This week we thought we’d share an email from a new donor. He thanked us for our work on schools, but we cover many topics and all our efforts depend entirely on your support. Wirepoints is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), so your contributions are tax-deductible.
Good Afternoon Mr. Dabrowski,
By way of reintroduction, I was one of the members of the audience at your breakout session at this month’s Freedom Summit. I enjoyed (perhaps not the right word) your presentation, and spoke with you for a few minutes after the session.
My brother alerted me to the Wall Street Journal editorial that used Wirepoints’ education report as its source. We were saddened, but not surprised, by the statistics, as we are both products of the Decatur Public School system.
Our father was a high-school educated WW II Veteran who worked on the receiving dock at the local Caterpillar Tractor Company for most of his life. Our mother was a farmer’s daughter who got her teaching degree. For most of our childhood, she was a NEA member and public school teacher in Decatur. She knew the local educational environment very well. She sent my brother and me to the private Catholic school through sixth grade because the schools were solid and because they taught values as well as the three R’s.
But she moved us both into the public school system from 7th grade onward. At that time (1970s) the public school system was the superior one academically. Both my brother and I were fortunate enough to interact with capable, motivated, and occasionally inspirational teachers.
My brother and I both attended Harvard as undergraduates. My brother went on to earn degrees from Harvard Law and Oxford. I received my medical degree from the University of Chicago, and am now on the medical school faculty at Northwestern. I am not trying to boast; my point is that when we attended the Decatur Public Schools, we thought the system gave us a chance to succeed. I don’t believe the same is true now.
In the past few years I have supported a few private, faith-informed schools in Illinois, including the St. Louis Catholic High School (Nokomis, IL, where my dad was a student and my mother was a teacher), Cornerstone Academy (Chicago), and Altus Academy (Chicago). Those people are doing great things, and doing it on a shoestring budget. If only the money followed the students!
In ending, I want to thank you for the work you and your organization are doing. To help in that effort, I put a check into the mail today. Please keep it up.
We’re grateful to partner with many great Illinoisans in taking on this state’s enormous challenges.
Donate by check: Wirepoints Corp., 1241 Central Ave, Unit 721, Wilmette, IL 60091-2571.
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.
Thank you team Wirepoints for all you do. This is my go to source of information on what is happening in our failed state. Donation sent to keep the presses running.
Tomorrow only, Pensions Paid First is matching all contributions up to $500 under his “Wirepoints Paid Friday” program.
So generous!
Act now and get a free autographed selfie from sunny Florida.
Yeah, PPF. How about it? “A little something for the trouble,” as Bill Murray put it in Caddyshack?
When the wife and I are being intimate, I prefer “It’s in the hole”. Usually gets a laugh from her.
Cinderella story. Out of nowhere.
Illinois is in disequilibrium, but that is not adversely affecting any organism who holds power to change the system. A State in America is a network. Networks may be defined as: an interconnected or interrelated chain, group, or system. A system may be defined as: a group of interacting bodies under the influence of related forces…an assemblage of substances that is in or tends to equilibrium…a group of body organs that together perform one or more vital functions. Definition as a System or Network requires a critical mass of users to be effective; users rely on a set of non-ambiguous… Read more »
Housing prices in Illinois are similar to Tennessee. Tennessee is one of the reddest states. Tennessee has no state income tax. Tennessee is warmer. Tennessee property tax is a fraction of Illinois. Problem solved.
It also doesn’t have an estate tax.
I did not know that. Thanks.
Tennessee is more expensive than IL. According to Redfin, the median sale price is $371k while in IL the median is only $253,500, and Cook County is only $297,000. If you want to get even more apples to apples, the upper middle class county of Williamson, TN, only about 1/3 of the population of DuPage but roughly the same median income ($116k in Williamson vs. $100k in DuPage), the median home sale price in Williamson County is $800k vs. $333,000 in DuPage. Sure, you’ll save on RE and income taxes, but the savings will take years realize. Your best bet… Read more »
Anything other than an original thought is corrupt. It’s all fake.
Apologize for the link but thought it important for average folks to know what Dickie Durbin is upto again:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/dick-durbin-coming-credit-card-rewards
This gesture is very noble and well meaning but until the typical Illinoisan sees what’s happening this downward spiral will continue. Unfortunately, It will need to get much worse before people come around but by that time the taxpayers who can make changes for the better will have moved out leaving the donut hole of the very wealthy and the very poor. Nothing left in the middle. I realize how negative this sounds but I’m also a realist who feels that we were forced from the State after I retired due to the sheer expense that we would incur by… Read more »
We agree that it will have to get much worse before it gets better. When it does bottom out, we hope we will have vetted the reforms that are needed and have them ready to go. In the meantime, we are documenting how not to govern, which we hope is party of why we have many readers from out of state.
Those out of state readers, which include me, will be of no help once Illinois hits bottom. Don’t assume that once Illinois hits bottom that it will reverse course. It is equally likely that it will just remain on the bottom the remainder of our lifetime.
When you say much worse, what that means is that there won’t be anybody left with anything. You will own nothing and like it. Illinois is the tip of the spear mark.
Suggest the donor look outside of Illinois for something more worthwhile. Wirepoints reporting is not going to save Illinois, and even if it could, do Illinois residents deserve saving?
Republicans in CA and NY flipped the house for Republicans. Think about that for a second. Both had decent ground GOTB (gather up the ballots) ground game. IL GOP however, well, they had no ground game whatsoever. We relied on several tens of millions of dollars from a big donor, through a PAC run by a radio show host. Good for him for trying but it was nothing compared to what other GOPs around the nation were doing. He was still trying to get Trump voters to show up to the polls while Democrats were gathering up ballots. The only… Read more »
I hate to say it but I agree with you. The demographics are not in our favor any more. Too many good people have left the state. Those that remain are part of an ideological monoculture that is beyond saving. You can either leave, or resign yourself to the fact that the next 25 years are going to suck.
Exactly. Don’t know why others here reading Wirepoints haven’t figured it out yet.
I think the wirepoints readers are trying to squeeze every penny they can out of this state while they can. The AWFL progressive politics unfortunately make the day-to-day life here almost unbearable.
I think the wirepoints readers are trying to squeeze every penny they can out of this state while they can.
Wirepoint readers are mere humans. The Illinois government is like a python.