Following below are the two most recent critiques directed to us at Wirepoints by Greg Hinz at Crain’s Chicago Business. We reproduce them in full with no further comment, for now, except to highlight the portions pertaining to Wirepoints, and to ask readers to consider in light of what we’ve actually written.
Hinz has long been among the most prominent of Illinois’ reporters and commentators on Illinois government given his position as such at Crain’s Chicago Business.
With unity gone, a bit of compromise is needed – Crain’s Chicago Business May 15
“It’s like herding cats” is one of the more delightful phrases in the English language. It neatly captures in a nice visual way the near-impossible task leaders sometimes face in trying to get everyone to agree on a common solution to a common problem.
Well, Chicago and Illinois, we’re now in the herding cats phase of the still serious, still raging COVID-19 pandemic, which as of this writing has infected nearly 80,000 statewide and killed 3,928.
Gone is the unity of a month ago, lost in a swarm of lawsuits, demonstrations, demands and stubbornness. Our leaders and a good share of the citizenry are headed in different directions, and the farther apart they are—pushed farther by some very mean-spirited partisanship—the longer it will take to truly get on the other side of this.
Dabrowski is especially concerned about the economy and correctly points out that it’s lower-income people and not well-heeled office workers who are being hammered the hardest by stay-at-home orders. He’s also of the persuasion that the health impact of this virus really is overwhelmingly limited to elderly and already-frail people, and like many pushing that argument, he overstates his case.
For instance, in a recent post, Wirepoints “reveals” that 92 percent of Cook County COVID fatalities involve people with pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. What the piece didn’t mention is that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, one-third of Americans over age 40 suffer from hypertension. In a subsequent exchange with me, Dabrowski noted that just 5 percent of Illinois COVID deaths are among those under age 50. But fully 35 percent of the state’s population is age 50 or older.
The point is that quarantining such people—or getting them to stay in themselves—involves millions of people in Illinois, not just some people in nursing homes. And even if it didn’t, what kind of civilized society tells a few unfortunates they have to suck it up and risk death so others can go back to working, fine dining and playing?
If the political right trusts government too little, there’s a risk that those who run government trust it too much. Stay-at-home orders are only going to be followed for so long, and everyone knows it. That’s doubly true in the short Chicago summer. At a certain point, our officials have to set a reasonable and achievable goal and then give us the morale incentives to keep at it, trusting that we’ll do what’s good for us and those around us.
Doing so requires, dare I say, a bit of compromise in an imperfect world. The risk of allowing people to dine outside in small, separated numbers is pretty low—not zero, but low. Does every swimming pool in the state need to be totally shut all summer despite chlorination? Shutting every inch of lakefront parks is counterproductive if all it does is to push heavy-breathing joggers to nearby sidewalks.
Throwing grandma under the COVID-19 bus – Crain’s Chicago April 30Who doesn’t? I miss the gym, dinner at a nice restaurant, going out with friends and more, and I’m sure you have your own list. But I’m not willing to throw hundreds of thousands of fellow Chicagoans and millions nationally under the bus to get there
Which leads to an email I got last night that’s all too typical of the dump-grandma attitude that’s begun to overcome our sense of decency. It came from Wirepoints, a conservative research group here that can make sense—the group is correct that Illinois’ public pension system is too rich, as I’ve often written—but on this occasion is drowning in its own ideology.
For starters, there’s lots we still don’t know about this disease. Such as, does catching it once provide immunity, and if so, for how long? Or how about that wave of strokes that’s now being reported among much younger COVID patients, many in their 20s?
We know that COVID can run rampant on a U.S. aircraft carrier filled with strapping young military folks kept in close quarters. More than 900 were infected, one person died and most of the 900 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt still have not been cleared to return to duty.
We also know that hundreds of medical personnel have died, that people are terrified to go to work. They’re generally a lot younger than the 70-year-olds Wirepoints points to. And we know that the disease is still killing as many Americans every day as died at Pearl Harbor.
Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski, in an email back, said he’s worried about “catastrophic harm” to the American economy that can cause suicides and other poverty-related deaths. That’s a reasonable concern. Every reasonable effort needs to be made to get the economy up and running as soon as possible— including adequately funding state and local governments that provide critical public services, and providing unemployment aid to everyone who needs it, and financial help to small businesses. We have the money.
But what’s “reasonable”? Is it reasonable to “quarantine” everyone over a certain age with restrictions that are a lot tighter than what Pritzker has imposed?
Is it “reasonable” to expect the doctors and nurses and others who would have to tend to them to risk their lives because the larger society needs to get about its business?
Is it reasonable, to pick another example out of the headlines, to insist that slaughtering houses be opened—America needs its burgers and pork chops!—without guaranteeing that hundreds more workers won’t be infected because of lack of masks, gowns, widened working space and the like?
In his email, Dabrowski said that reopening the country will allow us to focus resources on helping all of those quarantined folks. Maybe. But it’s equally possible the disease will start spreading faster everywhere. And it’s certainly likely that, if we let grandma suffer in quarantine so we can get back to making lots of money, she’ll soon pass on and certainly be out of memory.
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.
https://pensions.bettergov.org/
Ted and Mark, I think that I’m seeing an apparent large increase in “down-votes” to comments that question the obscenely rich Illinois State Worker Pensions or to any questioning of a Federal bailout of Illinois self-inflicted financial mess. Have AFSCME, SEIU, IFT and CTU formed their own “50 Cent Army” to troll the opposition? After all, these leeches upon Illinois taxpayers are sitting at home collecting a paycheck with nothing else to do. It seems reasonable that their Union masters would direct them to use this free time to smear any opposition. What can you see from your website administrative… Read more »
Hope they keep up the good work.
I’ve seen a lot of comments pointing out the wrong thinking of other commentators on this site. I’ve never seen any point out anything that Mark or Ted are wrong about. I’ll take the down votes from the Capitalfax warriors, but can the capitalfax warriors argue against Mark or Ted. I think not.
Like the goose on sentry! Good stuff
“Of course, no right is unlimited, ergo the classic example that you can’t claim a free-speech right to scream “fire” in a crowded but otherwise safe theater.”
It might do Hinz some good to read this article on clarification. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/264449/
Great writing. I’m going to start reading Hinz more often.
You forgot the /s at the end of your comment. : )
He paints it as people are all out for themselves and don’t care about others. Like most fake news, you first have to set up a false basis, then just elaborate the lie. What people resent and what he neglected to address, is that Americans resent any threat to the blessing of Liberty coming in the form of edicts from a governor. They resent hypocrisy of why Home Depot, wal mart and all the huge stores get to stay open unscathed, but small stores told to go bankrupt, when small stores can protect customers much better. They resent the one… Read more »
Once again, lots of alarming headlines without context. Please provide numerators and denominators. To say x people got the virus w/o providing the total possible is just irresponsible and is designed to promote the writer’s bias. Next, Hinz does what most do which is to leap to a conclusion not proposed by those who advocate more opening. What if significant resources were devoted to examining what could be reopened in the safest counties and regions rather than each side putting their stake in the ground? 1% of the counties nationally have nearly 50% of the deaths. Finally, look past the… Read more »
First off – the fact that Hinz and Crain’s have taken such an interest in Wirepoints tells me something. As a mouthpiece for the machine, maybe they are scared of what Wirepoints is doing and the traction they are getting from their excellent Covid coverage. Second – “drowning in its own ideology.” Really? This coming from an ideologue like Hinz, who is supposed to cover Chicago from a business perspective, but can hardly spit out a paragraph that isn’t filled with poorly reasoned, thinly-veiled liberal dogma. I have never seen any kind of intentional partisanship from Wirepoints, except that their… Read more »
Greg Hinz is not a neutral observer. He is an active liberal with a history in the LBGTQ movement.
725 positive cases of 20k in Chicago Police/Fire doesn’t strike me as a shocking number? I would imagine many more would have had. Maybe that’s his way of calling for all the police and fire to stay home as well. That way we’ll really beat this thing!
I stopped reading when he wrote “We have the money.” This country, state, county, and city live on credit. We don’t actually HAVE the money!!!! If he actually believes “we have the money”, then nothing else he states is comprehensible.
He is just trying to suck up to his leftist democratic socialist bosses in the media and carry water for the lgbtq types. He is a total Lori sycophant and is completely irrelevant.
If Illinois has money, then why is Don Harmon begging for the US to bail out Illinois? ☹️
Greg Hinz is neither a commentator nor influential. He is a frustrated LGBTQ warrior who continues to try to do the bidding of the left in order to gain acceptance which he so desperately wants. But for individuals in the know in Chicago and state politics , he is totally inconsequential and is like the kid who buys candy for everyone to stop from being beat up. He is totally irrelevant and refuses to address Loris, another LGBTQ warrior, corruption. He also tried to suck up to Rahm but he again wasn’t respected. He is a laugh and anything he… Read more »
Argh, he be a pie-rat….
“..but convincing people to voluntarily follow guidelines that in many, many cases kneecap their livelihoods and run against sheer human nature.” How about if we “kneecap” your livelihood, Mr. Hinz and that of the Pritzkers as well to make up for their losses? All in favor of making a constitutional amendment to this effect, say: Aye!!! Aye: Motion passed See how easy that was? How many of Pritzker’s loyal followers do you think would turn down an opportunity to get into his wallet? Why not give it to them? After all they deserve it; just ask JB… P.S. Hinz was… Read more »
Who reads Crain’s Chicago Business anyways? I don’t. CCB has a paywall, so I can’t read it. Earrings aren’t professional attire for men. ☹️
It used to be a more respected publication, but like a lot of news institutions it’s now a hollowed out shell of what it used to be slinging inferior, cheap content for a quick buck.
HInz could very well find himself knee-capped, as advertisers are MIA at so many publications and sites. The Economist just laid off a slew of staff.
People who sling ad hominem are a dime a dozen. Someone who can write real color commentary, such as John Kass, are a diamond in the rough.
“There’s an expression for that: survival of the fittest. Or, a little more crudely, dog eat dog. Whatever you call it, it certainly isn’t America, a nation that at its best should take care of everyone. ”
Who the hell is this freak to tell me what America is.
Whoa, wait a minute… Greg Hinz has only his right ear pierced? And that’s the look he puts in his professional photos? Is this for real? Seriously, who in their right mind would do that? It reminds me of that movie No Country for Old Men, where the antagonist has that crazy bowl cut hair; the actor Javier Bardem said he gave that character that look because it was so unusual and crazy looking, that no sane person would walk around in the public looking like that, so you would instantly know something is wrong with this person. That’s like… Read more »
I don’t know Greg Hinz in any personal sense, but it’s sometimes wise not to give a quick and nasty judgement based upon a person’s sense of style or other visual cues. That often applies to people of a more creative, independent mindset—those unwilling to be conformist In their thinking. Think “quirky genius mathematics professor,” for example. Some such people can be invaluable because they see things differently. Don’t be so quick to judge without really knowing the person. I realize this is likely entering deaf ears, though.
Well by his articles, we see that MR. Hinz. Is definitely not a quirky genius
Even so, it’s still good advice not to be so quick to judge someone based on first impressions.
That sounds great ?, but it’s not the real world. ☹️ I’m ugly and speak from experience. ☹️
I know his work, he is a total zero.
Ever go to a town hall meeting regarding education funding? Someone will question the school district’s budget increase or the necessity/high cost of one of the projects in a bond referendum, only to have someone in the audience yell, “WHY DO YOU HATE CHILDREN?!” This is what this pandemic has devolved into. No one’s allowed to question the data or offer alternatives because the other side has taken a condescending, holier-than-thou stance that forbids sensible discussion and shouts down dissenters. And since the discussion is binary, no sensible alternative exists because anything less than perfection is a non-starter for the… Read more »
For Greg Hinz to dismiss the Illinois public pension policy as “too rich” is like saying Heinrich Himmlers anti-semitisim was “maybe a wee bit to spirited”.
Hinz is clearly too close to his subject and no longer has enough intellectual distance to provide competent journalism. Time for his editors to switch him to the sports beat.
Time for Hinz to be fired for being a sycophant to his fellow LGBTQ warrior Lori. Why won’t Lori hire him? He’s irrelevant.
I just love the “take care of grandma” rhetoric passed around straw man style when the liberals are touting their various causes. That same type of blarney was used in order to pass a mass transit tax in my county. Funny thing though grandma’s don’t use the system and all one sees is a lot of empty busses running around accomplishing the usual money spending.
Take care of grandma…yea right.
I think I need to take a shower after this! I haven’t been reading Crain’s but I have been reading Wirepoints. This is so dishonest. How can they say this! Sue them!
What a joke of a journalist. There are a number of errors in his arguments, but, frankly, a 12 year old could see them and arguing with a guy who writes behind a paywall of confirmation bias is unnecessary – in fact, I stopped reading the Trib as they eliminated their comments section… which allows Hinz peers, Rexy and Chapster to spew nonsense without rebuke…
Crain’s no longer allows comments, Wirepoints allows it. Nuff said.
This guy is and always has been a leftist hack despite working for what was once a respectable business publication. Crain’s lost its way several years ago.
Why do you hate grandma so much? ;p Peddling straw man arguments is a typical left-wing approach to journalism. It’s dishonest and misrepresentative, but let’s face it – his audience isn’t reading him for intellectual engagement. Rather they just want fallacious emotional arguments so they can despise people who criticize their revered leaders. As an example of how dishonest his presentation is, a Swedish approach with a heavy focus on protecting nursing homes while providing incentives and resources to other people at risk is not at all an unreasonable policy strategy. After all, once we leave lockdowns, isn’t that what… Read more »
“We have the money.”
No, this is part of why the regular media is going bankrupt.
It’s all trashy, opinionated fake news, and no one wants to pay for it.
This one line showed me this guy has no business commenting on much of anything , especially Chicago business. My God what rock has this goof been hiding under. We have a printing press. Thats it. He must be pals with the Pritzker fan club at that Kapitolfax circle jerk.
He’s a misfit if the highest order trying to gain acceptance he’s a total loser.