Men Quit Birth Control Study; NY Budget Office: Giving Tax Breaks To Corporations Isn’t Creating Jobs

(This article was originally published on Nov. 2, 2016)

Today in the 914, according to Westchester Woman: Men Can’t Handle Male Birth Control, Quit Study; Budget Office: Giving Money to Big Corporations Via Industrial Development Agencies (IDA) Isn’t Creating Jobs in New York; MORE.

1.) For decades the burden to prevent pregnancy has mostly fallen on women to use birth control, despite the negative side effects of using it. Though researchers have come up with an effective male birth control injection, the study on the injections was halted because men suffered some side effects and were acting like cry babies about it.

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The very same side effects women have been enduring since the 60s.

Men said they experienced depression and changes in mood. Other side effects like injection site pain, muscle pain, increased libido, and acne were also reported but researchers said that 39 percent of those cases were unrelated to the injections.

The study was cut short after 20 of the study’s 320 participants dropped out. We’re playing the tiniest violin as we list the side effects that women have experienced from taking birth control for years.

According to WebMD, they are:

• blood clots (such as deep vein thrombosis, heart attack, pulmonary embolism, stroke) which can be fatal
• lumps in the breast
• changes in mood or depression
• Nausea,
• vomiting
• headache
• bloating
• breast tenderness
• weight gain/ weight loss
• hair growth
• acne
• swelling of the feet
• stomach/abdominal pain
• change in menstrual cycle
• yellowing eyes/skin
• confusion
• dizziness
• shortness of breath
• vision change, including blindness
• migraines

“These risks of fertility damage are not fatal risks like the women endure with their birth control,” one of the study’s researchers told CNN. “You have to compare what women are doing in terms of taking hormones with what men are doing in terms of taking hormones. They [women] are taking their life in their hands when they take the hormones. And that needs to be put right up in front when considering the risk.”

On a good note, 75 percent of men said they were still willing to take this form of birth control. You can read more about the study below on CNN:

2.) Though many Westchester residents live paycheck-to-paycheck and find the costs for basic needs like health care and education to be a burden, our elected and bureaucratic officials give away millions of our tax dollars to wealthy developers in order to “create jobs.”

The only problem is that they’re not creating jobs, according to the New York State Authorities Budget Office. In fact, some projects that received hefty tax breaks even eliminated jobs.

Though the Avalon-on-the-Sound apartment buildings in New Rochelle got generous property tax breaks for 30 years to help revitalize the city and attract millennials, the project never delivered according to lohud. Regardless, the New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency is still paying them $118,000 a year.

Lohud reports that more than 4,600 deals like this have been arranged in New York State. The New York State Authorities Budget Office recently determined that there is little correlation between private-sector job growth and industrial development agency projects.  One in 10 industrial development agencies that began projects in 2011 fell short on promised jobs five years later.

These deals have taken $34 billion off of state, county, local and school tax rolls in 2015, which leaves taxpayers to foot the rest of the state’s budget cost.

“The IDA is a tool that has perhaps outlived its usefulness,” said Michael Farrar, director of the Authorities Budget Office. “The bottom line is looking at the number of economic development entities, the number of new projects by IDAs and the change in private-sector growth. And, looking at those factors, its hard to see a relationship.”

Industrial development agencies, or IDAs, were authorized in 1969 to boost economic development by offering private companies financial incentives to build, expand or stay in the region. In addition to offering tax exemptions, IDAs can even seize property through eminent domain.

Those who are for IDA deals say they are crucial for retaining businesses in New York, revitalizing areas and creating jobs.

“Very few projects of any significance are done in New York, completed in New York, without a local partner and a state partner providing assistance in some way,” said Brian McMahon, executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council. “That partnership is essential in economic development in New York state and, typically, the local partner is an IDA.”

Read the excellent report from lohud journalists Jorge Fitz-Gibbon and Mark Lungariello below:

Millions in breaks for IDAs, but few jobs

3.) Today’s headlines: