-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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How Pritzker/Lightfoot Lockdown Lunacy Trashed Illinois Restaurant Industry
With one word and only one word. Mandate!
The problem is take-out prices are now the equivalent to reasonably-priced dine-in restaurants. It’s become increasingly difficult for a family of four eat out for under $100.
It doesn’t help that restaurant staff is making $18.00 an hour either on top of increased food costs. The lack of recovery has to be a bit of what economists call ‘demand destruction’. Prices get too high to eat out and people eat out less. Prices fall.
Acquaintance’s used to say it’s only bad in certain areas, now they say they’d never consider going to the city. This is all on Lori!
Yet red states that didn’t forcefully destroy their small businesses by shutting them down during the fake pandemic have seen growth. Democrats own this destruction 100%. And frankly, the citizens of the blue states deserve all the pain they’re getting for being morons by voting and supporting all this.
Never forget the destruction is a feature of the left’s agenda. Not a bug.
They’re never happy, they destroy everything. It’s a dark side of human nature to destroy without building on their own.
Until people feel safe driving and walking in the City, restaurant traffic will stay tamped down. This is reasonable behavior and who would expect anything different?
Millions of suburbanites boycott Chicago.
My family used to frequent Near West Side (UV, West Loop, Wicker Park) restaurants for Saturday night dinner. I don’t think we’ve been back since the pandemic started. Why risk parking at Chicago/Western or Division/Damen so my kids can watch me get pistol-whipped then take an Uber home from the hospital? Maybe with longer daylight hours we’ll go back, but much less often than we used to. Just seems like a silly risk with more than adequate local suburban options.
We have learned in the past few years that we have a fearful populace. Not traveling downtown is just an extension of fearful mask wearing, but it’s actually much worse because there is no vaccine for Chicago crime on the horizon. And previous fears of the city were acceptable because they were primarily based on geography, but that test is no longer valid. There’s no longer any “fear of missing out” on not visiting the city, and continued positive suburban experiences of not dealing with all the hassles of a trip to the city will only reinforce the further decisions… Read more »
Met a friend at Lou Mitchell’s on Jackson for breakfast early Saturday morning.
$7.50 to park on the street for an hour and a half.
Saturday morning.
surrounded by 3/4 empty office towers. Chicago has made itself unlivable at the same time it decided to destroy it’s small businesses and CBD. Great job Democrats.