Category: Business

  • Illinois’ Obnoxious Cell Phones Taxes

    Illinois was fifth in a ranking of extra wireless costs, the Tax Foundation said, with the user paying an average of about 21.8 percent in additional federal, state and local taxes and fees. Only callers in Nebraska, Washington, New York and Florida pay more.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    I was just talking to someone about this the other day.  Ya know, if you move your “address” out of state you can avoid some of these fees.  With paperless billing does it really matter where the company sends (or doesn’t send) your bill?

    I’m sure people who live in Indiana or Wisconsin burn plenty of minutes across the border.  Seems like a reasonably solution to me.

    No?

  • Quinn Balks at Illinois’ Fresh Interest Rate

    Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration delayed Wednesday’s planned sale of $500 million in construction bonds, saying a recent credit downgrade because of inaction on government worker pension reform left the market “unsettled.”

    The decision was made after officials with the governor’s budget office spoke with potential bidders who indicated they would seek interest rates higher than what the state wanted to pay.”

    In a bond market when there is uncertainly, you pay an extra premium, which we decided was imprudent to pay,” said John Sinsheimer, director of capital markets for the state. “So we pulled them, and will bring the back at a future date when everything has settled down.”

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Pathetic.

    The first thing to do when you’re in a hole is stop digging.  Quinn has the right idea… now may not be the best time to issue more bonds.  But because the finances are so bad pretty soon he will not have a choice.  More debt — at higher interest rates — is our future.

    More troubling however is note how the Gov’s office is not waiting until they actually fix anything.  He’s not going to defuse the pension time-bomb.  He and The Machine are not going to balance the budget or develop a long term spending plan to correct the state’s deficit.  The plan is to merely wait until “everything has settled down.”

    We deserve so much better than that.

    So alas… people don’t like to hear bad news and will continue to vote for Santa Claus.  We need not be real.  Just keep voting for the guy who tells you it’s somebody else’s problem.

    We’re so screwed.

  • More Money 4 Medical Malpractice Lawyers in IL

    Medical malpractice lawyers are poised to make more money after Gov. Pat Quinn quietly signed a law allowing them to collect higher fees.

    Doctors groups criticize the change, arguing that it will result in less money for injured patients who need it for costly health care and therapy. They also contend the measure was quickly pushed through the General Assembly in the waning days of a lame-duck session by ruling Democrats friendly to trial lawyers.  …

    The bill surfaced in the Senate on Jan. 2, tacked onto a measure that originally dealt with firearm ranges. A day later it passed the Senate mostly on Democratic votes. Over in the House, powerful Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan sponsored the bill. A few days later it went to the governor on a 67-46 vote, again with mostly Democratic support. Quinn signed the measure into law Jan. 18, disclosing his move on a Friday afternoon, when politicians often choose to bury controversial news.The law eliminates the sliding scale that spelled out how much attorneys could charge for bringing medical malpractice cases. Previously, attorneys could collect one-third of an award up to $150,000, 25 percent for awards ranging from $150,000 to $1 million and 20 percent for awards of more than $1 million. Attorneys also could petition the court for even higher fees, a practice the new law eliminated.

    The new system will see attorneys collecting a flat one-third rate on all awards. The Medical Society contends that means a patient who was awarded $1 million would now pay $333,333 in attorney’s fees as opposed to $262,500 under the old standards — the first $150,000 of the award at the one-third rate and the rest at the 25 percent rate.

    via Quincy Journal.

    The Machine at it again.

    If this was such a great law, so helpful to the general public, then why passed in the dead of night and signed on a Friday afternoon?

    Just more corruption from Michael Madigan and his trial lawyer buddies.

  • Bulletproof Whiteboards?

    In December, George and his young son were watching the horrific details of the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders on television and when he saw the fear in his son’s eyes, his engineering brain kicked in. He said to his son, “We can fix this. We have to do something.”

    via TheBlaze.com.

    Very cool concept.

    These are the kinds of ideas that I like.  They ‘harden’ the target.  We need to make schools safe for kids.  We did it against fire; now it’s time to do it against the ‘active shooter’.

    I quoted from this article before, but not this segment:

    “How many kids have been killed by school fire in all of North America in the past 50 years? Kids killed… school fire… North America… 50 years…  How many?  Zero. That’s right.  Not one single kid has been killed by school fire anywhere in North America in the past half a century.  Now, how many kids have been killed by school violence?”  …

    “In 1999,” Grossman said, “school violence claimed what at the time was an all time record number of kids’ lives. In that year there were 35 dead and a quarter of a million serious injuries due to violence in the school. How many killed by fire that year? Zero. But we hear people say, ‘That’s the year Columbine happened, that’s an anomaly.’ Well, in 2004 we had a new all time record — 48 dead in the schools from violence. How many killed by fire that year? Zero. Let’s assign some grades. Put your teacher hat on and give out some grades. What kind of grade do you give the firefighter for keeping kids safe? An ‘A,’ right? Reluctantly, reluctantly, the cops give the firefighters an ‘A,’ right? Danged firefighters, they sleep ‘till they’re hungry and eat ‘till they’re tired. What grade do we get for keeping the kids safe from violence? Come on, what’s our grade? Needs improvement, right?”
    “Why can’t we be like little Johnny Firefighter?” Grossman asked as he prowled the stage. “He’s our A+ student!”

    He paused, briefly, and answered with a voice that blew through the hall like thunder, “Denial, denial, denial!”

    Grossman commanded, “Look up at the ceiling! See all those sprinklers up there? They’re hard to spot — they’re painted black — but they’re there. While you’re looking, look at the material the ceiling is made of. You know that that stuff was selected because it’s fire-retardant. Hooah? Now look over there above the door — you see that fire exit sign? That’s not just any fire exit sign — that’s a ‘battery-backup-when-the-world-ends-it-will-still-be-lit’ fire exit sign. Hooah?”

    Walking from the stage toward a nearby fire exit and exterior wall, Grossman slammed the palm of his hand against the wall and exclaimed, “Look at these wall boards! They were chosen because they’re what?! Fireproof or fire retardant, hooah? There is not one stinking thing in this room that will burn!”

    Pointing around the room as he spoke, Grossman continued, “But you’ve still got those fire sprinklers, those fire exit signs, fire hydrants outside, and fire trucks nearby! Are these fire guys crazy? Are these fire guys paranoid? No! This fire guy is our A+ student! Because this fire guy has redundant, overlapping layers of protection, not a single kid has been killed by school fire in the last 50 years!

    “But you try to prepare for violence — the thing much more likely to kill our kids in schools, the thing hundreds of times  more likely to kill our kids in schools — and people think you’re paranoid. They think you’re crazy. …They’re in denial.”

    via Police One.

    We need to address this problem with a multi-layered solution.

    Our school must be made safe.

  • Credit Ratings for States

    So I just posted the Illinois is now worse that California (those of us here could have told you that two years ago.)  But I’ll bet all of you have been wondering, “Well what states have good credit ratings?”  Yes, yes.  I was wondering too.  See this nice chart I found somewhere and blatantly stole for you.

    StatesCreditRating

  • Illinois Credit — Worst in the Nation

    Illinois fell to the bottom of all 50 states in the rankings of a major credit ratings agency Friday following the failure of Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers to fix the state’s hemorrhaging pension system during this month’s lame-duck session.

    Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service downgraded Illinois in what is the latest fallout over the $96.8 billion debt to five state pension systems. The New York rating firm’s ranking signaled taxpayers may pay tens of millions of dollars more in interest when the state borrows money for roads and other projects.

    “It’s absolutely bad news for taxpayers,” said Dan Rutherford, the Republican state treasurer.

    Illinois received its bottom-of-the-pack ranking when it fell from an “A” rating to “A-minus.”

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Well there you have it.  The Machine, the Illinois combine has driven us straight into the gutter.  The cost of the billions and billions of debt is going up and up.  The taxpayers are stuck with the bill.

    It’s old news but I’d like to review this for the record.  I have only three (3) Republicans that represent me.  Every single other elected official that represents me is a Democrat.

    Alderman Bob Fioretti – D
    Mayor Rahm Emanuel – D
    Chicago City Clerk – D
    Cook County Clerk of Courts – D
    Cook County Treasurer – D
    Cook County Assessor – D
    Cook County Recorder of Deeds – D
    Cook County States Attorney (DA) – D
    Cook County Board Member – D
    Cook County Board President – D
    IL House Seat, Derrick Smith (Current under indictment) – D
    IL Senate Seat, Patricia Van Pelt – D
    IL Governor, Pat Quinn – D
    IL Lt. Governor, Sheila Simon – D
    IL Attorney General, Lisa (I won’t investigate my father) Madigan – D
    IL Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka – R
    IL Treasurer, Dan Rutherford – R
    IL Sec. of State, Jesse White – D
    US House, Danny Davis – D
    US Senate, Mark Kirk – R
    US Senate, Dick Durbin – D
    US President, Barack Obama – D

    What is that?  3 of 22?  If you just take the State folks it’s 2 of 17.  2 of 17.  That’s 11.76% of my elected persons are not Democrats.

    So let me ask you, if I was looking to blame someone for the mess that we’re in where would be a good place to start?

  • A Few Thoughts On Gun Control « Eudaimonia

    This will be detailed and thorough, and I apologize in advance for its length. I also need to clarify that I am not a statistician, lawyer, political analyst, or sociologist. I am merely curious, capable at finding information, and trained in scientific analysis. If there are errors in this, they are not intentional.

    via A Few Thoughts On Gun Control « Eudaimonia.

    Amazing amount of information here.

  • Held by Pirates for Nearly Three Years

    After almost three years in captivity, the crew of the Iceberg 1, a cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates, are home after finally being rescued.  …

    Its Dubai-based owner, who appears not to have been insured, refused to pay a ransom for it and simply went to ground, ignoring pleas for help from the hostages’ families.

    Meanwhile, the governments representing the different sailors on board – six Indians, nine Yemenis, four Ghanaians, two Sudanese, two Pakistanis and one Filipino – were either unable or unwilling to mount a rescue attempt.  …

    Now, though, it has been – courtesy of an armed raid not by the multi-national force, but by Somalia’s own fledgling anti-piracy patrols, who have been trained up a South African private military company. But while I would be the first to congratulate the Somali troops for completing what is an extremely dangerous job, I can’t help wondering why it had to be left to them. Freeing hostages is normally a task deemed suitable only for highly-trained special forces, and without casting aspersions on the Somalis’ abilities, I doubt they quite fall into that category.

    The multinational force, on the other hand, has huge special forces assets galore, from Britain, France, the US and so on. Given the appalling plight of this ship, could they not perhaps have made an exception in this case?

     

    The answer, I suspect, is that most nations are generally reluctant to risk the lives of their own troops to free citizens from other countries, which is probably fair enough. But this does give an idea of the limits to which the international force – and note that word “international” – is prepared to go.

     

    One also can’t help wondering why India – which now sees itself as a global superpower, and has perfectly competent special forces – couldn’t have done the raid, given that six of the hostages were Indian. Yes, they would have ended up taking the lead on behalf of a few lesser nations in the process. But isn’t that what being a superpower is all about?

    Kudos to the Somalis for pulling themselves together.

    Shame on India for not lifting a finger.

    It’s time the U.S. and the U.K. seriously think about their global roles as well.  Should add China and Russia to the list as well.  All countries rely on global trade.  All should be willing to do their part to keep global shipping channels free from pirates.

    If we’re willing to commit 35,000 troops to kill Afghans who’ve done nothing wrong (other than try to survive) than can’t be pledge a small force of 100 to deal with pirates?

  • Guns vs. McDonald’s

    There are more than 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States, according to the latest Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives numbers as of Aug. 1.

    Of those, 51,438 are retail gun stores, 7,356 are pawn shops and 61,562 are collectors, with the balance of the licenses belonging mostly to manufacturers and importers of firearms and destructive devices. For comparison, here are some numbers of other ubiquitous elements of American life:

    • Gas Stations in the U.S. 2011: 143,839
    • Grocery Stores in the U.S. 2011 36,569
    • McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. 2011: 14,098

    Yes, there are more stores selling guns than groceries.

    But unlike burgers, gas and groceries, firearms are not a perishable or consumable product. They don’t go away. A rifle used in the 2009 Holocaust Museum shooting was nearly 100 years old, but was still an effective murder weapon.

    via ABC News.

    Interesting right?  But get this:

    • About 600,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year–that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.
    • Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2009 were in men.
    • Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing more than 385,000 people annually.
    • Every year about 935,000 Americans have a heart attack. Of these, 610,000 are a first heart attack. 325,000 happen in people who have already had a heart attack.
    • Coronary heart disease alone costs the United States $108.9 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity.

    via Center for Disease Control & Prevention.

    Heart disease kills 15 times more people than guns annually.  Where’s the campaign to ban tobacco and trans-fats?

    According to Pew Research there are around 160, 000 fast food restaurants in the U.S.  That’s about 30,000 more fast food places than licensed FFL’s.  But it’s actually 2.7 times the number of gun stores and pawn shops with licenses to sell guns. But these fast food places and gas stations (number one source of cigarettes) that are killing 15 times as many people.

    What we really need is to be shutting down these merchants of death… the fast food restaurants and stores that sell cigarettes. Kinda like in Clerk’s when Dante gets attacked.