Bloomberg's Republican economic policy prescriptions

And while Bloomberg praised the city’s private sector growth, Morris pointed out that the mayor did not mention the fact that New York lost more than 10,000 public sector jobs last year, according to the New York State Department of Labor. Bloomberg plans to cut 10,000 more in the next two years as part of his plan to reduce the city’s deficit.

Bloomberg correctly stated that private sector employment in New York City did grow by 1.8 percent in the last year, twice the national rate, according to the state Department of Labor.

While the city’s unemployment rate as of October (9.2 percent) was lower than the national average (9.6 percent), it was higher than the rate for the state overall (8.3 percent), and higher than cities like Boston (7.6 percent) and metropolitan areas like those anchored by Pittsburgh (7.6 percent) and Minneapolis (6.5 percent).

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, defended the mayor’s record, arguing that New York City had fared better than the rest of country in terms of surviving the recession.

“In part, that’s because of Mike Bloomberg’s leadership,” he said.

Being remembered

In his Meet the Press appearance, the mayor denied having national political aspirations, and said that he wants to leave office “having a reputation as a very good, maybe the greatest mayor ever.”

White of the New School says that the mayor has followed up on some of his proposals, especially workforce training, and should be commended for his efforts in that regard.

“I think as far as investing in job training and fixing immigration – there’s great potential there,” White said. “And he’s been a very powerful advocate for immigration reform. Like many of the other issues within his administration, there are truly creative people picking up really innovative strategies and putting them into play. This administration is the only one I’ve ever seen in New York that’s done this kind of work.”

Still, White says that the mayor has a very different voice than he had during his first term. “He was much more attuned to promoting the importance of government to address critical problems, including poverty, and he doesn’t speak that way anymore.”