-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
A retailer with 5,000 stores across the nation has to be flexible and go where the business is. But there is a revealing pattern. In the suburbs of Chicago, three underperforming stores will close almost simultaneously. The company declined to give specifics to local media, but this is a reminder of the Chicago area's decadelong decline. Its population and tax base have been shrinking for nine straight years. Crime has soared, too, in part because the area is close to adopting universal no-cash bail and making it impossible for police to enforce the law against thieves. Businesses don't like that.
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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
The states minimum wage is also a factor. I know of a fortune 100 retailer that will not extend any of their leases, they will only exercise lease options as they come due because of the minimum wage law. High taxes, expensive workmans comp premiums, theft, high minimum wages all cut into the bottom line. Politicians can kick and scream all they want when retailers close their doors but if they’re not making money it’s going to continue.
I could understand Homewood and Lincolnwood closing, but Plainfield was a surprise to me, wow.
Just a sign of what is going to happen. Many other businesses are going to close.
PPF is getting his way, destruction of the free enterprise system in Illinois.
Walmart can see that Illinois is the place not to be
Walmart won’t say why it closed the Homewood store, but theft loss appeared to have been a real factor.