-- 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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BJ is trying to out damage SloJoe
By design. Embrace your future Chicagoans.
Fraudulent elections have consequences.
https://twitter.com/nycphotog/status/1699607841483465122?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
He’s still got a long way to go to beat Coleman Young.
Can you give a black man a break, it’s only been 100 days.
He has already shown he does not care about many things that make a city great. We haven’t seen him make any statement, come up with any policy or appoint anyone to any significant position that supports the business community or stimulates economic activity. Not one. I don’t follow his daily schedule, but I hear anecdotally that it has been years (if ever) that he visited the Art Institute, any of the museums, any of our major league sports venues. He has not said one thing about helping out in any way possible with the impending commercial property collapse downtown.… Read more »
Uh oh! So Pritzker may be smeared with the stink of Johnson and the CTU Marxists!? To late.
Brandon doesn’t know how to do things or how things are done. He only knows how to organize people to complain about things being done or not done.
Brandon needs competent people (and money) to execute on his plan (whatever it is). Except those people don’t know how to get things done either. They only know how to win elections. Their “change” is purely executive level, not operational.
It is amazing to see people continue to justify destruction as “the will of the people”. “That’s democracy”.
A quick review of the history of Venezuela over the last few decades, and noting the massive influx of Venezuelans fleeing the “will of the people” should put a stop to this line of thinking.
I’m not justifying anything when I point out the will of the people. I point it out so that people understand this isn’t some random thing that happens to them but rather the result of their decisions at the voting booth. If people want change then they will need to demand change. The majority of the people in this state don’t agree with you how this state should be run. Either change their minds or you too will be fleeing if you want change. It’s amazing to me the number of people that play the victim and act as if… Read more »
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. – H. L. Mencken
You are right, and the old saying “misery loves company” applies to such people. They have life choices to make things “better” as the choose to think about it, but for some sets of reasons they avoid making such choice, preferring to complain. “Then, get off your butt and do somthing about it” does not have a high priority in their minds apparently”
James: Yes, Get off ‘yer butt and do something!
Illinois General Assembly….: NOT SO FAST THERE, DEPLORABLE
(gerrymanders Robin Kelly’s district to include the very people would want to do something about Illinois corruption)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Illinois%27s_2nd_congressional_district_%28since_2023%29.svg
Just curious- is there a reason why you feel compelled to psychoanalyze every commenter?
Sure, we have to try convincing people that they are the captains of their life’s ship. Moaning otherwise when problems arise has never been an acceptable excuse to any captain’s superior. The message is that we all need to find a way around obstacles rather than whine about them or move where that’s more likely to be the case at least.
Let him psychoanalyze, leave him alone
Nobody is playing the victim. That is the province of the public union members who whine constantly about “society is at fault”.
Public employees living rent free inside your head. Public employees are organized and willing to support candidates that support their positions. You can call that “whining” but they are effective at their methods whether you agree with them or not. Hell, they just got one of their own elected to the mayors office. If that’s “whining” then I would suggest the republicans in this state take a page from their playbook. Public employee advocacy is clearly effective while your form of playing the victim serves absolutely no purpose other than feeding your love of self pity. You are complaining that… Read more »
Fact: Public sector union workers are leeches and parasites upon society.
Hitler had his mind set firmly against the Jews. You have found another set of people to despise. Do you really foresee enough eventual goodness worthy of the eventual costs possible with having that sort of group-specific attitude? Would your world be so much better without them? Who would be their replacements, and what sorts of rules should apply to their hiring, work, and remuneration? Come on, TP, please tell us how that all should work to your satisfaction.
Want some ideas for how to run the education system? OK, but can we first agree that Hitler has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion? The education system in the US was taken over by an “education establishment” about 50 years ago, with the rise to power of teacher unions and the credentialing rules to keep outsiders from interfering with their cozy system. The result has been abject failure. Instead of building on the success of all their marvelous policies, the education system is reduced to making excuses for their failure, and looking to expand that failure into every… Read more »
Your proposals may seem good on the surface, but if you dive into many you’ll discover none of them are necessarily the bucket list leading to perfection either. Every one has some hidden downsides you’ve considered. Besides, the reality many times is that nearly every parent thinks his child is an absolute darling, and any shortcomings necessarily are caused by other students or the teacher. If you find a truly cooperative parent it’s likely his/her children are seldom problematical.
James, since you reject my proposals, I invite you and/or your fellow teachers to come up with alternative ideas to fix the problems. Ideas that are not some variation of “we need better parents” or “we must fix society before kids can learn” or “just give teachers and schools more money”.
So far, we have seen no actual ideas from the education establishment, only complaints about how tough they have it.
All I was trying to say is that everyone who has ever been in school has his opinion about how schooling should work as compared to how it does work. Your “solutions” are food for thought, but schools are like government generally. The way change comes about moves at a snail’s pace with everybody and his brother arguing over what to do and how to do it for literally each thing you’ve mentioned. I have my ideas, but it would be like bashing my head against concrete to think I’d move literally anything in that status quo system. So, I’m… Read more »
It’s amazing the number of people who act as if voting themselves benefits at the expense of others is a proper subject for a vote. And who believe that those who disapprove of this system should persuade those who voted themselves benefits to please stop doing it. Otherwise, let the looting continue.
You mean voting for candidates that promise not to cut social security spending? Candidates that promise stimulus checks? How about candidates that promise to cut your taxes? Should all the people that would benefit from such a candidate be required to abstain in an election? It’s time to grow up. As long as we have taxes, voting will be about what benefits are offered, how much will it cost, and who will be forced to pay. It’s amazing that functioning adults don’t understand this basic premise. If you want less services and less spending, you will need to convince other… Read more »
It’s amazing to me that functioning adults don’t understand that following those who do nothing but fight for their place of primacy at the public trough leads ultimately to a Venezuelan-style meltdown. But keep yammering on about the will of the majority.
What’s your alternative PP? Let the minority decide? Perhaps we just name PP as our dictator. As usual you offer up your complaint in a typical childish fashion.
Our ability to keep this nation from turning into Venezuela will come down to the will of the voters. We are in charge of our destiny. A republic if we can keep it.
What’s your alternative PP?”
We start with the repeal of the 19th amendments….It’s what the people voted for!
Huh??? The people voted for repeal of the 19th amendment?
If the people voted for the 19th amendment, the people repeal it too.
Get to work on that debtsor. Should be fun convincing the ladies.
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” – Alexis DeTocqueville
Or even better, bribe the public with other people’s money.
M DeTocqueville saw the future quite clearly. We have arrived at exactly the situation he foresaw.
You brag of installing a CTU puppet as mayor, then call me a dictator wannabe? SMH, it must be difficult to keep finding justifications for your union’s push for total control.
I didn’t brag about installing anyone. Supporting a candidate and getting the votes doesn’t qualify as “installing” but rather part of the process of a healthy democratic election. I pointed out that union members were effective in organizing and convincing others to vote their way while you whine like a baby. I pointed out that if you want different results then you will need to convince other voters to see it your way instead of just whining like a baby. You don’t want to blame the voters and instead just blame the people they chose to lead them. I’m also… Read more »
You keep trying to deflect from the real issue, the one DeTocqueville identified. I have no problem with a majority selecting the leaders of government. I have a problem with the idea that leaders, having been elected, are then empowered to impose whatever they (and their voters) wish on everyone, because it’s the will of the people. Our Constitution is based on the idea that the rights of the minority may not be infringed upon by the majority. I’m sure you know that, yet you insist that only the will of the majority matters. Do I understand that all of… Read more »
He calls the IL system of government a ‘healthy’ democracy. Yet, the rest of the country sees a fraudulent system of cronyism and graft
https://blockclubchicago.org/2018/10/24/chicago-and-rigged-elections-the-history-is-even-crazier-than-youve-heard/
Chicago And Rigged Elections? The History Is Even Crazier Than You’ve HeardThese days, suspicious voting is incredibly rare — but that was not always the case.
Block Club insists “things are different this time” LOL
I support the rights of the minority as well. A prime example that I often discuss is around contractual rights. Typically those protections are outlined in our constitution. The elected majority is limited by those protections in the US and Illinois constitution. Currently the constitution also bans progressive income taxes and that has limited the current Illinois politicians. It’s probably why I value the constitution much more than the words of any politician from any party. However, voters electing candidates who they believe will provide them with the benefits they want is exactly the democracy component of our system of… Read more »
“However, voters electing candidates who they believe will provide them with the benefits they want is exactly the democracy component of our system of government.” Candidates do not provide the “benefits they want” to anyone. Only your neighbor’s wallet can do that. True democracy = I vote to ensure that I can get whatever benefits I want from my fellow citizens. My side won the election, so open up your wallet to make sure I get exactly what I voted for. If you don’t think that’s right, then try to get a bigger mob to stop me. No wonder our… Read more »
“I’m not justifying anything when I point out the will of the people.”
That’s funny and so 19th century. Public opinion and resultant casualities are a dependent variable, buddy.
PP, a fair amount of Venezuelans have fled all the way to Chicago.
I do not see how someone can claim that Brandon is going to destroy the City because, as Brandon said, he is giving the City what they want. It is not Brandon but rather the will of the people of Chicago.
Who could have guessed that a race clown communist cop hater and crime enabler would be a bad choice for mayor?
The goal is destruction. He ran on a campaign of destroying the city’s wealth in the of equity.