Category: Finance
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Over $60,000 Spent Per Household in Poverty
“According to the Census’s American Community Survey, the number of households with incomes below the poverty line in 2011 was 16,807,795,” the Senate Budget Committee notes. “If you divide total federal and state spending by the number of households with incomes below the poverty line, the average spending per household in poverty was $61,194 in…
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CPD Brass Wasting Money Trying to Track Gunshots
The Police Department began using gunshot detection technology early last month in two 1.5-square-mile areas to try to better pinpoint the location of gunshots, Superintendent Garry McCarthy disclosed Thursday. The sensors sometimes give officers information before 911 calls are made, he said. In the past decade, the city twice installed the devices but ultimately removed…
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Pension’s Rate of Return Plummets to 0.76%
This sounds like a problem: The pension fund for most public school teachers in Illinois generated just 0.76 percent in fiscal 2012, a big drop from the 23.6 percent rate of return in the previous fiscal year, the Teachers’ Retirement System reported on Thursday. … It is the long-term results that matter and the system’s…
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Illinois Tollway Netting $Billion per Year
To help pay for these projects, the tollway anticipates raking in $977 million from tolls in 2013 – thanks to the 87.5 percent increase that went into effect Jan. 1. via Chicago Tribune. Doh!
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30,000 Unfilled Jobs in Illinois
Say “skills gap” to any manufacturer, and invariably they’ll respond with the number 600,000. That’s the gaping hole of unfilled jobs at U.S. manufacturers — for Illinois, estimates point to 30,000 unfilled jobs. The talent shortfall carries serious consequences. In a Manufacturing Institute 2011 skills gap report surveying more than 1,100 U.S. manufacturers, 74 percent…
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IL Finances Heading to Social Unrest
“I think it’s going to reach a point where there’s either social disorder or bankruptcy before people will act,” he said. via Crain’s Chicago Business. Ya, that sounds about right. But let’s back-up a little. This is a quote from a story about how back the finances are in Illinois. A Blue Ribbon Panel put…
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Airlines Fees vs. Fares: Impacting Taxes
The liberal Washington Post complains: There’s a 7.5 percent federal tax on every airline ticket. The money goes into a fund that pays for the air transportation system: airports, capital improvements and the operation of the Federal Aviation Administration. … When the airlines kept ticket prices down by shifting $12.8 billion to baggage fees, they…
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The Fed & Debt Cancelation
I met a European trader in a bar this week, who brought up the possibility that at some point, the Bank of England might just rip up the UK government debt it has acquired through quantitative easing — just straight up throw it on the fire, and tell the government it no longer owes the…
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What Drives Corporate Profits?
In a heady story over the Business Insider today Joe Weisenthal walks us through an analysis as to why corporate profits are so high right now. It generally all comes down to this chart: It shows the various drivers and drags on corporate profitability. So for example, household savings are always a drag on profitability,…
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Obama Illegaly Accepts Foreign Donations
The Obama re-election campaign has accepted at least one foreign donation in violation of the law — and does nothing to check on the provenance of millions of dollars in other contributions, a watchdog group alleges. Chris Walker, a British citizen who lives outside London, told The Post he was able to make two $5…