-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The latest in bipartisan baloney on Illinois pension buyouts.
In 2018, the average amount spent on public pensions by 74 suburbs was equal to one-third of what those towns collected in property taxes.
In a few suburbs, the amount spent on pension debt was almost as much as the total amount property owners paid in taxes that year.
Two years after President Trump signed the tax law, its effects are rippling through local economies and housing markets, pushing some people to move from high-tax states where they have long lived. Parts of Florida, for example, are getting an influx of buyers from states such as New York, New Jersey and Illinois.
Rick Bechtel, head of U.S. residential lending at TD Bank, lives in the Chicago area and said he recently went to a party where it felt like everyone was planning their moves to Florida. “It’s unbelievable to me the number of conversations that I’m
Comment: Outrageous and terrifying, yet not a word about it in the local press.
Boomers today are actually less urban than previous generations of older people.
In 2018, 17.8% of people ages 54-72 lived in urban neighborhoods, defined based on neighborhood density. That’s down from 18.2% for that age group in 2010, 19.9% in 2000, and 21.6% in 1990. The downward trend is similar whether looking at all urban neighborhoods or just the highest-density ones
Comment: This is the only way to destroy the cancel culture prevalent on campuses across America — cut off the money.
In July 2017, with Harvey more than $20 million in arrears on its water bills to Chicago and continuing to improperly divert water funds in violation of a consent decree, a Cook County Circuit Court judge took the extraordinary measure of revoking the city’s control of its water operations and appointing an independent receiver to oversee them.
Now 2 1/2 years into the receivership, with Harvey under new leadership, Mayor Christopher Clark is aiming
The International Union of Operating Engineers, which has many friends on both sides of the political aisle in Illinois, is pushing to have the General Assembly approve a proposed constitutional amendment effectively banning right-to-work laws—which guarantee that no employee can be compelled to join or pay dues to a union—anywhere in the state.
“We continue to anticipate plenty of action on the political corruption front coming out of 219 S. Dearborn in the coming days, weeks or months. The difference is that we’ve lowered our expectations about the timing. You know the old saw about a watched pot never boiling.”
Why is this all taking longer than expected? Maybe because there are so many cases that federal authorities don’t have the resources to reel in everything at once? Or maybe it’s because suspects started cooperating as charges were about to be filed, giving prosecutors more time to prepare and new information to
“The Civic Federation agrees with Joe Cahill’s recent critique of the shortcomings of the draft preliminary report of the State of Illinois Property Tax Relief Task Force. Though it only reflects the initial work of more than 80 members of the General Assembly, much more is needed if Illinois is to begin addressing its property tax crisis.”
A former Chicago cop lets it rip.
By Truth in Accounting’s Bill Bergman
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