-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
"Chicago typifies wealth inequity, with many households in northeast Cook County holding nearly $1 million dollars in wealth, while just a few miles away, a quarter of households have negative wealth of $1,500 or less...(A) typical household’s wealth in the richest area of Chicago and Cook County is 206 times higher than a typical household’s wealth in the poorest area."
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
10 Comments
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
4 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer – Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate and more
April 22, 2026
5 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
What about the elected leaders – what is their wealth compared to the “common man” in Illinois? I would also be interested in how much of that total income is from pensions that are tax free. Sickening for the rest of us picking up the bill.
Most of our elected leaders in Springfield are relatively poor. That’s why so many of them get caught accepting bribes for a few thousand dollars here or there. Some of course are very wealthy like that guy Harmon but he’s the exception. There’s a fair amount of turnover down there because the job sucks and you’re stuck in Springfield half the year. You basically just have to pass every Democrat bill and your bill only gets heard if you can grease the skids. Up until recently, most of those guys and gals down there were really dumb too. It wasn’t… Read more »
Lightfoot got car jacked in a mercedes. Doesn’t sound poor to me.
For most people, including Lightford, behind every fancy car is an expensive monthly car payment. Never confuse debt with wealth. She was driving around the ‘hood in her fancy leased vehicle saying, look at me, I made it, I’m in government, look at what I got. And she got carjacked for it too. Ten years ago everyone of us knew ‘investors’ with three, four, five rental properties, drove fancy cars, and lost every penny when the market crashed. The real wealth is guys like Harmon where he and his wife are both lawyers and his wife is a managing partner… Read more »
Sad how the politicians mimic reality in IL by living on borrowed funds. And thanks for the correction. Lightford was in the mercedes – not the other nut job Lightfoot who is chauffeured around Chicago.
Take any wealthy suburb with apartments and you’ll find the same phenomenon.
“Economic Opportunity” is not airlifted in bushel baskets of taxpayer cash. Hasn’t that been demonstrated by failure of decades-long “war against poverty” governmental programs? “Economic Opportunity” occurs with individual “boot-strapping” oneself from young age, doing well enough in school, obtaining vocational training if college is attainable, establishing strong “can do” work ethic, being law-abiding citizen who acts with courtesy and civility in interactions with public, etc. Seems “economic opportunity” programs are modeled after “spoiled rich kid” notion that we’re “owed” a high-paying job even if we’re not qualified for it; “owed” a nice house even if we can’t afford it;… Read more »
The progressive believes the exact opposite of your views. Economic opportunity is white privilege, and systemic racism is the cause of all economic disparities. The solution is equity. The communist believes that they are owed good employment, nice homes and swell lifestyles, at your expense, because you hoard all of the economic bounty. Complaining exposes you as an evil pagan conservative with unacceptable beliefs. Off to a camp for you, and your assets will be redistributed to the victims of your oppression. Except those in charge of the redistribution will keep some for themselves, until they are fabulously wealthy.
This is all good – but you failed to mention “surplus”, the engine that drives all economies since the beginning of Civilization. As many people noted here, and before, the communists and the anarchists are looking at YOUR surplus as something you “do not need”. But ONLY as long as its yours, not theirs. Then of course all of the sudden they begin to handle surplus properly, as they try their best to multiply it. But easy come, easy go. Chances are what they have not earned they do not deserve, and they are unable to keep. And that again… Read more »
The progressive communist believes that surplus are the result of white supremacist policies that systemically discriminate and steal from BIPOC. Thus, it is morally just to take it from you, the oppressor, and redistribute it to some oppressed intersectional group, most often the cronies of the ruling class. They tried this in Zimbabwe with land reforms without the basically understanding, learned over 10,000 years of agriculture, that fields of edible crops don’t grow themselves.
Laying the groundwork for wealth redistribution?
More than wealth redistribution. They want forced relocation.
It just means they’re talentless basketball players.
Middle class households have $2,000 in liquid savings. Who would have guessed?
And for those who don’t have $2,000, according to Urban Wire, the answer is communism!
This article is nonsense. Correlation does not mean causation. Instead of trying to dig into the why’s the two authors (who seem light on analytical skills) simply make declarations without any evidence or support.
Just like our politicians, they really don’t want change and really don’t want to understand the root causes. It is simple. Single parent households where there are no standards, expectations, and values.
Really embarrassing bit of crap journalism.
Funny, there was no mention of life choices or difference in behavior between the groups. Apparently it’s all caused by geography.
I know, right? Maybe geography is the answer to inequality. Maybe moving from a crappy area to a township with more job opportunities, more wealth, and more diversity could improve a family’s lot in life. But with everything there are tradeoffs. The suburbs are bland, boring, and really diverse. The middle class Cook County suburbs are nothing at all like the south and west sides where POC live now. It might be difficult as a black or hispanic residents who has purposefully lived in and enjoys living in a segregated neighborhood, with all the various cultural amenities, to move to… Read more »