Category: Politics
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Pensioners Take Note, Municipal Bond Storm Coming
[B]ut California too is now starting to hand it to bondholders. Cities in California are now testing the limits of bankruptcy law, and not paying the debt nor the payments for retirees to the state system. Thus this article describes how the state retirement system (CALPERS) is suing to demand payment, and saying that retiree…
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Chicago’s New Billboard Deal All But Signed
Kudos to Alderman Bob Fioretti: A Chicago City Council committee signed off Monday on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s latest privatization deal—even though, after nearly five hours of testimony, aldermen still didn’t quite know how it added up for taxpayers, what its shortfalls might be, or exactly which companies were included in putting it together. In more…
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$55 Million Paid to Kids to Do Nothing
Records provided to CNN show that $54.5 million was spent on the NRI program, mostly through the governor’s discretionary fund, which doesn’t require legislative approval. The only data on the program’s accomplishments come directly from the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority. The NRI states that it created more than 3,484 jobs, provided counseling for more than…
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Who Would Rather Not Work?
This first came up (recently at least) with the Hostess workers: Interviews with more than a dozen workers showed there was little sign of regret from employees who voted for the strike. They said they would rather lose their jobs than put up with lower wages and poorer benefits. “They’re just taking from us,” said…
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Pregnant Hurricane Sandy Victim and 2-year-old Daughter Homeless
A pregnant Hurricane Sandy victim was booted from her hotel room yesterday and forced to hunt for a place to stay because FEMA dropped the ball on her reservation. Keri Christian, 27, was living at Brooklyn’s Nu Hotel with her daughter, Serafina, 2, after the storm destroyed their Staten Island home. Now the eight-months-pregnant mom…
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$45k/yr is the “New Rich”
Implemented in 1969 to make sure upper-income Americans pay their share of taxes, the AMT has increasingly snared more middle-income Americans over the years because it was never indexed for inflation. During the 2011 tax year for example, the higher tax hit single taxpayers with incomes as low as $48,450 and joint filers making only…
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2/3 of Millionaires Avoid 50% Tax Rate
Two-thirds of millionaires left Britain to avoid 50p tax rate Almost two-thirds of the country’s million-pound earners disappeared from Britain after the introduction of the 50p top rate of tax, figures have disclosed. via Telegraph. Shhhhh… This is a secret. No one tell the U.S. media. They think the “rich” will just stay and give…
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Racists Blacks Fret About Sole White Lady
Black leaders are growing increasingly worried that a white candidate might seize the seat of former Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson in the upcoming Illinois special election. With a host of black candidates announcing their intention to seek the seat, the concern is that they could split the African-American vote and provide a plurality to a…
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Everyone Wants a Drone – Zero Concern For Your Privacy
Are unmanned aircraft, known to have difficulty avoiding collisions, safe to use in America’s crowded airspace? And would their widespread use for surveillance result in unconstitutional invasions of privacy? via SFGate. Yes, and no seem like pretty straightforward answers to these questions. But the elected idiots who man the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus have taken…
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Illinois’ Pension Time-Bomb Too Big Too Fix
So says the Commercial Club of Chicago. In a memo to its members, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago said last week’s elections didn’t bring in an influx of lawmakers willing to deal with the pension crisis but instead leaves taxpayers with “more legislators who aren’t prepared, or willing, to make the…