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Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is off to a running start. The hyper-progressive is fulfilling every expectation that he’ll drive even more people and businesses out of the Windy City.
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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I think you are proving the point of the entire article perfectly!
Visit: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/real-estate-investments
My gosh!!!! The guy hasn’t even moved in his furniture yet! Can we wait to bash IF / AFTER he screws up?? Even though I don’t necessarily agree with some of his policies, I welcome our new mayor and wish him the best. Perhaps I approach problems differently, or maybe I’m just plain ignorant, but has anybody tried talking to this guy yet or worked out a deal? The last few articles on here defy what I would call a common sense approach to making a good first impression. Here’s a productive suggestion: Let’s make a list of stuff we… Read more »
Dave, there are four essential reforms, IMO, that I just wrote about. Nothing will improve without them, and there’s zero chance of them happening, no matter how Brandon is approached.
Hi Mark, I think your position on this matter is immature and lacks prudence. Even though I somewhat agree with your Four Things article, I don’t particularly like the tone of it. There are sound precedents related to dispute resolution, dating back to antiquity. In general, one makes a good faith effort to establish communication and sends a demand letter or something similar before escalating a dispute. This is standard procedure in court proceedings, politics and war. The point is to formally communicate your position and create records for any potential adjudication in court or trial in the court of… Read more »
Dave, try some nice letters to JB and the others in Springfield. Let us know how that works out. We’ve gone to Springfield to testify and we’ve met with many of those folks. In that context we go out of our way to be respectful and polite. Rude, insulting dismissal is the usual response. If you think those in power are open to rational dispute resolution you are clueless about Springfield today.
Dave, I won’t give you a thumbs down because you’re not wrong, but you’re naive. You may be operating in good faith but Brandon Johnson has made it clear that he is not. The man is from the communist wing of the Democrat Party and they are ideologically driven. The end result is always destruction, mayhem, chaos and pain. We’ve seen it play out dozens of times in history throughout the world and it’s always the same. Always. There’s no good faith, there’s no political capital, there’s no bargaining. They must be destroyed politically before they destroy you. This is… Read more »
Nah, I don’t think that will fly here. Most respondents here are shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later” thinkers. I can almost see it now: “He’s not one of us: kill him!”
That silly claim illuminates you as one of those you attempt to criticize.
Good work, sport.
Sure, you revile me, and maybe I revile you. That’s how “politics” often works these days. The days of polite disagreement and trying to reach reasonable agreement have largely disappeared. Gimme dat warfare. Its the American way apparently.
He
s not even swore in yet and activists are calling for a BILLION DOLLARS IN wait for it now RAPARATIONS now who couldve seen that comingWe assume he will attempt to do what he says, which is bad for Chicago.
Your worst fears have been realized.
Chicago gets what it voted for and they are going to get it good and hard.
Illinois has one of the top 5 highest corporate income tax rates in the country. This clown thinks increasing it will attract businesses to Chicago? Since he has only worked on the grievance (victim) side of politics, he is blind to seeing that he needs to make Chicago competitive to other cities / states to bring business in. After all, who pays for his increased spending plans if businesses do not come here, and many here now choose to leave? (McDonalds?). Texas, Ohio, Nevada and Washington have corporate income tax rates of zero, and many others are lower than Illinois… Read more »
Socialists are always just about taking . Certainly not about making!
They’ve already fled Chicago to the suburbs, then next they leave IL altogether. It’s the Michigan model of collapse. Don’t believe the Realtor(tm) hype that says the real estate market in Chicago great! Yes, inventory is low, but that the symptom of the disease. Median listing times have jumped significantly while prices have fallen off their 2022 summer peaks while sales volume has dropped by than half. Inventory is low because few homes are selling, and those that do sell, take forever to sell. No wonder few want to list their homes in such an awful market! Meanwhile, over in… Read more »
I work with several contractors who at one time could rehab or build 4 or 5 homes in Chicago every year up until 4 years ago. Now they won’t touch anything in the city.
It is going to be a stampede out of Illinois. Even the mentally challenge of Illinois know paying more and getting less is a bad deal.
All the cops will buy luxury cars and homes in Punta Gorda.
Get that pension money before the Chitty goes bankrupt.
… leaving behind the clueless and self-aggrandizing voters who believe politicians. My question is “how long can the local, state and federal bailouts continue.” This fear is based on what I see happening with FDIC and Teamster fund bailouts and student loan forgiveness etc. all up and down the political ladder. It brings to mind “we had to burn the village in order to save it.” The economic corollary seems to be that we have to destroy the economy and the civilization in order to mollify those voters and to save our jobs through re-election. Self-destruction is accelerating.