-- 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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Hmm, no mention on what caused the food desert to develop the first place.
A couple of years or so a new grocery store was opened at the foot of the New Stan Musial bridge in St. Louis. The neighborhood qualifies as a food desert and it was a very nice store. It lasted about a year before it shut down. Seems like the deserts are a desire of the people that live in the area. Right or wrong… that is how it unfolded.
The reason there are food deserts is because stores in certain ethnic areas cannot take the losses from theft, shoplifting, robberies burglaries, property damage at the stores. Employee safety is another factor, workers assaulted, robbed, vehicles stolen or broken into causes workers to quit therefore creating staff shortages. Until those ethnic communities figure out that the biggest problem is them and they stop destroying everything around them the lack of services will continue.
Beyond these issues, they aren’t using their WIC to buy fresh healthy food. They buy mostly easy to cook and other processed foods. There’s a mega-grocery store near me that sells cheap meats and vegetables but marks up the processed boxed foods pretty significantly. I told my close relative feeding a family of four living on food stamps to head over there to get some good, cheap food. I have the flyer on my screen now: $.59 a lbs drumsticks, 5 bagels for $1.09, 5lb frozen vegetable medley $4.99, 50 oz Olive Oil for $4.99, $1.69 pork shoulder… Next time… Read more »
Watch as tons of grocery stores close in low income areas as the covid SNAP $ run out. Not to mention all the new crazy work rules & taxes stores have to deal with in Illinois.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/food-stamps-are-about-to-spoil-grocery-stores-outlook-2d8851d0?mod=markets_major_pos1