-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski joins Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson on Chicago’s Morning Answer. They discussed Lightfoot’s budget speech, pensions and the state of young people in the economy.
Wirepoints Pieces:
Summary and audio linked here.
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
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Audio and summary
There are more ‘Peter Pan Soy Boys’ in America than ever before – many from upper middle class with trust funds. In fairness though, many refuse to subject themselves to corporate Americas abuses the way their Dads did for a pension and are looking to be self-employed through the gig economy or small businesses. I see this as very healthy for America.
The gig jobs do not provide for health insurance meaning I assume that they will swell the medicaid rolls even more than they already are. Tax hikes on the way.
They have the ‘Obamacare’ option.
this is a great article on 1/3 working age men out of workforce.
Yahoo Finance: 7 ways men live without working in America.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-ways-men-live-without-working-in-america-092147068.html
Like most social issues, reasons for this are complicated, but one of the bigger reasons I believe is that there just no longer enough good paying jobs to support families. Much of the back office/labor/manufacturing work has been sent overseas. On one side of my family, my grandfather and great-grandfather worked in Chicago at a plant for a multinational corporatio that has since closed and sent work overseas. On my other side, my greatgrandfather was basically a small family farmer, and my grandfather worked at a factory that closed, moved to middle america, and employs only immigrants for a fraction… Read more »
My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. One in three men were out of work. Both of my grandfathers were employed, but not in the capacity they expected. One grandfather worked on the maintenance crew as his company cut his finance position. He later became President of one of the largest companies in Chicago. He looked on his maintenance days with immense pride, and for good reason. Having one in three men out of work was devastating to so many families, who by and large in the 30’s had an immense work ethic and sense of pride. My other grandfather,… Read more »
Good post.
i have a dream
The Great Depression was obviously a long and very painful period of duress,
A necessary and unavoidable one though, as a result of previous craziness.
During the next phase, get rid of the building Modern Monetary Money theory,
And stop extending and pretending.
Time to roll up the sleeves, build resilience and face deeply needed austerity,
Whatever ‘they’ say, notwithstanding.
Will require a leap of faith, in times of need,
But I have a dream that ‘we’ will succeed.