Jack the Ripper says: "Reduce the Murder Rate."

That was our first thought on seeing Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's essay in Sunday's Democrat and Chronicle, with the risible headline, "Protect Families from Higher Taxes."

Is there any more determined, intransigent, immovable tribune of the status quo supporting New York's aristocracy of public employee unions and their dependents than Sheldon Silver?

It's immediately apparent in his essay, pretending to support budget cuts to protect taxpayers.   The Speaker can read the recent election returns.  He understands the mood of New York's electorate toward taxes.

So Shelly attempts some serious posturing, because he, his union masters and his allies don't want anything to change.   Silver makes it clear that the biggest spending items, the ones driving the State's brutal tax environment, are off the table.   After detailing some trivial cost-cutting proposals, he continues:

[W]e must continue to invest in ... public schools ... and health care."

"Invest."   Right.   The day this stunningly dishonest piece ran in Rochester, The New York Times called for cutting spending in precisely those areas, to bring them into into line with other states, and with reality:

New York spends twice the national average on Medicaid at $2,283 per person.  That is the highest average in the country, with Rhode Island a distant second at $1,659.  Mr. Paterson wants to scale back the health care budget by $471 million.  That seems the least the state should do.  Education is even more costly.  The national average per student is $9,138; New York spends $14,884.  Mr. Paterson’s plan to cut education costs by about 3 percent, or $686 million, is clearly in line with what’s necessary.

New York's status quo is unique and debilitating.   The aristocracy it supports, like all oligarchies, will not, as we noted last month, relinquish its privileges easily.

Bring on the Revolution!