-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Federal COVID-19 relief money is set to run out in 2025, and that has Chicago-area agencies staring down a $730 million budget hole. Failing to address the situation could have economic and social consequences for a city that’s working to orchestrate a post-pandemic comeback, planners and experts said. A switch to driving by one-quarter of the people who used to consistently ride public transit could cost the region about $1 billion annually in lost productivity.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Summary and audio linked here.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
Audio and summary
I think there are so many budget cliffs in IL due to fiscal mismanagement of government decision-makers that includes greed, corruption, and low levels of knowledge of economics and finance. In a bureaucracy, it doesn’t matter much (except to the taxpayer) whether the decision-makers are qualified to do their jobs since bureaucracies don’t operate within a profit/loss system like companies in the private sector. To bail out such mismanaged states, municipalities, etc, either the feds throw more money at them or taxes and fees increase, or both. When the fed gravy train slows down or stops, the taxes and fees… Read more »
“Transit needs to be responsive to the needs of people…,” Erin Aleman said. Note there is nothing in the article about trains and buses being filled to overcapacity. Running empty trains benefits the employees of the RTA and its prize operations, CTA, Pace and Metra. The needs of the people have moved on from needing transit on this scale. Not even using the cult of Climate can save them, as that cult seems to have at last jumped the shark. They see the cliff coming and change nothing. The empty trains and buses. The expensive, pointless virtue signaling. The “Haya… Read more »