Thoughts & Musings
Streetwise Launches Neighbor Carts
Rick Jones' booming voice makes him hard to miss on the corner of Broadway and Wilson Avenue, where he shouts "fresh fruit" to passers-by rushing to and from the nearby Red Line station. Neatly displayed apples, bananas, plums and strawberries line the stainless steel...
No Street Money in Chicago; Could Obama Lose Illinois? Cook County?
A lot of anger in the rank and file because Barack Obama is not handing out the typical “street money” to hire thugs to work the precincts and intimidate black voters into showing up at the polls. Obama’s balking at the $2 million that would cost because the campaign...
Quick Pension Analysis
Ok, so I was getting asked about this the other day both in person and in the comments about why the pensions are really in such bad shape and what the latest GASB positions mean to the funds. GASB first. GASB Changes I did some poking around and the recent GASB...
100 Days Until Taxmageddon
Sunday will mark the start of the 100-day countdown to “Taxmageddon” – the date the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect. They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2013: via Americans for Tax Reform. Here's...
Rahm: Higher Cigarette & Amusement Taxes
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is considering an increase in city taxes on cigarettes and entertainment to help close an anticipated $369 million gap in next year's budget, City Hall sources said Wednesday. ... It's unclear how much the cigarette tax might be raised. A city...
Mitt Romney on the Federal Reserve
“Yeah, it’s interesting…the former head of Goldman Sachs, John Whitehead, was also the former head of the New York Federal Reserve. And I met with him, and he said as soon as the Fed stops buying all the debt that we’re issuing—which they’ve been doing, the Fed’s...
Ald. “New Tax” Cardenas Wants $5/mo
Chicago should impose a “safety and security fee” — as high as $5 a month on homes and businesses — to generate the $70 million needed to hire 700 additional police officers, an influential alderman said Thursday. Ald. George Cardenas (12th), chairman of the City...
Blantly Racist Headline at L.A. Times & Tribune
White working class: Clinging to guns, religion and Romney via Chicago Tribune. Here is Barack Obama's full quote: You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's...
Illinois Unemployment at 9.1%
Unemployment across Illinois rose to 9.1 percent in August, the third straight month of increases in the state, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday. ... Unemployment in July was 8.9 percent. Increases in the unemployment rate in June, July and...
One Word for CPS Teachers: Save
Save. Save as much money as you can. Live well below your means. The pension time-bomb is coming. One of the most vexing problems for Chicago and its teachers went virtually unmentioned during the strike: The pension fund is about to hit a wall. The Chicago Teachers’...
Surgeon Sage Says
"Surgeon Sage Says" (circa 1915)
Chick-fil-A Wavies 1st Amendment Rights
Chick-fil-A has pledged to stop giving money to anti-gay groups and to back off political and social debates after an executive’s comments this summer landed the fast-food chain smack in the middle of the gay marriage debate. The Civil Rights Agenda, which dubs itself...
400 Richest Americans’ Worth $1.7 Trillion
The net worth of the richest Americans grew by 13 percent in the past year to $1.7 trillion, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday, and a familiar cast of characters once again populated the top of the magazine's annual list of the U.S. uber-elite, including Bill Gates,...
Crumb & Get It: Baker with Principles
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s_CGWKN8Ak]
Student Denied Entry to Michelle Obama’s Speech
A conservative student was denied entry into a rally featuring First Lady Michelle Obama at the University of Florida on Wednesday because he was wearing a t-shirt in support of Republican John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2007 campaign for the White House. ... A conservative...
Harvard vs. South Dakota Mine School
Which Grads make more? Harvard University’s graduates are earning less than those from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology after a decade-long commodity bull market created shortages of workers as well as minerals. Those leaving the [SDSMT] college of...
Pete’s Fresh Market — Update 09/19
Reliable sources inform me that Pete's and people from the city are sitting down and trying to work out a deal to restart construction. Reliable sources also have confirmed the facts of the original post. If any readers have stories of problems with any politicians...
Treasury Won’t Sell Take a Loss on GM Shares
General Motors Co. executives want the Treasury Department to sell its almost 27 percent stake in the company because, they say, the feds are hurting their image and government pay restrictions are chasing away top talent. ... Government officials weren’t interested...
Wealthy Donors Work to Improve Schools
The union and HuffPo object: Stand for Children is a non-profit education reform group advocating for the inclusion of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations, charter schools and decreased teacher union power. Over the past three years, the group's political...
Moneyball in Law Firms
Moneyball is moving onto another major-league diamond: Big Law, where law firm chiefs—under pressure from clients to cut costs—are re-engineering law firm management, much as the Oakland Athletics' Billy Beane did for baseball. Exploding salaries, frequent roster...