-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
When state lawmakers endorsed a sweeping expansion of gambling, most attention focused on the license granted to Chicago. The same bill, however, could bring two gambling complexes to the south suburbs. One would be a combined racetrack and casino — it’s being called a “racino” — that lawmakers and village officials say could be slated for the 280-acre campus of the closed Tinley Park Mental Health Center. The south suburbs also would get a separate casino license, minus the racetrack. At least three sites are being pushed for that development, and more may emerge.
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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Exactly, the neighborhoods around the casinos in Elgin and Joliet are BOOMING. Oh wait, no they’re not. They’re complete dumps.