-- 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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When Old Joe went to school his mom and dad got up around 7 am. He ate breakfast at home (usually cereal, oatmeal, or toast) on his parents dime. His mom made sandwiches and he brown bagged it (also on his parents dime) as they couldn’t afford to pay for lunches for 7 kids and the Catholic school he attended didn’t serve breakfast or lunch food. All they had was a milk machine which dispensed a small carton of cold chocolate or white milk for a nickel! Perhaps we need to get back to this old fashioned system and get… Read more »
Oops, I forgot about trading lunch items with other kids. I couldn’t get anything for an egg salad sandwich!
Or a stick of celery!
So your solution for kids that aren’t provided food from their parents is to??? I agree that people have become too dependent on government for providing their kids food, but not sure I’ve heard a realistic solution to change this.
Well PPF, once upon a time people were expected to provide for their children or remain celibate until you could.
So you have no solution only complaining about how things used to be in “the good ole days”. So just an old man shaking his fist at kids on his lawn. Gotcha.
Well PPF, there’s nothing stopping you from donating your own money.
I’m against me paying taxes to raise other people’s kids and in the “good ole days” this was not considered abnormal.
Letting kids starve because their parents won’t feed them was always considered abnormal. All that money spent on your catholic education didn’t cover caring for the poor? Jesus equated neglecting the poor to neglecting him.
I agree that as much as possible should be done through charitable organizations but letting poor kids starve was never the appropriate action. Either we raise enough money through charitable organizations to help or if not people will vote for forced charity through taxation. That’s where we stand today.
The kids getting ‘free lunch’ through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) are far more likely to become obese. This isn’t my assessment, it’s the assessment of a Northwestern U researcher published in the Journal of Human Resources.
https://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/docs/publications/982412224551ec93458609.pdf
It appears that school lunches increase students’ weight and the
chance that they are classified obese or overweight.
Does the free lunch do this or is there a correlation to people in poverty and obesity in the US? Is it poor eating habits as they receive little education from their parents, who are probably also obese? The reality is that people in poverty have many different issues going on in their life. If your conclusion is true, then what is the alternative? Studies have also shows that kids that are hungry are unable to learn. I believe the school lunch program has exploded to include so many more meals and to more people than originally intended. Just haven’t… Read more »
Read the study, it explains that giving free lunch to school kids makes them fat. This study is from 2009. There is another study from 2011 that came to the same conclusion. Said there is a variety of factors making them fat, school lunches are too caloric, they eat other junk food outside of school, and the stressors of poverty that make them obese, even though most people throughout history were in poverty and did not end up fat. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him… Read more »
That’s because school lunches are nutritionally poor; most of the American diet is nutritionally poor … but it doesn’t need to be.
Chef Jamie Oliver attempted to improve school lunches in 2012 – and he’s campaigning for it again:
https://www.netmums.com › life › why-jamie-olivers-campaigning-for-better-school-meals-again
I watched a special with Jamie attempting to improve lunches. The problem is the kids can’t stand to eat “healthy” foods when they’ve been conditioned to eat sweet, salty processed foods. Michelle Obama tried this as well. Kids threw out the healthy food and it was a total waste.
As for the Jesus comment, I’m not a religious guy, but it’s in poor taste to try and use someone’s own religion against them to prove a point.
Pointing out hypocrisy is always fair game. I didn’t bring up religion, old Joe did. If your attitude is “F the poor”, while also bringing up your religious upbringing, you are one huge hypocrite. Don’t use religion when it’s convenient and then hide behind “don’t talk about my religion” in the same argument.
He didn’t bring his religion, he said he went to private catholic schools that didn’t offer free lunch. I have little sympathy for the poor, especially in this country. We live in a country of abundance, more abundance than any other time in history, and if you make bad decisions to make you poor, fat and commit crimes, that’s on you. And I have poor, obese family members who sit on their butts and watch $250.00 a month Comcast cable, buying food with WIC, rather than getting even part-time jobs. After two decades of sitting around eating potato chips and… Read more »
No. He said he attended catholic school. He could have stated private school. He brought up his religion and now it’s fair game. He has since quoted “God helps those who help themselves”. This was no accident. He is bringing up religion and had his hypocrisy thrown in his face.
Also, your comment about no sympathy for the poor doesn’t make any sense when it comes to a first grader. That’s who we are talking about when discussing free lunches within schools. What have they done to feel your scorn? We are not talking about lazy adults here.
Totally agree – that’s a low blow.
It’s only a low blow because it points out that Joe really hates the poor when his religion is about helping the poor. I think it’s a low blow to let a 5 year old go without food because their parents. That’s just me.
PPF, God “helps” those who help themselves — not God helps them who help themselves to other people’s money.
So your plan Joe, is that a 5 year old should learn to help himself or let him go without food? Also, they aren’t helping themselves to other peoples money. Voters have decided that these people should get help.
Many people don’t think the government should be involved with SS benefits. Yet there you are suckling at the entitlement teat. The generosity of the voters allow you to continue feeding.
SSA benefits are based on a taxpayer’s contributions – it is not an unearned entitlement.
The money you paid was already spent on other retirees years ago. Benefits are calculated based on your earnings but you have absolutely zero contractual rights to those SS benefits. You have absolutely no rights to them without the kindness of your fellow taxpayers not electing a congress that yanks them away. Sure you paid taxes to support SS but that is not your money any more than a welfare recipients benefits. Also, if it was a true benefit that was paid for by your earnings then payouts would be based on a linear fashion where if you make double… Read more »
That’s one solution. The other is that voters get together and demand that these items are paid for by the government. That’s what they decided to do. What you and I want as individuals doesn’t matter. Our tax dollars will continue to go to these programs regardless of how you think the world should operate.
There is no solution. Big government is here to help. And now a substantial portion of democrat voters rely the government to feed their children for free. It’s a dangerous precedent. Many countries around the world provide free or subsidized food or energy, and when prices increase even a little bit to reflect inflation or taxes, they riot in the street. It’s nearly impossible to cut the program. Austerity measures in the future might make some cuts. Not sure it’s necessary for schools to provide free breakfast and lunch during the summer. I know my relatives would drive to the… Read more »
Joe
with all due respect to you sir, this is a totally different world. I know people who cannot make an egg salad sandwich. The only thing they can do is hold out their hand to Uncle Sam. Bu bu but muh pension!
Aaron, I’ll grant you that it’s a totally different world and that’s the problem.
Schools have devolved into woke indoctrination day care centers/government jobs program
The schools near me even fed the kids when school was closed because of covid and still feed them during the summer months too.
Why would teachers require “improvement plans?” 100% rank exceptional or functioning at a high level.
Or, are teacher evaluations bogus too?