] The Bloomberg campaign successfully challenged enough of the signatures Ognibene had submitted to the Board of Elections to prevent Ognibene from appearing on ballots for the Republican primary.^[53] Instead, Ognibene ran on only the Conservative Party ticket.^[54] Ognibene accused Bloomberg of betraying Republican Party ideals, a feeling echoed by others.^{[55][56][57][58]}

Bloomberg opposed the confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States.^[59] Though a Republican at the time, Bloomberg is a staunch supporter of abortion rights and did not believe that Roberts was committed to maintaining Roe v. Wade.^[59] In addition to Republican support, Bloomberg obtained the endorsements of several prominent Democrats: former Democratic Mayor Ed Koch; former Democratic governor Hugh Carey; former Democratic City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, and his son, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.; former Democratic Congressman Floyd Flake (who had previously endorsed Bloomberg in 2001), and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.^[60]

Bloomberg in 2007

2009 election

Main article: 2009 New York City mayoral election

On October 2, 2008, Bloomberg announced he would seek to extend the city's term limits law and run for a third mayoral term in 2009, arguing a leader of his field was needed following the financial crisis of 2007–08. "Handling this financial crisis while strengthening essential services ... is a challenge I want to take on," Bloomberg said at a news conference. "So should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I have earned another term."^[61]

Ronald Lauder, who campaigned for New York City's term limits in 1993 and spent over 4 million dollars of his own money to limit the maximum years a mayor could serve to eight years,^[62] sided with Bloomberg in running for a third term and agreed to stay out of future legality issues.^[63] In exchange, he was promised a seat on an influential city board by Bloomberg.^[64]

Some people and organizations objected and NYPIRG filed a complaint with the City Conflict of Interest Board.^[65] On October 23, 2008, the City Council voted 29–22 in favor of extending the term limit to three consecutive four-year terms, thus allowing Bloomberg to run for office again.^[66] After two days of public hearings, Bloomberg signed the bill into law on November 3.^[67]

Bloomberg's bid for a third term generated some controversy. Civil libertarians such as former New York Civil Liberties Union Director Norman Siegel and New York Civil Rights Coalition Executive Director Michael Meyers joined with local politicians such as New York State Senator Eric Adams to protest the term-limits extension.^[68]

Bloomberg's opponent was Democratic and Working Families Party nominee Bill Thompson, who had been New York City Comptroller for the past eight years and before that, president of the New York City Board of Education.^[69] Bloomberg defeated Thompson by a vote of 51% to 46%.^[70]

After the release of Independence Party campaign filings in January 2010, it was reported that Bloomberg had made two $600,000 contributions from his personal account to the Independence Party on October 30 and November 2, 2009.^[71] The Independence Party then paid $750,000 of that money to Republican Party political operative John Haggerty Jr.^[72]

This prompted an investigation beginning in February 2010 by the office of New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. into possible improprieties.^[73] The Independence Party later questioned how Haggerty spent the money, which was to go to poll-watchers.^[74] Former New York State Senator Martin Connor contended that because the Bloomberg donations were made to an Independence Party housekeeping account rather than to an account meant for current campaigns, this was a violation of campaign finance laws.^[75] Haggerty also spent money from a separate $200,000 donation from Bloomberg on office space.^[76]

2020 presidential election campaign

Main article: Michael Bloomberg 2020 presidential campaign

On March 5, 2019, Bloomberg had announced that he would not run for president in 2020; instead he encouraged the Democratic Party to "nominate a Democrat who will be in the strongest position to defeat Donald Trump."^[77] However, due to his dissatisfaction with the Democratic field, Bloomberg reconsidered. He officially launched his campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination on November 24, 2019.^[78]

Bloomberg is financing his campaign personally and has said he won't accept donations.^[79] As of December 31, 2019 - five weeks after declaring his candidacy - he had spent or committed $200 million, mostly on television advertising, producing "an onslaught of campaign commercials with no precedent in Democratic politics".^[80] As of 12 February 2020, Bloomberg was polling at 13-14% nationally.^[81][82]

Political positions

Bloomberg has been a registered Democrat for most of his life. He is regarded as socially liberal or progressive on multiple issues, supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage, strict gun control measures, environmentalism and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. On economics and foreign policy issues, Bloomberg has tended towards a moderate stance. He opposed a timeline for withdrawal from the Iraq War, and criticized those who favored one. Economically, he supports government involvement in issues such as public welfare while being strongly in favor of free trade and being pro-business, describing himself as a fiscal conservative because he balanced New York City's budget.^[83] He is concerned about climate change and has touted his mayoral efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.^[84] Bloomberg has been criticized for not allowing many emergency officials who responded to the September 11, 2001, attacks to attend the tenth anniversary observation of that day.^[85] He was also at odds with many around the U.S. for not inviting any clergy to the ceremony marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.^[86]

Social issues

Bloomberg supports abortion rights, stating, "Reproductive choice is a fundamental human right and we can never take it for granted. On this issue, you're either with us or against us." He has criticized "pro-choice" politicians who support "pro-life" candidates.^[87]

Bloomberg supports governmental funding for embryonic stem cell research, calling the Republican position on the issue "insanity".^[88] He supports same-sex marriage with the rationale that "government shouldn't tell you whom to marry."^[89]

Bloomberg supports the strict drug laws of New York City. He has stated that he smoked marijuana in the past, and was quoted in a 2001 interview as saying "You bet I did. I enjoyed it." This led to a reported $500,000 advertising campaign by NORML, featuring his image and the quote. Bloomberg stated in a 2002 interview that he regretted the remark and did not believe that marijuana should be decriminalized.^[90] In 2012, Bloomberg backed an effort by Governor Andrew Cuomo to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.^[91] In January 2019, Bloomberg said “Last year, in 2017, 72,000 Americans OD’d [overdosed] on drugs. In 2018, more people than that are OD-ing on drugs, have OD’d on drugs, and today, incidentally, we are trying to legalize another addictive narcotic, which is perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done."^[92][93] In December 2019, Bloomberg came out in favor of marijuana decriminalization and allowing states to legalize it without federal intervention.^[94]

Crime and punishment

In April 2006, along with Boston mayor Thomas Menino, Bloomberg co-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns.^[95][96] A December 2013 press release by the group said the bipartisan coalition included over 1,000 mayors.^[95] In 2014, the organization merged with Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America to form Everytown for Gun Safety,^[97] which in 2018 in collaboration with student groups organized the March For Our Lives.^[98] When asked in an April 2014 interview why he was devoting so many of his personal resources to supporting gun control, restrictive food choice and smoking cessation, his concern was about his mortality, replying "I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”^[99]

As mayor, Bloomberg increased the mandatory minimum sentence for illegal possession of a loaded handgun, saying, "Illegal guns don't belong on our streets and we're sending that message loud and clear. We're determined to see that gun dealers who break the law are held accountable, and that criminals who carry illegal loaded guns serve serious time behind bars."^[100] He opposes the death penalty, saying he would "rather lock somebody up and throw away the key and put them in hard labor".^[100] He has called the death penalty "murder by the state".^[101]

Bloomberg was a staunch proponent of stop-and-frisk in New York City and has argued that it lowered the murder rate.^[102] The manner in which the NYPD utilized the practice was ruled unconstitutional in 2013, but the practice itself was not deemed unconstitutional.^[103][104] There is no evidence that the practice reduced the crime rate.^[105] In June 2013, Bloomberg pushed back against accusations that the stop-and-frisk practice disproportionately targeted minorities. Bloomberg argued that the demographic data of police stops should be assessed based on suspects' descriptions and not the population as a whole, saying, "it’s not a disproportionate percentage of those who witnesses and victims describe as committing the [crime]. In that case, incidentally, I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little."^[106]

In 2015, Bloomberg defended New York City's stop-and-frisk practices, saying:

Ninety-five percent of murders- murderers and murder victims fit one M.O. You can just take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 16-25. That’s true in New York, that’s true in virtually every city (inaudible). And that’s where the real crime is. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of people that are getting killed. So you want to spend the money on a lot of cops in the streets. Put those cops where the crime is, which means in minority neighborhoods.

So one of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them… And then they start… ‘Oh I don’t want to get caught.’ So they don’t bring the gun. They still have a gun, but they leave it at home.

— Michael Bloomberg, speech to the Aspen Institute, February 2015^[107][108]

However, in 2018, Bloomberg walked back his stance on stop-and-frisk, saying, "The history of the decline in police stops is misunderstood. As crime hit historic lows, and more than a year before any court ruling, I pledged to a Sunday congregation in Brooklyn and to all New Yorkers that 'we must and will do better' by reforming police practices while continuing to drive down crime. And that's exactly what we did, on our own accord. We cut police stops by 94 percent, while continuing to reduce crime and incarceration."^[109] On November 17, 2019, while speaking in Brooklyn's non-denominational Christian Cultural Center, Bloomberg renounced his previous support for stop-and-frisk and issued an apology.^[110][111] New York Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to Bloomberg's apology by stating "This is LONG overdue and the timing is transparent and cynical."^[112] Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch also criticized Bloomberg's apology, noting in a statement that, "We said in the early 2000s that the quota-driven emphasis on street stops was polluting the relationship between cops and our communities,” and that the "[Bloomberg] administration’s misguided policy inspired an anti-police movement that has made cops the target of hatred and violence, and stripped away many of the tools we had used to keep New Yorkers safe.”^[113]

In February 2020, comments defending stop-and-frisk made by Bloomberg in 2015 resurfaced and drew criticism.^{[114][115][116][117]}

Education

Bloomberg replaced New York City's school board set up by the state of New York with a setup providing direct mayoral control over public education.^[118][119] This was criticized by some, such as former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch who has argued that mayoral control led to further privatization of education.^[120] Bloomberg states that he raised the salaries of teachers by fifteen percent while boosting test scores and graduation rates.^[121][122] Some, such as the United Federation of Teachers, dispute these claims, criticizing Bloomberg for including things that do not show up on a paycheck, such as increased spending on teachers' pensions and healthcare, which they say inflate the amount teachers' salaries were raised; they also accuse him of exaggerating the boost in graduation rates and the role his administration played in it, pointing out that New York City's graduation rates still far lagged behind the rest of New York State.^{[123][124][125]}

Bloomberg opposes social promotion, stating that students should be promoted only when they are adequately prepared for the next grade level. Some educators disagree, however, arguing that leaving children behind stigmatizes them as failures, only to face failure again as they repeat the grade.^[126] He favors after-school programs to help students who are behind. As mayor, Bloomberg strengthened the cellphone ban in schools.^[127] In Los Angeles, Bloomberg waded into the controversy over the proliferation of charter schools, donating over $1 million to elect pro-charter school board candidates opposed by United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA).^[128]

Environment

During his second term as the mayor of New York City, Bloomberg unveiled PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York on April 22, 2007, to fight global warming, protect the environment and prepare for the projected 1 million additional people expected to be living in the city by the year 2030.^[129]

Under PlaNYC, in just six years New York City reduced citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 19% since 2005 and was on track to achieve a 30% reduction ahead of the PlaNYC 2030 goal.^[130] In October 2007, as part of PlaNYC, Bloomberg launched the Million Trees NYC initiative, which aimed to plant and care for one million trees throughout the city in the next decade. In November 2015, New York City planted its one millionth tree, two years ahead of the original 10-year schedule.^[131]

In 2008, Bloomberg convened the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), an effort to prepare the city for climate change.^[132] In 2012, Travel + Leisure readers voted New York City the "Dirtiest American City," for having the most extant litter.^[133] Bloomberg has been involved in motivating other cities to make changes and has spoken about reducing carbon dioxide emissions, using cleaner and more efficient fuels, using congestion pricing in New York City, and encouraging public transportation.^[134]

Bloomberg unveiled the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) in June 2013, after the city was affected by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The $20 billion initiative laid out extensive plans to protect New York City against future impacts of climate change.^[135] On September 26, 2013, Bloomberg announced that his administration's air pollution reduction efforts had resulted in the best air quality in New York City in more than 50 years.^[136] The majority of the air quality improvement was attributed to the phasing out of heavy polluting heating oils through New York's "Clean Heat" program.^[137] As a result of the improved air quality, the average life expectancy of New Yorkers had increased three years during Bloomberg's tenure, compared to 1.8 years in the rest of the country.^[138]

By 2017, Bloomberg donated 100 million dollars to the campaign Beyond Coal, that helped close over half of the US coal power stations, since 2011 when it was expanded due to his financial help. In 2017 he donated 64 million dollars more, the day after EPA head Scott Pruitt began to abolish President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan.^[139]

In 2019, Bloomberg, with the Sierra Club and other organizations, launched "Beyond Carbon," an initiative to complete the USA's transition to non-fossil energy sources.^[140]

Bloomberg and former California Governor Jerry Brown launched and are leading America's Pledge, a coalition of cities, businesses, states and more in the US to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.^[141][142] The organization covers 68% of the GDP and 65% of the population of the United States. In COP25 it presented a report named "ACCELERATING AMERICA’S PLEDGE," in which it stated that already existing commitments can cut USA greenhouse gas emissions by 19% by 2025 and by 25% by 2030. Accelerating local action can lower emissions by 37% by the year 2030, and if federal support will be adjusted, by 49% by the same year relative to the level of the year 2005.^[143][144]

Illegal immigration and border security

Bloomberg has criticized those who advocate for mass deportation of illegal immigrants, calling their stance unrealistic, "We're not going to deport 12 million people, so let's stop this fiction. Let's give them permanent status."^[145] He supports a federal ID database that uses DNA and fingerprint technology to keep track of all citizens and to verify their legal status.^[146] Bloomberg has held that illegal immigrants should be offered legalization and supported the congressional efforts of John McCain and Ted Kennedy in their attempt at immigration reform in 2007.^[147]

Regarding border security, he compared it to the tide, stating, "It's as if we expect border control agents to do what a century of communism could not: defeat the natural market forces of supply and demand ... and defeat the natural human desire for freedom and opportunity. You might as well as sit in your beach chair and tell the tide not to come in. As long as America remains a nation dedicated to the proposition that 'all Men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness', people from near and far will continue to seek entry into our country."^[148]

In 2006, Bloomberg stated on his weekly WABC radio show that illegal immigration does not strain the financial resources of New York City, since many immigrants are hard working and "do not avail themselves of services until their situation is dire."^{[149][citation needed]}

Health regulations

In January 2011, city schools began a pilot program which allows girls over 14 years old to be provided with Plan B emergency contraception without parental consent, unless parents opt out in writing. Beginning with five schools, the pilot had been expanded to thirteen schools by September 2012.^[150][151]

On December 5, 2006, New York City under Bloomberg became the first city in the United States to ban trans fat from all restaurants. This went into effect in July 2008.^[152]

In September 2012, the city passed a law limiting the practice of circumcision among Orthodox Jews. The legislation requires that at each event, the mohel receives signed consent forms from the parents, acknowledging that they were notified of health risks associated with cleaning the wound by sucking blood from the male baby's organ. This regulation caused an outcry among certain Orthodox Jewish communities on this alleged infringement of their religious freedom,^[153][154] and the matter was taken to federal court.^[155]

During the same month, the NYC Board of Health approved Bloomberg's proposal to ban the sale of many sweetened drinks more than 16 ounces (473ml) in volume. The limit would have applied to businesses such as restaurants and movie theaters, but did not apply to grocery stores, including 7-Eleven. Diet varieties of sweetened drinks were unaffected.^[156]

On March 12, 2013, hours before the ban was scheduled to take effect, State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling struck it down, ruling that the Board of Health lacked the jurisdiction to enforce it and that the rule was "arbitrary and capricious". The city appealed the decision.^[157] On July 30, the Appellate Division upheld the lower court's ruling, stating the Board of Health "failed to act within the bounds of its lawfully delegated authority" and the ban was a violation of the separation of powers doctrine, which reserves legislative power to the legislature and does not allow the board to "exercise sweeping power to create whatever rule they deem necessary". Bloomberg announced that the city would appeal the decision.^[158]

Bloomberg has been criticized for some of his policies which have been described by many as facilitating the creation of a nanny state.^[159] Comedian Bill Maher, while on Jimmy Kimmel Live, said that Bloomberg's soda ban "gives liberals a bad name".^[160] In response to the soda ban, The Center for Consumer Freedom ran a full-page ad in The New York Times featuring an image of Bloomberg's face superimposed on an elderly female body wearing a dress and scarf, with the title "The Nanny", and the tagline "New Yorkers Need a Mayor, Not a Nanny."^[161] Others have pointed out that the smoking rate dropped quickly during Bloomberg's time in office (which has involved the banning of smoking in certain areas).^[159]

Criticism of Bloomberg's attempt to ban the sale of large soft drinks was picked up, mostly by Republican and libertarian commentators and politicians, as a line of attack in political campaigns around the United States. In one example, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul brought Big Gulps to a joint appearance for Cuccinelli's ultimately unsuccessful 2013 gubernatorial campaign to symbolize Bloomberg's efforts to restrict soft drink sales, criticizing the mayor for wanting "to buy the governor's office down here", a reference to pro-gun control advertisements his political action committee was running in the state.^[162] Republican legislators in Wisconsin reacted to the ban by inserting language to prohibit communities from restricting the sale of large soft drinks throughout the state in a 2013 budget bill.^[163]

Response to 9/11

Bloomberg believes that the September 11, 2001 attacks were not intended to be solitary events. When he assumed office, he set up a Counterterrorism Bureau which works along with the NYPD intelligence division to gather information about worldwide terrorism affecting New York City.^[164] He believes that funding for Homeland Security by the federal government should be distributed by risk, where cities that are considered to have the highest threat for a terrorist attack would get the most money.^[165] Bloomberg is also a supporter of the USA PATRIOT Act.^[166]

After the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombings, Bloomberg said that laws and the interpretation of the Constitution have to change to provide greater security against such attacks, "the people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry, but we live in a complex world where you're going to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will ... our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change."^[167]

Economic issues

Bloomberg characterizes himself as a fiscal conservative for turning the city's $6 billion deficit into a $3 billion surplus; however, conservative PAC Club for Growth has criticized him because he increased property taxes and spending while doing so.

Being a fiscal conservative is not about slashing programs that help the poor, or improve health care, or ensure a social safety net. It's about insisting services are provided efficiently, get to only the people that need them, and achieve the desired results. Fiscal conservatives have hearts too – but we also insist on using our brains, and that means demanding results and holding government accountable for producing them.

To me, fiscal conservatism means balancing budgets – not running deficits that the next generation can't afford. It means improving the efficiency of delivering services by finding innovative ways to do more with less. It means cutting taxes when possible and prudent to do so, raising them overall only when necessary to balance the budget, and only in combination with spending cuts. It means when you run a surplus, you save it; you don't squander it. And most importantly, being a fiscal conservative means preparing for the inevitable economic downturns – and by all indications, we've got one coming.

— Michael Bloomberg, speech at Conservative Party Conference (UK), September 30, 2007^[83]

Bloomberg has expressed a distaste for taxes, stating, "Taxes are not good things, but if you want services, somebody's got to pay for them, so they're a necessary evil."^[168] As mayor, he did raise property taxes to fund budget projects; however, in January 2007, he proposed cuts in property taxes by five percent and cuts in sales taxes, including the elimination of taxes on clothing and footwear. Bloomberg pointed to the Wall Street profits and the real estate market as evidence that the city's economy is booming and could handle a tax break.^[169]

Bloomberg's self-described fiscal conservatism also led him to eliminate the existing $6 billion deficit when he assumed office. Bloomberg balanced the budget of New York City by raising property taxes and making cuts to city agencies.^[170]

Bloomberg is in favor of providing tax breaks to big corporations for the good of the whole community. As mayor, Bloomberg lobbied the CEO of Goldman Sachs to establish its headquarters across from Ground Zero by promising $1.65 billion in tax breaks. Regarding this deal, Bloomberg stated, "This [New York City] is where the best want to live and work. So I told him [CEO of Goldman Sachs], 'We can help with minimizing taxes. Minimizing your rent. Improving security. But in the end, this is about people.'"^[171]

Bloomberg had less cordial relations with unions as mayor. In 2002, when New York City's transit workers threatened to strike, Bloomberg responded by riding a mountain bike through the city to show how the city could deal with the transit strike by finding alternate means of transportation and not pandering to the unions.^[172] Three years later, a clash over wages and union benefits led to a three-day strike. Negotiations led to the end of the strike in December 2005.^[173]

Bloomberg is a staunch advocate of free trade and is strongly opposed to protectionism, stating, "The things that we have to worry about is this protectionist movement that has reared its head again in this country. ... " He worries about the growth of China and fears the lessening gap between the United States and other countries, "The rest of the world is catching up, and, there are people that say, surpassing us. I hope they are wrong. I hope those who think we are still in good shape are right. But nevertheless, the time to address these issues is right now."^[174]

Bloomberg has placed a strong emphasis on public health and welfare, adopting many liberal policies. As the mayor he made HIV, diabetes, and hypertension all top priorities. He extended the city's smoking ban to all commercial establishments and implemented a trans fat ban in restaurants.^[175] Bloomberg has been a strong supporter of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation – the largest urban healthcare agency in the United States – serving over 1.3 million New Yorkers, and has touted its use of information technology and Electronic Health Records to increase efficiency and enhance patient care.^[176] He launched a program called Opportunity NYC, the nation's first-ever conditional cash transfer pilot program, designed to help New Yorkers break the cycle of poverty in the city. He instituted a $7.5 billion municipal affordable housing plan, the largest in the nation, that is supposed to provide 500,000 New Yorkers with housing.^[177]

Bloomberg has expressed concern about poverty and growing class divisions, stating, "This society cannot go forward, the way we have been going forward, where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps growing."^[174]

Foreign policy

As mayor, Bloomberg made trips to Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Israel in the first four months of 2007.^[178] In late 2007 he conducted an Asia trip that brought him to China, where he called for greater freedom of information to promote innovation. He attended the United Nations Climate Conference in Bali.

Initially, Bloomberg strongly supported the war in Iraq and the rationale for going in. He stated, "Don't forget that the war started not very many blocks from here,"^[179] alluding to Ground Zero. In regard to the global War on Terrorism including Iraq he said, "It's not only to protect Americans. It's America's responsibility to protect people around the world who want to be free." During the 2004 presidential election campaign, New York City hosted the Republican National Convention at which Bloomberg endorsed President George W. Bush for President of the United States.^[180]

His enthusiasm seemed to have lessened somewhat over the course of the war. In August 2005, he said, "I think everybody has very mixed emotions about the war that was started to find weapons of mass destruction and then they were not found."^[181] Bloomberg expressed criticism of Democrats in Congress who wanted to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, calling them "irresponsible".^[182]

In September 2019, Bloomberg said that the Communist Party of China "listens to the public" on pollution and stated Xi Jinping is not a dictator because he has to "satisfy his constituents, or he's not going to survive..." Bloomberg argued governments, even non-democratic governments, are not able to operate without the will of the majority of their people, so he predicted China will take further action to combat climate change.^[183] In January 2020, Bloomberg came out in favor of sanctions on Chinese officials for "human rights violations in both Hong Kong and Xinjiang."^[184]

Preservation and development issues

Bloomberg delivering a speech in 2004

Bloomberg is a proponent of large-scale development. He has repeatedly supported projects such as the Pacific Park mega-development, the Hudson Yards Redevelopment and associated rail-yard development (even supporting a subway extension to Hudson Yards), and the Harlem rezoning proposal.^[185] On smaller-scale issues, Bloomberg usually takes the side of development as well. He favors the demolition of Admiral's Row^[186] to build a supermarket parking lot. However, Bloomberg has occasionally sided with preservation, most notably in vetoing landmark revocation for the Austin Nichols warehouse.^[187] This move was widely applauded by architectural historians. The City Council overruled the veto shortly thereafter, however.^[188]

2013 election endorsements

Main article: 2013 New York City mayoral election

On September 13, 2013, Bloomberg announced that he would not endorse any of the candidates to succeed him.^[189][190] On his radio show, he stated, "I don't want to do anything that complicates it for the next mayor. And that's one of the reasons I've decided I'm just not going to make an endorsement in the race." He added, "I want to make sure that person is ready to succeed, to take what we've done and build on that."^[191]

Prior to the announcement in an interview in New York magazine, Bloomberg praised The New York Times for its endorsement of Christine Quinn and Joe Lhota as their favorite, respective, candidates in the Democratic and Republican primaries.^[192][193] Quinn came in third in the Democratic primary and Lhota won the Republican primary.

Earlier in the month, Bloomberg was chastised in the press for his remarks regarding Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio's campaign methods.^[194] Bloomberg said initially in a New York magazine interview that he considered de Blasio's campaign "racist," and when asked about his comment, Bloomberg explained what he meant by his remark.^[195]

Well, no, no, I mean he's making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching what he's been doing. I do not think he himself is racist. It's comparable to me pointing out I'm Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote. You tailor messages to your audiences and address issues you think your audience cares about.^[195]

On January 1, 2014, de Blasio became New York City's new mayor, succeeding Bloomberg.^[196]

2018 elections and re-registration as Democrat

In June 2018, Bloomberg made plans to give $80 million to support Democratic congressional candidates in the 2018 election, with the goal of flipping control of the Republican-controlled House to Democrats. In a statement, Bloomberg said that Republican House leadership were "absolutely feckless" and had failed to govern responsibly. Bloomberg advisor Howard Wolfson was chosen to lead the effort, which was to target mainly suburban districts.^[197] By early October, Bloomberg had committed more than $100 million to returning the House and Senate to Democratic power, fueling speculation about a presidential run in 2020.^[198] On October 10, 2018, Bloomberg announced that he had changed his political party affiliation to Democrat, which he had previously been registered as prior to 2001.^[199]

Campaign speculation beyond New York City before 2019

Bloomberg was frequently mentioned as a possible centrist candidate for the presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, as well as for governor of New York in 2010. He declined to seek either office, opting to continue serving as the mayor of New York City.

There was widespread speculation that he would run as a third-party candidate in the 2016 presidential election, though he chose not to, later endorsing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for president. In October 2018, Bloomberg changed his political party affiliation back to the Democrats.^[200]

2008 presidential campaign speculation

See also: Draft Bloomberg movement

On February 27, 2008, Bloomberg announced that he would not run for president in 2008, and that he would endorse a candidate who took an independent and non-partisan approach.^[201] He had also stated unequivocally, live on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, on December 31, 2007, that he was not going to run for president in 2008.^[202] Despite prior public statements by Bloomberg denying plans for a presidential run,^[203] many pundits believed Bloomberg would announce a campaign at a later date. On January 7, 2008, he met at the University of Oklahoma with a bipartisan group, including (now former) Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel and former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn, both of whom had been frequently mentioned as possible running mates, to pressure the major-party candidates to promote national unity and reduce partisan gridlock. Speculation that Bloomberg would choose this forum to announce his candidacy proved to be unfounded.^[204][205]

In summer 2006, he met with Al From of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group, to talk about the logistics of a possible run.^[206] After a conversation with Bloomberg, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska suggested that he and Bloomberg could run on a shared independent ticket for the presidency.^[207]

On This Week on June 10, 2007, anchor George Stephanopoulos included panelist Jay Carney, who mentioned a conversation between Bloomberg and top staffers where he heard Bloomberg ask approximately how much a presidential campaign would cost. Carney said that one staffer replied, "Around $500 million." According to a Washington Post article, a $500-million budget would allow Bloomberg to circumvent many of the common obstacles faced by third-party presidential candidates.^[208] On June 19, 2007, Bloomberg left the Republican Party, filing as an independent after a speech criticizing the current political climate in Washington.^[209][210]

On August 9, 2007, in an interview with former CBS News anchor Dan Rather that aired on August 21, Bloomberg categorically stated that he was not running for president, that he would not be running, and that there were no circumstances in which he would, saying, "If somebody asks me where I stand, I tell them. And that's not a way to get elected, generally. Nobody's going to elect me president of the United States. What I'd like to do is to be able to influence the dialogue. I'm a citizen."^[211]

Despite continued denials, a possible Bloomberg candidacy continued to be the subject of media attention, including a November Newsweek cover story.^[212] During a private reception in December 2007, Bloomberg conducted a version of bingo in which guests were to guess the meaning of the numbers on a printed card. When Bloomberg asked the significance of 271, one guest answered correctly: the number of electoral votes received by George W. Bush in 2000.^[213] In January 2008, CNN reported that a source close to Bloomberg said that the mayor had launched a research effort to assess his chances of winning a potential presidential bid. According to the report, the unidentified source also stated that Bloomberg had set early March as a timetable for making a decision as to whether or not to run.^[214] On January 16, 2008, it was reported that Bloomberg's business interests were placed in "a sort of blind trust" because of his possible run for the presidency. His interests were put under the management of Quadrangle Group, co-founded by reported Bloomberg friend Steven Rattner, though Bloomberg would continue to control particular investment decisions.^[215]

In January 2008, the Associated Press reported that Bloomberg met with Clay Mulford, a ballot-access expert and campaign manager for Ross Perot's third-party presidential campaigns. Bloomberg denied that the meeting concerned a possible presidential campaign, and said the following month, "I am not – and will not be – a candidate for president." He added that he is "hopeful that the current campaigns can rise to the challenge by offering truly independent leadership. The most productive role that I can serve is to push them forward, by using the means at my disposal to promote a real and honest debate."^[201]

At the same time, there was also some speculation that Bloomberg could be a candidate for the vice presidency in 2008. In a blog posting of June 21, 2007, Ben Smith of The Politico asked the question of whether a vice-presidential candidate can self-finance an entire presidential ticket.^[216]

Bloomberg did not publicly endorse a candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, but it has since been revealed that he voted for Barack Obama.^[217]

Rumored gubernatorial campaign

In November 2007, the New York Post detailed efforts by New York State Republicans to recruit Bloomberg to oppose Governor Eliot Spitzer in the 2010 election. Early polls indicated Bloomberg would defeat Spitzer in a landslide. (The potential 2010 match-up became moot when Spitzer resigned on March 17, 2008.)^[218] A March 2008 poll of New York voters showed that, in a hypothetical 2010 gubernatorial matchup, Bloomberg would defeat Governor David Paterson (who became governor after Spitzer's resignation) and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the 2010 gubernatorial election.^[219] Bloomberg did not run for governor.^[220]

2012 presidential campaign speculation and role

In March 2010, Bloomberg's top political strategist Kevin Sheekey resigned from his mayoral advisory position and returned to Bloomberg LP, Bloomberg's company. It was speculated that the move would allow Sheekey to begin preliminary efforts for a Bloomberg presidential campaign in the 2012 election. An individual close to Bloomberg said, "the idea of continuing onward is not far from his [Bloomberg's] mind."^[221]

In October 2010, the Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg – which had attempted to recruit Bloomberg to run for the presidency in 2008 – announced it was relaunching its effort to persuade Bloomberg to wage a presidential campaign, in 2012.^[222][223] The committee members insisted that they would persist in the effort in spite of Bloomberg's repeated denials of interest in seeking the presidency.^[223][224]

In a December 2010 appearance on Meet the Press, Bloomberg ruled out a run for the presidency in 2012.^[225] In July 2011, in the midst of Democrats' and Republicans' inability to agree on a budget plan and thus an increase in the federal debt limit, the Washington Post published a blog post about groups organizing third party approaches. It focused on Bloomberg as the best hope for a serious third-party presidential candidacy in 2012.^[226]

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in November 2012, Bloomberg penned an op-ed officially endorsing Barack Obama for president, citing Obama's policies on climate change.^[227][228]

2016 presidential campaign speculation and role

Bloomberg speaking at the 2016 DNC

On January 23, 2016, it was reported that Bloomberg was again considering a presidential run, as an independent candidate in the 2016 election.^[229][230] This was the first time he had officially confirmed he was considering a run.^[231] Bloomberg supporters believed that Bloomberg could run as a centrist and capture many voters who were dissatisfied with the likely Democratic and Republican nominees.^[232] However, on March 7, Bloomberg announced he would not be running for president.^[233][234]

In July 2016, Bloomberg delivered a speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in which he called Hillary Clinton "the right choice".^{[235][236][237]} In the speech, Bloomberg warned of the dangers a Donald Trump presidency would pose. He said Trump "wants you to believe that we can solve our biggest problems by deporting Mexicans and shutting out Muslims. He wants you to believe that erecting trade barriers will bring back good jobs. He's wrong on both counts." Bloomberg also said Trump's economic plans "would make it harder for small businesses to compete" and would "erode our influence in the world". Trump responded to the speech by condemning Bloomberg in a series of tweets.^[235][238]

Philanthropy

Environmental advocacy

Bloomberg is a dedicated environmentalist and has advocated policy to fight climate change at least since he became the mayor of New York City. At the national level, Bloomberg has consistently pushed for transitioning the United States' energy mix from fossil fuels to clean energy. In July 2011, Bloomberg donated $50 million through Bloomberg Philanthropies to Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, allowing the campaign to expand its efforts to shut down coal-fired power plants from 15 states to 45 states.^[239][240] On April 8, 2015, to build on the success of the Beyond Coal campaign, Bloomberg announced an additional Bloomberg Philanthropies investment of $30 million in the Beyond Coal initiative, matched with another $30 million by other donors, to help secure the retirement of half of America's fleet of coal plants by 2017.^[241]

Bloomberg's personal life was criticized by InsideSources for contradicting his environmentalist image. Bloomberg owns a $30 million private jet, a $4.5 million helicopter that burns 72 gallons of fuel per hour, and several low-mpg vehicles, including an SUV and sports car. Bloomberg owns about ten properties, including at least three mansions. He flies to his waterfront mansion in Bermuda several times per month.^[242][243]

Bloomberg, through Bloomberg Philanthropies, awarded a $6 million grant to the Environmental Defense Fund in support of strict regulations on fracking, in the 14 states with the heaviest natural gas production.^[244]

In October 2013, Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the Risky Business initiative with former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer. The joint effort worked to convince the business community of the need for more sustainable energy and development policies, by quantifying and publicizing the economic risks the United States faces from the impact of climate change.^[245] In January 2015, Bloomberg led Bloomberg Philanthropies in a $48-million partnership with the Heising-Simons family to launch the Clean Energy Initiative. The initiative supports state-based solutions aimed at ensuring America has a clean, reliable, and affordable energy system.^[246]

Since 2010, Bloomberg has taken an increasingly global role on environmental issues. From 2010 to 2013, he served as the chairman of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a network of the world's biggest cities working together to reduce carbon emissions.^[247] During his tenure, Bloomberg worked with President Bill Clinton to merge C40 with the Clinton Climate Initiative, with the goal of amplifying their efforts in the global fight against climate change worldwide.^[248] He serves as the president of the board of C40 Cities.^[249] In January 2014, Bloomberg began a five-year commitment totaling $53 million through Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Vibrant Oceans Initiative. The initiative partners Bloomberg Philanthropies with Oceana, Rare, and Encourage Capital to help reform fisheries and increase sustainable populations worldwide.^[250] In 2018, Bloomberg joined Ray Dalio in announcing a commitment of $185 million towards protecting the oceans.^[251]

On January 31, 2014, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Bloomberg as his first Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change to help the United Nations work with cities to prevent climate change.^[252] In September 2014, Bloomberg convened with Ban and global leaders at the UN Climate Summit to announce definite action to fight climate change in 2015.^[253] Noting in March 2018 that "climate change is running faster than we are," Ban's successor António Guterres appointed Bloomberg as UN envoy for climate action.^[254][255] He resigned on November 11, 2019, in the run-up to his presidential campaign.^[256]

In late 2014, Bloomberg, Ban Ki-moon, and global city networks ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), with support from UN-Habitat, launched the Compact of Mayors, a global coalition of mayors and city officials pledging to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, enhance resilience to climate change, and track their progress transparently.^[257] To date, over 250 cities representing more than 300 million people worldwide and 4.1% of the total global population, have committed to the Compact of Mayors,^[258] which was merged with the Covenant of Mayors in June 2016.^[259][260]

On June 30, 2015, Bloomberg and mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo jointly announced the creation of the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, which convened on December 4, 2015.^[261] The Climate Summit assembled hundreds of city leaders from around the world at Paris City Hall,^[262][263] marking the largest recorded gathering of local leaders on the subject of fighting climate change.^[264] The Summit concluded with the presentation of the Paris Declaration, a pledge by leaders from assembled global cities to cut carbon emissions by 3.7 gigatons annually by 2030.^[265]

During the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England and chair of the Financial Stability Board, announced that Bloomberg will lead a new global task force designed to help industry and financial markets understand the growing risks of climate change.^[266]

Bloomberg and former Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope co-authored a book on climate change, "Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet,"^[267] published by St. Martin's Press.^[268] The book was released 18 April 2017 and appeared on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best seller list.^[269]

Following the announcement that the U.S. government would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, Bloomberg outlined a coalition of cities, states, universities and businesses that had come together to honor America's commitment under the agreement through 'America's Pledge.'^[270] Through Bloomberg Philanthropies, he offered "up to $15 million to support the U.N. agency that helps countries implement the agreement."^[271][272]

About a month later, Bloomberg and California Governor Jerry Brown announced that the America's Pledge coalition would work to "quantify the actions taken by U.S. states, cities and business to drive down greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement."^[273][274] In announcing the initiative, Bloomberg said "the American government may have pulled out of the Paris agreement, but American society remains committed to it."^[275]

Two think-tanks, World Resource Institute and the Rocky Mountain Institute, will work with America's Pledge to analyze the work cities, states and businesses do to meet the U.S. commitment to the Paris agreement.^[276]

In May 2019, Bloomberg announced a 2020 Midwestern Collegiate Climate Summit in Washington University in St. Louis with the aim to bring together leaders from Midwestern universities, local government and the private sector to reduce climate impacts in the region.^[277][278]

In early June 2019, Bloomberg pledged $500 million to reduce climate impacts and shut remaining coal-fired power plants by 2030 via the new Beyond Carbon initiative.^[279][280]

Leadership

On August 25, 2016, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Harvard University announced the creation of the joint Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.^[281] Funded by a $32 million gift from Bloomberg, the Initiative will host up to 300 mayors and 400 staff from around the world over the next four years in executive training programs focused on increasing effective public sector management and innovation at the city level.^[282]

Bloomberg hosted the Global Business Forum on September 20, 2017. The event was held during the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and featured international CEOs and heads of state.^[283] The forum "took place during the elite space once held by the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting," and former President Bill Clinton served as the first speaker.^[284][285] The mission of the event was to discuss "opportunities for advancing trade and economic growth, and the related societal challenges ..."^[285] In addition to Clinton and Bloomberg, speakers included Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, World Bank President Jim Kim, IMF head Christine Lagarde, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and French President Emmanuel Macron.^[286][283]

Other causes

According to a profile of Bloomberg in Fast Company, his Bloomberg Philanthropies foundation has five areas of focus: public health, the arts, government innovation, the environment, and education.^[287] According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bloomberg was the third-largest philanthropic donor in America in 2015.^[288] Through his Bloomberg Philanthropies Foundation, he has donated and/or pledged $240 million in 2005, $60 million in 2006, $47 million in 2007, $150 million in 2009, $332 million in 2010, $311 million in 2011, and $510M in 2015.^[288][289]

2011 recipients included the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; World Lung Foundation and the World Health Organization. In 2013 it was reported that Bloomberg had donated $109.24 million in 556 grants and 61 countries to campaigns against tobacco.^[24] According to The New York Times, Bloomberg was an "anonymous donor" to the Carnegie Corporation from 2001 to 2010, with gifts ranging from $5 million to $20 million each year.^[290] The Carnegie Corporation distributed these contributions to hundreds of New York City organizations ranging from the Dance Theatre of Harlem to Gilda's Club, a non-profit organization that provides support to people and families living with cancer. He continues to support the arts through his foundation.^[291]

In 1996, Bloomberg endowed the William Henry Bloomberg Professorship at Harvard with a $3 million gift in honor of his father, who died in 1963, saying, "throughout his life, he recognized the importance of reaching out to the nonprofit sector to help better the welfare of the entire community."^[292] Bloomberg also endowed his hometown synagogue, Temple Shalom, which was renamed for his parents as the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Jewish Community Center of Medford.^[293]

Bloomberg reports giving $254 million in 2009 to almost 1,400 nonprofit organizations, saying, "I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker."^[294]

In July 2011, Bloomberg launched a $24 million initiative to fund "Innovation Delivery Teams" in five cities. The teams are one of Bloomberg Philanthropies' key goals: advancing government innovation.^[295] In December 2011, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched a partnership with online ticket search engine SeatGeek to connect artists with new audiences. Called the Discover New York Arts Project, the project includes organizations HERE, New York Theatre Workshop, and the Kaufman Center.^[296] In his final term as mayor, Bloomberg earmarked a substantial appropriation to The Shed, a new arts center planned for Hudson Yards on the far west side of Manhattan.^[297] He continued his support for The Shed after his time as mayor with a philanthropic donation of $75 million.^[298] The Shed "will present performances, concerts, visual art, music and other events."^[299]

On March 22, 2012, Bloomberg announced his foundation was pledging $220 million over four years in the fight against global tobacco use.^[300]

Bloomberg has donated $200 million toward the construction of new buildings at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In January 2013, Johns Hopkins University announced that with a recent $350 million gift, Bloomberg's total giving to his undergraduate alma mater surpassed $1.1 billion; his first gift to the school, 48 years prior, had been a $5 donation.^[301] Five-sevenths of the $350 million gift is allocated to the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships, endowing 50 Bloomberg Distinguished Professors (BDPs) whose interdisciplinary expertise crosses traditional academic disciplines.^[302]

In June 2015, Bloomberg donated $100 million to Cornell Tech, the applied sciences graduate school of Cornell University, to construct the first academic building on the school's Roosevelt Island campus. The building is named "The Bloomberg Center."^[303]

In September 2016, on the School of Public Health's centennial anniversary Bloomberg Philanthropies contributed $300 million to establish the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, bringing his total lifetime contribution to the university to $1.5 billion.^[304]

On March 29, 2016, Bloomberg joined Vice President Joe Biden at Johns Hopkins University to announce the creation of The Bloomberg–Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in East Baltimore.^[305][306] The institute was launched with a $50 million gift by Bloomberg, a $50 million gift by philanthropist Sidney Kimmel, and $25 million from other donors.^[307] It will support cancer therapy research, technology and infrastructure development, and private sector partnerships.^[308] The institute embraces the spirit of Vice President Biden's "cancer moonshot" initiative, which seeks to find a cure for cancer through national coordination of government and private sector resources.^[305]

Bloomberg speaking at an Everytown for Gun Safety event in August 2019

He is the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety (formerly Mayors Against Illegal Guns), a gun control advocacy group. On August 17, 2016, the World Health Organization appointed Bloomberg as its Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases.^[309] In this role, Bloomberg will mobilize private sector and political leaders to help the WHO reduce deaths from preventable diseases, traffic accidents, tobacco, obesity, and alcohol. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan cited Bloomberg's ongoing support for WHO anti-smoking, drowning prevention, and road safety programs in her announcement of his new role.^[310][311]

In a ceremony on October 18, 2016, the Museum of Science, Boston announced a $50 million gift from Bloomberg.^[312] The donation marks Bloomberg's fourth gift to the museum, which he credits with sparking his intellectual curiosity as a patron and student during his youth in Medford, Massachusetts.^[313] The endowment will support and rename the museum's education division as the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Science Education Center, in honor of Bloomberg's parents. It is the largest donation in the museum's 186-year history.^[314]

On December 5, 2016, Bloomberg Philanthropies became the largest funder of tobacco-control efforts in the developing world. The group announced a $360 million commitment on top of their pre-existing commitment, bringing his total contribution close to $1 billion. This new donation will help expand its previous work, such as having monitor tobacco use, introduce strong tobacco-control laws, and create mass media campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use. The program includes 110 countries, among them China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh.^[315]

On November 18, 2018, Johns Hopkins announced a further gift of $1.8 billion from Bloomberg, marking the largest private donation in modern history to an institution of higher education and bringing Bloomberg's total contribution to the school in excess of $3.3 billion. Bloomberg's gift allows the school to practice need-blind admission and meet the full financial need of admitted students.^[316]

Bloomberg will spend $10 million on advertisements defending Democratic congresspersons who expect to suffer reelection difficulties for having voted for the impeachment of Donald Trump.^[317]

Personal life

Family and relationships

In 1975, Bloomberg married Susan Elizabeth Barbara Brown, a British national from Yorkshire, United Kingdom.^[318] They had two daughters: Emma (born c. 1979) and Georgina (born 1983), who were featured on Born Rich, a 2003 documentary film about the children of the extremely wealthy. Bloomberg divorced Brown in 1993, but he has said she remains his "best friend."^[24] Since 2000, Bloomberg has lived with former New York state banking superintendent Diana Taylor.^{[319][320][321]}

Bloomberg's staff told the New York Times that he now regrets having made "disrespepctful" remarks concerning women.^[32][322]

Bloomberg's younger sister, Marjorie Tiven, has been Commissioner of the New York City Commission for the United Nations, Consular Corps and Protocol, since February 2002.^[323] His daughter Emma is married to Christopher Frissora, son of multimillionaire businessman Mark Frissora.^[324]

Religious beliefs

Although he attended Hebrew school, had a Bar Mitzvah, and his family kept a kosher kitchen, Bloomberg today is relatively secular, attending synagogue mainly during the High Holidays.^[325] Neither of his daughters were raised Jewish.^[325]

Public image and lifestyle

Bloomberg maintains a public listing in the New York City phone directory.^[326] During his term as mayor, he lived at his own home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan instead of Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence.^[327] In 2013, he owned 13 properties in various countries around the world, including a $20 million Georgian mansion in Southampton, New York.^[328][329] In 2015, he acquired a historical property in London that once belonged to writer George Eliot.^[330] Bloomberg and his daughters own houses in Bermuda and stay there frequently.^[331][332]

Bloomberg stated that during his mayoralty, he rode the New York City Subway on a daily basis, particularly in the commute from his 79th Street home to his office at City Hall. An August 2007 story in The New York Times stated that he was often seen chauffeured by two New York Police Department-owned SUVs to an express train station to avoid having to change from the local to the express trains on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line.^[333] He supported the construction of the 7 Subway Extension and the Second Avenue Subway; on December 20, 2013, Bloomberg took a ceremonial ride on a train to the new 34th Street station to celebrate a part of his legacy as mayor.^[334][335]

During his tenure as mayor, Bloomberg made cameos playing himself in the films The Adjustment Bureau and New Year's Eve, as well as in episodes of 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Good Wife, and two episodes of Law & Order.^[336]

Bloomberg is a private pilot^[337] and owns an AW109 helicopter, and as of 2012 was near the top of the waiting list for an AW609 tiltrotor aircraft.^[338] In his youth he was a licensed amateur radio operator, was proficient in Morse code, and built ham radios.^[339]

Awards and honors

At the 2007 commencement exercises for Tufts University, Bloomberg delivered the commencement address.^[340] He was awarded an honorary degree in Public Service from the university. Likewise, Bloomberg delivered the 2007 commencement address at Bard College, where he was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.^[341] In February 2003, he received the "Award for Distinguished Leadership in Global Capital Markets" from the Yale School of Management.^[342] Bloomberg was named the 39th most influential person in the world in the 2007 and 2008 Time 100.^[343] In October 2010, Vanity Fair ranked him #7 in its "Vanity Fair 100: The New Establishment 2010."^[344]

In May 2008, Bloomberg was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Pennsylvania, where he delivered the commencement speech to the class of 2008.^[345] Bloomberg delivered the commencement address to the class of 2008 at Barnard College, located in New York City, after receiving the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the college's highest honor.^[346]

In 2009, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Fordham University.^[347] In May 2011, Bloomberg was the speaker for Princeton University's 2011 baccalaureate service.^[348]

In June 2014, Bloomberg was the speaker for Williams College's 2014 commencement.^[349] He received an honorary degree as doctor of laws.^[350] Bloomberg was given a tribute award at the 2007 Gotham Awards, a New York City-based celebrator of independent film.^[351] On November 19, 2008, Bloomberg received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York".^[352] Additionally, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at Fordham University's 2009 commencement ceremonies.^[353]

In 2009, Bloomberg received a Healthy Communities Leadership Award from Leadership for Healthy Communities – a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national program – for his policies and programs that increase access to healthful foods and physical activity options in the city.^[354] For instance, to increase access to grocery stores in underserved areas, the Bloomberg administration developed a program called FRESH that offers zoning and financial incentives to developers, grocery store operators and land owners.^[355] His administration also created a Healthy Bodega initiative, which provides healthful food samples and promotional support to grocers in lower-income areas to encourage them to carry one-percent milk and fruits and vegetables.^[356] Under Bloomberg's leadership, the city passed a Green Carts bill,^[357] which supports mobile produce vendors in lower-income areas; expanded farmers' markets using the city's Health Bucks program, which provides coupons to eligible individuals to buy produce at farmers' markets in lower-income areas;^[358] and committed $111 million in capital funding for playground improvements.^[359] New York also was one of the first cities in the nation to help patrons make more informed decisions about their food choices by requiring fast-food and chain restaurants to label their menus with calorie information.^[360]

In 2010, Bloomberg received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by the Jefferson Awards.^[361]

In 2013, Bloomberg was chosen as the inaugural laureate of the Genesis Prize, a $1-million award to be presented annually for Jewish values.^[362] He will invest his US $1M award in a global competition, the Genesis Generation Challenge, to identify young adults' big ideas to better the world.^[363]

In 2014, Bloomberg was bestowed the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard University in recognition of his public service and leadership in the world of business.^[364]

On October 6, 2014, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Bloomberg as Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his "prodigious entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors, and the many ways in which they have benefited the United Kingdom and the U.K.-U.S. special relationship." As Bloomberg is not a citizen of the United Kingdom, he cannot use the title "Sir", but may, at his own discretion, use the post-nominal letters "KBE".^[365]

In 2015, the Bloomberg Terminal was featured prominently in the "Tools of the Trade" financial technology exhibit in Silicon Valley's Computer History Museum, as well as the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.^[29]

In March 2017, Bloomberg was ranked sixth on the UK-based company Richtopia's list of 200 Most Influential Philanthropists and Social Entrepreneurs.^[366][367]

In May 2019, Bloomberg was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Washington University in St. Louis, where he delivered the commencement speech to the class of 2019, and announced he would fund a conference at Washington University in early 2020 that will focus on mitigating the effects of climate change

Bad hair day? Bad makeup day?

Secret Service making money for Trump Organization

Trump Properties Charged Secret Service $650 a Night, Says Report

Want to carry out your job obligations and protect (and pay) the president? That will be $650 of taxpayers’ money a night, please.

Jamie Ross

Reporter

Published Feb. 07, 2020 10:24AM ET

REUTERS

The Secret Service dropped at least $471,000 in taxpayers’ money at Donald Trump’s companies between his inauguration month and April 2018, according to a stash of over a hundred receipts compiled by The Washington Post that lay bare an unprecedented business relationship between a sitting president and his own government.

Trump’s company has previously insisted that it always charges friendly rates to Secret Service staff when they are made to accompany the president to his properties—but the Post’s cache of receipts casts a whole lot of doubt on that. For example, at Mar-a-Lago, the Secret Service was reportedly charged $650 per night dozens of times in 2017, but was given a different and cheaper rate of $396.15 other times in 2018.

Another staggering bill was reportedly presented to the Secret Service for the privilege of staying at the Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster, where it was charged $17,000 a month to use a cottage on the New Jersey property in 2017. That’s several times above the standard rent in the area, and Trump was reportedly only there a third of the time during the billed month.

NBC News previously reported, in June of last year, that the Trump International Hotel in Washington charged the Secret Service more than $200,000 in taxpayer money from September 2016 to February 2018. That’s despite the fact that, unlike in Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, Trump hasn’t spent a single night there since he took office back in 2017.

Federal conflict-of-interest rules don’t apply to the president, and the Secret Service doesn’t have hotel-room spending limits, so there’s nothing stopping Trump’s company from charging whatever it wants.

Even though it’s one of the deepest insights into Trump’s business relationship with his government so far, the Post reports that its compiled receipts it has managed to gather likely undersell the true amount of taxpayers’ money that’s changed hands from the Secret Service to the Trump Organization.

The Secret Service has failed to list all of the receipts in public databases of federal spending, which is normally required for payments of more than $10,000. The public receipts only cover a small sample of Trump’s travel during part of his term, so the $471,000 total is likely to be a fraction of the true amount of money the Secret Service has paid to Trump properties.

Despite that, the receipts do show that some statements from the Trump Organization have been misleading. In an interview with Yahoo Finance last year, Trump Organization Executive Vice President Eric Trump said: “If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free... If he stays at one of his places, the government actually spends, meaning it saves a fortune because if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50.”

In a new statement given to the Post about the receipts, Eric Trump said: “We provide the rooms at cost and could make far more money renting them to members or guests.” However, Eric didn’t say how the company arrives at its “at cost” price for the Secret Service, which the receipts show varies and has been as high as $650 a night.

Jordan Libowitz, of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said: “That’s kind of crazy that we know the president is benefiting from the presidency, and we do not know how. We do not know how many taxpayer dollars are in his pocket.”

In a statement, the Secret Service said its spending “balances operational security with judicious allocation of resources.”

Above is from:  https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-properties-charged-secret-service-dollar650-a-night-says-report?ref=scroll

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Why Would a Billionaire Charge the Secret Service $650 a Night?

Six theories for why Donald Trump insists on billing taxpayers

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

David A. Graham

A Secret Service agent stands watch at Mar-a-Lago.CAROLYN KASTER / AP

• 
  

Last year, Eric Trump was asked about Secret Service protection at Trump Organization properties.

“If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free,” he said. “So everywhere that he goes, if he stays at one of his places, the government actually spends, meaning it saves a fortune because if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50.”

You will be stunned to learn that this is not remotely true.

Instead, as the indefatigable David Fahrenthold and three colleagues at The Washington Post chronicle in his latest scoop on the president’s business, the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service (in other words, the taxpayer) from $400 to $650 a night to stay at Mar-a-Lago while guarding the president. At another Trump property, his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, the Secret Service was billed $17,000 a month for a small cottage, even when the president wasn’t present. These are just snapshots. Despite heroic public-records work by the Post, there’s still no complete picture of just what the Trump Organization is charging the Secret Service.

• 
  

It’s no longer news per se that the Trump Organization is profiteering from the presidency. Since Donald Trump refused to divest from his business at the start of his term, that’s been inevitable. There’s the massive emoluments scandal of the Trump International Hotel in D.C. There are Trump’s Irish properties, at which he “invited” the vice president to stay, then charged the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars. There was his shameless choice to hold the G7 summit at Trump Doral—a decision so universally reviled that the White House quickly reversed it. One of the arguments the administration offered for picking Doral was that it would allow savings on security. “He’s not making any money off of this, just like he’s not making any money from working here,” insisted Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. The new Post story shows that was almost certainly false.

New or not, the question remains: Why does a billionaire charge the Secret Service $650 to stay at his property?

The issue is not whether taxpayers should pay for presidential protection. They should, unequivocally. The question is about the cost. As the Post notes, other presidents who allowed the Secret Service to use their properties, including both George Bushes and Bill Clinton, didn’t charge them. None of those presidents owned a for-profit business while serving as president either.

Perhaps only Trump knows the answer to why he’s charging so much. But here are a few theories as to why so rich a man would gouge his bodyguards and constituents.

The president is simply a penny-pinching cheapo. In 1990, Spy started mailing progressively more minuscule checks to rich people to see who would go through the trouble of cashing them. Only two people cashed the smallest checks, for 13 cents: an arms dealer, and Donald Trump. Trump is the kind of guy who, while running a huge real-estate business, routinely stiffed contractors out of four-figure checks. Why wouldn’t he squeeze every cent out of this too?

David A. Graham: Trump’s most shameless act of profiteering

The profiteering is the point (with apologies to my colleague Adam Serwer). Trump’s presidential run was conceived of more as a publicity stunt than a serious policy initiative. He set out to make money, and if winning the election wasn’t really part of the plan, that didn’t mean it didn’t contribute to the ultimate goal.

It’s about defiance. So many of Trump’s actions can easily be explained as trolling, or at least as a kiss-off. If you tell him he can’t do something, he’ll do it. What other explanation is there for announcing, in the midst of an impeachment investigation over abuse of power, that you’ll direct a major international summit to your own resort? Some people will be appalled by the charges, but there’s nothing they can do. When you’re a president, they let you do it. You can do anything.

He feels he’s entitled. The extravagant charges are hypocritical because Trump has made great show of donating his presidential salary. He has insisted that the presidency is a money loser for him, depriving him of a chance to make money elsewhere. It’s impossible to assess this claim—Trump hasn’t released documents to back it up, and his reputation for honesty speaks for itself. It does appear that political backlash against the president has hurt business at some of his properties, though. Trump may view the money he makes from the Secret Service as the least taxpayers can do to mitigate his selfless sacrifices in making America great again, and a meager return for him.

He’s not really a billionaire. Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg was recently asked whether Americans really wanted to watch two billionaires fight on Twitter. “Two billionaires? Who’s the second one?” Bloomberg quipped. Questions about Trump’s real net worth have circulated for years. When journalist Tim O’Brien (now a Bloomberg adviser) reported in 2005 that Trump was worth more like $250 million, Trump sued him for $5 billion. (The suit was dismissed.) Whenever any investigation has gotten near Trump’s business, he’s gone ballistic. Or perhaps the better explanation is that …

He’s a paper billionaire with a cash-flow problem. Trump may well be worth billions on paper, but his empire is built on borrowing; he once called himself the king of debt. That means he has to service his loans, for which he needs cash. But several of his businesses seem to be struggling to bring in money, which could mean he struggles to move cash out the door too. As the Post previously reported, Doral is one of several properties that has seen its income tank. Revenue has also fallen at some of his hotels.

One of the few hotels that seems to be thriving is the Trump International Hotel in D.C. (though even it has its own struggles). Yet the Trump Organization is looking to sell the lease on the hotel, for a record sum. On paper that seems illogical: Why would the Trump Organization sell a property that’s thriving? And if it’s thriving because of its connection to the president, why would another operator pay a huge price for value that will dry up once it’s sold? One answer would be that the Trump Organization is seeking a large cash infusion, so that it can continue to service its debts.

Charging $650 a night for Secret Service agents doesn’t add up to the reported $500 million asking price for the D.C. hotel. But Trump has spent roughly a third of his presidency staying at his own properties, and all the nights there start to add up to a steady stream of cash coming in, from captive buyers. Just how much is unclear, though, because neither the Trump Organization nor the government will tell.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

DAVID A. GRAHAM is a staff writer at The Atlantic

Above is from: .https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/why-does-billionaire-charge-secret-service-650-night/606253/

The Onion write the best commentary on Limbaugh’s medal

Rush Limbaugh Admits Presidential Medal Of Freedom Less Of An Honor Knowing That Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou Also Received It

WASHINGTON—Saying his initial enthusiasm had faded after learning about the award’s history, conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh conceded Wednesday that receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom was less of an honor knowing it had been bestowed upon Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou, too. “While I understand this medal represents the highest civilian honor possible, I was a bit disconcerted to discover this morning that I share this distinction with both a civil rights icon and a poet who gave a voice to black Americans,” said Limbaugh, who explained that he hopes people don’t doubt his integrity as he joins the ranks of the award’s previous recipients, especially Cicely Tyson, Ralph Ellison, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Stevie Wonder, and Willie Mays. “I almost sent it back. But instead I have decided to keep my Medal of Freedom and let it stand as a testament to my willingness to tolerate others. I hope my acceptance of it will go some way toward reclaiming this honor from the Martin Luther Kings and Nelson Mandelas of the world.” At press time, Limbaugh confirmed he felt more confident that the award meant something after learning it had also been given to Henry Kissinger and Strom Thurmond.

Above is from:  https://politics.theonion.com/rush-limbaugh-admits-presidential-medal-of-freedom-less-1841475204

Food stamp change will hurt kids, educators and advocates testify

U.S. NEWS

Food stamp change will hurt kids, educators and advocates testify

“They’re struggling as it is, so when we add this new layer to their everyday routine of, how am I going to get food? how am I going to eat? it just adds a harmful burden for these kids,” one teacher said.

A sign advertises a program that allows food stamp recipients to shop at a farmer's market in Topsham, Maine, in 2017.Robert F. Bukaty / AP file

Feb. 6, 2020, 1:29 PM CST

By Phil McCausland

A rule change to the federal food stamp program proposed by the Trump administration will cause children in low-income families across the United States to go hungry, educators and hunger advocates told Congress on Thursday.

The four people who testified Thursday said that a proposed Department of Agriculture rule change to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, was a fundamental misunderstanding of a regulation, known as broad-based categorical eligibility, or BBCE. As of now, states are allowed to waive asset tests — ignoring whether recipients have a car, assets or savings — and raise gross income eligibility limits.

Currently, a family of three can qualify for SNAP if they earn 130 percent of the federal poverty level, or $27,700, or if states raise that to 200 percent, $40,840. The USDA plans to do away with that state flexibility.

Critics argue that eliminating BBCE would limit states’ flexibility to address their unique populations, leave more than 3 million people without access to food through SNAP and cause nearly a million children to lose their automatic enrollment in the national school breakfast and lunch programs.

The second of three proposed rule changes to SNAP by the Trump administration, this one is expected to take effect soon. An earlier rule will impose stricter work requirements on able-bodied adults without disabilities, and it is expected to cut benefits to approximately 700,000 people when it takes effect April 1.

Many families across the country have gross incomes slightly above 130 percent of poverty, but still have difficulty feeding their families because of the other financial burdens like housing, child care and medical benefits, Lisa Davis, the senior vice president of the No Kid Hungry Campaign, testified Thursday.

The point of SNAP is to provide these families with some savings so that they can become financially secure and move out of poverty, while reducing bureaucratic red tape, she said.

“BBCE allows these families to remain eligible for SNAP and free school meals,” Davis said. “It creates efficiency and reduces administrative burdens on state agencies and schools, but most importantly it encourages work. It helps low-income families move out of poverty and build financial security. It allows them to accumulate modest assets to weather an unexpected financial crisis. It also ensures that their children can receive the nutrition they need at home and at school.”

About 96 percent of the children who are slated to lose automatic enrollment because of the Trump administration's proposed rule would remain eligible for free or reduced school breakfast or lunch, but they would have to fill out a separate application.

SNAP provided benefits to 40.4 million people in the United States during an average month of the 2018 fiscal year, according to the USDA, with the average benefit measuring about $126 per person per month. Despite that help, 47.5 percent of households that received the benefit were food insecure.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, said BBCE also helped incentivize work. Recipients don't feel as though they must turn down work to remain eligible for their SNAP benefits, and it also allows them to own a car to drive to work or save money for potential emergencies, he said.

Krishnamoorthi cited his own story as an example of how SNAP helped his family rise out of poverty after they immigrated to the United States from India.

“When we needed help, we were able to receive food stamps as my parents worked their way out of that difficult time,” Krishnamoorthi said in his opening statement. “Today, my father is an engineering professor, my brother is a doctor, and I am fortunate to represent Illinois’ 8th Congressional District in Congress and to chair this subcommittee. That was my family’s American dream, and it was possible because of my parents’ hard work, but also because of the opportunities our country presents.”

Thursday's hearing is one of four held by the Oversight Committee to examine if the Trump administration's proposed regulations will harm children.

The USDA, however, maintained that its goals in changing SNAP eligibility is to thwart exploitation of the program, which Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said states had allowed without limit.

“For too long, this loophole has been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines. Too often, states have misused this flexibility without restraint,” Perdue said in a statement. “The American people expect their government to be fair, efficient and to have integrity — just as they do in their own homes, businesses and communities. That is why we are changing the rules, preventing abuse of a critical safety net system.”

Unintended consequences

Craig Gundersen, an agricultural and consumer economics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has studied the program for more than two decades, said this rule will only make food insecurity worse in the United States.

He estimated that a third of the 3 million people who receive benefits through BBCE are currently food insecure, while another third — or one million people — will be made food insecure.

While the USDA said it aims to save taxpayer dollars, he said, this increase in food insecurity will also have unintended financial consequences, most notably a nearly $1,800 increase in health care costs per person, according to a study he worked on for the CDC last year.

“Food insecurity has costs,” Gundersen said. “When we cut back on SNAP benefits what that means is health care costs will increase because you’ll have more food insecure households. A lot of these cuts are born by the government through Medicaid, Medicare through individuals because individuals go to the hospitals for uncompensated care. People are still bearing these costs.”

Gundersen noted that this is a nonpartisan issue, affecting blue states and red states. He remarked that Florida and Nevada’s BBCE rules are set at 200 percent above the poverty line and Texas’s is set at 165 percent.

A combined 636,800 people stand to lose access to their SNAP benefits in those three states alone, according to an Urban Institute analysis that examined the effect this rule would have had if it was implemented in 2018.

State officials in Michigan expressed particular concern after they recently raised the state's asset limit to $15,000 and where more than 125,000 people are at risk of losing benefits with the rule change.

"It enables families that have worked, saved and hit a rough patch to get the help they need without having to spend every penny they have in the bank," said Robert Gordon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. "We talked about the challenges for someone who works as a waitress, works in a car factory that closed and they lost their job. Why would we say to them that they should spend their life savings before they get help for food? What if the next day their roof caves in or they have a sick child?"

Furthermore, he said, eliminating this rule could be so stringent that it would impose a cliff effect that discourages work, which is antithetical to the Trump administration’s stated goals in changing access to SNAP.

“If you say now to states that it’s only 130 percent of the poverty line that are currently eligible, then some people are going to say, ‘Look if I don’t cut back my income I’m going to lose my SNAP benefits, so then it doesn’t pay for me to work,’” Gundersen said.

Food banks are also concerned, as they are worried they will have to make up for the one billion meals SNAP provided last year to families, according to an analysis by Feeding America, a hunger relief organization.

This would be an impossible task, according to Robert Campbell, the managing director of policy at Feeding America.

For every meal provided by food banks, SNAP provided nine, he explained.

“SNAP is the first line of defense for millions and millions of people around this country,” Campbell said. “The change will only lead to families consciously making tradeoffs between food and medicine, food and health care.”

Tega Toney, a high school teacher who serves as the vice president for the American Federation of Teachers West Virginia who testified at Thursday’s hearing, told NBC News before her appearance that access to SNAP removes a burden from students who already face difficult circumstances. Her students, she said, are not a number on a spreadsheet but “real live kids with real issues.”

“The deck is really stacked against them with the opioid epidemic, the poverty issues we’re having, the declining economic revenue we’re having,” she said. “They’re struggling as it is, so when we add this new layer to their everyday routine of, how am I going to get food? how am I going to eat? it just adds a harmful burden for these kids.”

Phil McCausland

Phil McCausland is an NBC News reporter focused on the rural-urban

Above is from:  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/food-stamp-change-will-hurt-kids-educators-advocates-testify-n1131646

Watch for these lies in Trump's State of the Union speech

Rick Newman

Senior Columnist

,

Yahoo Finance•February 3, 2020

5:03

27:31

The economy will decide 2020

Hmmm. What should President Trump talk about when he delivers his State of the Union speech to Congress on the night of February 4?

The embarrassing impeachment ordeal will probably be off-limits, since it would make no sense for Trump to refer to accusations of criminality before a prime-time audience. Instead, like other presidents, Trump will probably try to highlight accomplishments during his three years in office—especially in the economy, which is solid and could help Trump’s reelection bid.

Trump can legitimately claim the economy is doing well. We’re in the 11th year of the longest expansion on record. Unemployment is at a 50-year low. Stocks are close to record highs. And there’s no hint of recession.

Yet Trump seems unable to resist lies and exaggerations. When he gave a speech on the economy in November, Yahoo Finance tallied 22 glaring lies on trade, jobs, interest rates, wages and Trump’s record compared with President Obama’s. His main thrust seemed to be taking credit for economic developments that were likely to happen anyway. If the pattern holds, Trump will probably repeat some of those lies in his State of the Union address. Here are some whoppers to watch for:

Under Obama, 5 million people left the labor force. In Obama’s first month in office, the labor force was 154.2 million. In Obama’s last month, the labor force was 159.7 million. That’s a gain of 5.5 million, not a loss.

“In 2016, the Department of Labor predicted that Americans would continue dropping out of the workforce in record numbers.” No, it didn’t. It predicted the labor force would rise from 156 million in 2016 to 168 million by 2026. Trump also distorts Labor Dept. projections for the unemployment rate, which it saw falling to 4.7% by 2026.

The Federal Reserve under Trump has executed a “near record number of rate increases.” Not even close. The Fed has raised interest rates 7 times during the Trump presidency, a quarter point each time. From 2004 to 2006, the Fed hiked rates 17 times. During the 1970s, the Fed raised short-term rates for seven straight years, from 4.65% to 19.85%.

“We have added nearly $10 trillion of value to our economy.” GDP was $19.2 trillion when Trump took office, and it’s $21.7 trillion now. That’s a gain of $2.5 trillion, not $10 trillion.

“Under my administration, [median income] rose $5,000.” Census data shows median household incomes have risen from $62,626 to $63,179 since Trump has been in office. That’s just $553. The data ends in 2018, but another 11 months won’t account for that extra $4,447 Trump tossed in.

The average household is $10,000 richer under Trump. He gets this figure by starting with the $5,000 in income gains he’s inflated by a factor of 10, then making similarly gassy claims about savings from tax cuts, deregulation and “energy cuts,” whatever that means. Nobody can come close to substantiating this figure, and ordinary people can fact-check that by looking around for their own magical $10,000 windfall.

The 2017 tax cut was the largest in U.S. history. As a percentage of GDP, it’s more like 8th largest.

“Our regulatory rollback is also leading to major price reductions in health care and prescription drugs.” Health care costs have risen 7.5% since Trump took office, according to Census Bureau data. Drug costs are up 2.8%.

“On the WTO, we’re winning cases for the first time.” It’s not the first time. The United States has historically won more than 90% of the cases it brings before the World Trade Organization. It also loses the majority of cases other countries bring against it.

“There are certain countries that the average tariff is 100%.” According to the World Bank, Palau has the world’s highest average tariff on imports, at 29.9%. Only three countries, including St. Kitts and Bermuda, impose import tariffs above 20%.

“We’re taking in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs that China is paying for.” American importers and businesses are paying the tariffs, not China. The tally so far is about $75 billion in new taxes on businesses on an annualized basis, according to the American Action Forum. This may be Trump’s most prolific economic lie—he’s told it at least 100 times, according to a Yahoo Finance tally.

We have a $500 billion trade deficit with China. This is a Trump classic that refers only to the trade deficit in goods with China, as if services such as insurance and tourism aren’t part of the real economy. The deficit in both goods and services in 2019 was $379 billion.

Obama’s trade deal with South Korea killed 250,000 U.S. jobs. Congressional researchers think that deal probably had little impact on U.S. employment.

Thirty percent of U.S. auto production moved to Mexico during the last 20 years. Imported cars from Mexico only account for 14% of U.S. auto sales today. So this can’t be true.

“We’ll have a trade deficit of … close to $800 billion. Who ever heard of this?” Literally nobody ever heard of this. The U.S. trade deficit in 2018 was $628 billion. Again, Trump is mentioning only the trade balance in goods, which is bigger. The U.S. is a net exporter of services, which lowers the trade deficit.

Rick Newman is the author of four books, including “Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success.” Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman. Confidential tip line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com. Encrypted communication available. Click here to get Rick’s stories by email.

Above is from:  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/watch-for-these-lies-in-trumps-state-of-the-union-speech-212922453.html