-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Illinois dodged a rating bullet Wednesday when S&P Global Ratings affirmed its BBB-minus rating and removed it from CreditWatch. Action by two other rating agencies still looms.
In a 2011 deposition stemming from one suit, Coli was asked under oath why so many of his relatives were allowed to control the union’s lucrative pension funds. “For the record, go f— yourself,” Coli answered, according to a transcript in court records.
Comment: Yes, Illinois is. But the Sun-Times editors still don’t understand how bad it is, how long this has persisted and how unfixable it is.
A Chicago labor leader who provided early and pivotal support to Rahm Emanuel in the 2011 mayoral campaign has been indicted for an attempted extortion scheme.
Now that Illinois has a budget, people are taking a closer look at some of the hidden costs associated with this deal.
Memo to Keith, the new guy: Time to end the biased, anti-business political reporting.
Comment: And linked here is the announcement from the city about its “balanced budget” for that year!
“The point of this balanced budget was to end the chaos and move the state toward the stability it desperately needs,” said Cullerton spokesman John Patterson.
Comment: I’d write now about that “balanced budget” except more surprises are popping up so fast about the crap that was hidden in it.
In your face, New Jersey.
“If you are protected from dark things then you have no protection of, knowledge of, or understanding of dark things when they show up.”
Comment: Flattered by this, but Truth in Accounting has been saying the same thing for years. Nobody listens.
A roundup through the lens of quant queen Mary Pat Campbell.
Comment: The latest installment on things in the new budget nobody read. Yes, a gas tax increase of 5 cents a gallon. This one amounts to a whopping $95 million dollars.
Comment: Giving equal time to the progs, here. “I’m cheering because government raised my taxes,” he says.
The average driver spends about 56 hours per year in downtown Chicago looking for parking, and pays more for a metered spot than in other major cities in the country, according to a new study.
Comment: From the folks who suck up to Springfield government employees who comprise most of their readership.
Comment: Good. Keep going.
The hit to Wisconsin comes because of higher income tax credits that people who live in Wisconsin and work in Illinois will be able to file, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said. Wisconsin will also have to make higher payments to Illinois under an income tax reciprocity deal, the Fiscal Bureau said.
Comment: The Feds will take a hit, too, because Illinois income taxes are deductible from federal income tax calculation.
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