Mark joined Shaun Thompson to talk about the fact that the Chicago Red Line expansion will cost $1 billion per mile, why so many people and businesses are fleeing Chicago, the sad consequences of the city’s sanctuary city policies, the chance of Chicago’s downtown collapsing into a doom loop, the massive budget deficits facing the city, CPS and the RTA, and more.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Nation’s highest real estate taxes: Six Illinois cities are in nation’s top 20, including the top two
- Chicago’s Red Line Extension Cost Now Projected to Exceed $1 Billion Per Mile. Biden Trying to Lock it In
- Illinois lawmakers shouldn’t burden taxpayers with Tier 2 pension “fixes” until they know what they’re doing
- A bit of Chicago truth-telling: Actuaries warn of insolvency, businesses fear crime
- As Illinois politicians keep pushing progressive tax schemes, other states keep dumping them. Louisiana is the latest.
- Electric vehicle adoption rate slams into reverse in Illinois
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.
Will DOGE step in, and cancel this waste ?
You people are just mindless sheep waiting in line to be sheared.
It sure is fun spending other people’s money!
Sure, and every business or institution everywhere does it, too. That gives us all a reason for doing something to keep ourselves, our families and the economy humming.
Every business spends other people’s money, in the sense that their customers voluntarily exchange money for the products or services offered, which the business spends to pay its employees, buy raw materials, etc.
Surely you see the difference between paying Apple for an I phone and a tax payment to government, don’t you? Or do you really think they are the same thing?
They are not the same thing, but wasn’t it Oliver Wendell Holmes who said paying taxes is the price for living in a civilized society? Well, current American society is hardly civilized in the best sense, but essentially we all have to pay one way or another for every service and product that American life suggests we “need” to live comfortably. You want something; guess what—you have to pay for it. That ultimately allows the seller to exploit you at every turn.
“That ultimately allows the seller to exploit you at every turn.” That’s true for monopolies, and sometimes oligopolies. Otherwise, buyers can just choose another seller.
An honest and competent government could run natural monopolies efficiently. That’s not what’s happening in this case.
… but usually not billions of taxpayer dollars on a questionable project
6 Flags was a bargin!
And the Concord.