-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
In the fall of 2006, Chicago held an auction to sell taxi medallions, the permits that let people own and operate cabs. The city raised millions of dollars. Officials declared the sale a success.
But there was something strange about the auction: None of the winning bidders lived in Chicago.
Almost all of them lived hundreds of miles away, in New York.
Over the next decade, New York taxi industry leaders — fleet owners, brokers and financiers — steadily seized control of Chicago’s medallion market and squeezed it for huge profits. Using tactics honed in New York, they made millions of dollars, but they ultimately helped to leave the industry in tatters and the lives of immigrant drivers on the edge of ruin.
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.
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Audio and summary
Chicago should ban city workers from traveling or doing any city business with New York.
Immigrant drivers just switched over to Uber & Lyft and probably make more money too.
Less of a hassle too, I’d imagine.