Mayor Bloomberg Warns Of Rioting If Unemployment Remains High
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Pedestrians were seemingly content on the streets of upper Manhattan Friday, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes there's an undercurrent of economic distress that could upset the tranquil street scene.
"You have a lot of kids graduating college, can't find jobs, that's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kind of riots here," Bloomberg said on his Friday morning radio show.
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Mentioning these street protests overseas during a gloomy assessment of economic prospects in the U.S.
"The damage to a generation that can't find jobs will go on for many, many years," he added.
"I could agree with him. I know tons of kids that have graduated from Columbia who are having a lot of trouble finding jobs. It's kind of a disaster going on," student Tiffany Rodriguez told CBS 2's Tony Aiello.
"I just don't think it's in our blood to be that way. I think we're generally more mellow than that as a people," said student Andrew Leonard.
The mayor mentioned Cairo. A student from there, however, disagrees.
"When you go to Egypt you can sense how frustrated people were. You just don't get that feeling in New York right now," said student Tammer Yamany.
Polls show many Americans are pretty skeptical about Pres. Obama's ability to tackle the very problems Mayor Bloomberg was talking about. 62% disagree with Mr Obama's handling of the economy. 51% don't think the President's jobs bill will lower unemployment.
"At least he's got some ideas on the table, whether you like those or not," Bloomberg said.
The mayor says a lot of economic problems could be solved if everyone paid a little more in taxes, and accepted a little less in the way of benefits.
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