-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Why is Illinois’ financial grade an F? Are the bond agencies taking too rosy a view of our finances? How does Illinois have $200 billion in debt with a balanced budget requirement in the Constitution? Sheila Weinberg, Founder & CEO of Truth in Accounting, offers the facts.
“Rauner has been battered, but he’s not broken. He has to make his case, not with kitsch but with information and passion so taxpayers can see what is at stake.”
Illinois had a significantly higher percentage than its neighbors, who were all less than half of Illinois.
“Sweet,” the guys who sell renewable energy hardware must be saying.
The Justice Department took its first steps on Friday to strip Chicago and Cook County of some crime fighting grants as part of a drive to deny federal money to so-called “sanctuary cities” shielding illegal immigrants.
State Representative Will Guzzardi claims his bill “would generate billions of dollars in new revenue and ease the budget crisis.” Comment: Meanwhile, a new Harvard Business School study found an increase in minimum wage is causing an increasing number of restaurants to go out of business even before it is fully phased in.
The Illinois State Board of Education released data last year that showed almost one in four CPS teachers missed 10 or more days of school a year—most of those teachers serving low-income areas of the city. Comment: How dare CPS for questioning time spent on their political work.
Comment: Solid advice from Terry Savage.
The thief is in the hospital, where his butt is listed as “stable.” Comment: Fortunately, the shooter is unidentified, or he’d probably get charged and sued.
“The [court-approved] plan calls for San Bernardino to leave bankruptcy with increased revenues and an improved balance sheet, but the city will retain significant unfunded and rapidly rising pension obligations,” the report warns. Comment: A reminder that defined benefit public pensions are vile infections that don’t heal. The costs are guesswork and the guesses are usually wrong.
Illinois IT officials talk a lot about their plans for cutting-edge technologies like the ever-expanding Internet of Things, and now they’re taking action to make sure the talent pool is there for implementation.
“We can’t think of a worse way to spend a too-small pool of tax money than to split it into 50 equal parts and let 50 people decide how to use it. That’s what Chicago does every year with $66 million in aldermanic “menu” dollars, allotting each of the city’s aldermen $1.32 million for residential infrastructure needs in their wards.”
The finding suggests to some education reformers that the funds now going to top-heavy school districts would be better directed into the classroom, especially if the administration of the districts could be streamlined through consolidation or reorganization.
Based on the board’s report for 2015, some 64.1 percent of appeals by property owners in the city of Chicago resulted in a tax reductions, saving property owners $125 million.
Under pressure to reduce gun violence, the Chicago Police Department has increasingly used the parole-violation law as a tool to get convicted felons off the street – though in many cases they’ve been accused of nothing other than being around neighbors or long-time acquaintances, the Chicago Sun-Times found.
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