Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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$5/gal gas? Yes Says Former Shell Exec
NOTE: This story is a few weeks old. 12/28/2010 Gasoline rationing and $5 pump prices are predicted by 2012 for consumers if U.S. politicians don’t get their act together, a former Shell executive said. … John Hofmeister, a former president at Shell Oil, told the Platts news service that energy shortages and record-high gasoline prices…
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O’Hare Bonds Downgraded
The cost of debt is going up because of years of bad management. A major credit rating firm delivered a stern warning Monday regarding the mounting risks that Chicago is taking by going deeper into debt in an attempt to build more runways at O’Hare International Airport without securing financial support from the airlines. Moody’s…
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Convicted But Still on the Payroll
Chicago, the city that works, is also the city that keeps on paying city employees long after they’re convicted of corruption.Nine former city employees were paid a total of $383,205 after they pleaded guilty or were found guilty in corruption cases, records show. (Full story here.) Simply unbelievable. Another clear example of how one no…
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Gas Tax at Work
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The twice-monthly Lundberg Survey has found the price of regular gasoline has risen about nine cents a gallon over three weeks to $3.08. … Lundberg says the highest gas price in the country was recorded in Chicago at $3.35 a gallon. The low, $2.73, was in Salt Lake City, Utah.The survey…
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Parking Meter Analysis
So Monday is the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board review for the Second Ward candidates and as I was having breakfast this morning I got to thinking. How bad really was the parking meter deal? So I started poking around to find out. Ten minutes later I was shocked!! Based on this story here I estimated…
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State Dems Press Ahead on Tax Hikes
Gov. Pat Quinn and top Democrats are pressing forward on a major income-tax increase and a $1-a-pack hike in cigarette taxes. The personal income tax rate would rise from 3 percent to 5.25 percent, Senate President John Cullerton said this evening. The amount tracks with what the Tribune reported today. After four years, it would…
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Media Drops Ball on Taste Proposal
Chicago aldermen responded coolly Tuesday to a lone bidder’s proposal to charge Taste of Chicago patrons a $20 admission fee — and up to $65 for tickets to a music stage that draws the biggest-name talent to the lakefront festival. (Full story here.) This is the whole story; $20 admission & $65 concert tickets. Completely…
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Truism
Someone sent me this quote today as part of a longer email: It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. — Thomas Jefferson I can’t help but thinking that the debt we have created for…
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Gratuitous Spending at CPS
An independent investigation into spending by Chicago Public Schools’ board presidents has uncovered more than $800,000 in questionable expenses in recent years, including thousands spent at lavish restaurants and hotels at a time when teachers and the district’s rank-and-file were being asked to cut expenses. (Full story here.) It’s worth the click to read this…
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Unions vs. Taxpayers – Part 2 of 2
Also from the New York Times: Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics. … But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican…
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