-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
In its five-year plan, the RTA states that the budget deficit will be too large to solve by raising fares or cutting services. That’s why the RTA’s plan suggests nearly a dozen other possible sources of funding, including a hike in the sale or gas tax.
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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Or here is a novel idea. CUT YOUR SPENDING YOU TWITS!
Yes, I’m back, after a while (I moved).
No one even uses this, it’s just another reason to tax people and give more to the unions and PoC who fall for it, don’t care, or just applaud all the scams.
After all the years on this site, it’s funny to see all the people who keep complaining … but haven’t moved. Just like in DC, it’s all rigged and the only end to it will be when the money runs out. That time is rapidly approaching. It gets uglier and uglier in every way until then, of course.
Good to have you back.
Watch a CTA or Metra construction crew some time if you ever want to see where the money goes. It is absolutely comical. They brag about the great “capital improvements” that are nothing but overstaffed, feather bedded union boondoggles. At suburban Metra stations you can often see work crews of ten or more guys, with two or three working and the rest standing around talking, looking at their cell phones, or staying warm in the truck. Silly little “capital improvements” like brick repair, lighting changes and platform painting take three or four times as long as a private sector employer… Read more »
A monument to union labor
Note to Ron and your prodigious legal team: this is satire. McDonald’s is indisputably the world leader in hamburger production and sales. Other burger operations marvel at their speed and consistency of service. McDonald’s even came up with a cooking method that relies on solar charged batteries to fry up their products, even though this cooking technology has proven completely ineffective and extremely costly in previous implementation attempts, some of which resulted in restaurant fires. Nevertheless, many millions of dollars will be spent pursuing the dream of zero carbon burger cooking, some of which will be spent on advertising and… Read more »
Instead of making CTA riders pay for the public service they are getting, Illinois Democrats will tax you to pay for it. Here is what they are considering to raise revenue: Potential revenue streams considered as fixes include an increase in the existing RTA sales tax levied on Cook County and neighboring counties, an increase in the state motor fuel tax, implementation of congestion pricing on highways into Chicago, and expanding the RTA sales tax to services that are now exempt. Other ideas include implantation of a vehicle miles traveled tax on the number of miles driven in a vehicle… Read more »
And…If they could tax all the hot air the politicians spew out of their mouths we would all be as wealthy as Elon Musk.