In Quinn's state of the state speech today, he plans on requesting borrowing $5 billion dollars to close the budget deficit. No one wants to make the tough choices. He will be cutting more from education. Soon, NIU will not be a public university.
Make sure everyone votes for Quinn in the Fall. That way, we will file for bankruptcy quicker.
(03-10-2010 11:43 AM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]In Quinn's state of the state speech today, he plans on requesting borrowing $5 billion dollars to close the budget deficit. No one wants to make the tough choices. He will be cutting more from education. Soon, NIU will not be a public university.
Make sure everyone votes for Quinn in the Fall. That way, we will file for bankruptcy quicker.
We can always vote for a Republican so corproations can have bigger tax breaks which will make the budget deficit even bigger.
(03-10-2010 12:15 PM)RobertN Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 11:43 AM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]In Quinn's state of the state speech today, he plans on requesting borrowing $5 billion dollars to close the budget deficit. No one wants to make the tough choices. He will be cutting more from education. Soon, NIU will not be a public university.
Make sure everyone votes for Quinn in the Fall. That way, we will file for bankruptcy quicker.
We can always vote for a Republican so corproations can have bigger tax breaks which will make the budget deficit even bigger.
I would hate to create jobs. Reducing taxes brings business to Illinois (See Texas and Indiana). More business, more jobs and then more tax revenue because people are working.
Maybe if the GOP could actually field a mentally sane moderate they would win an election or two. But I guess thats too much to ask.
(03-10-2010 12:22 PM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 12:15 PM)RobertN Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 11:43 AM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]In Quinn's state of the state speech today, he plans on requesting borrowing $5 billion dollars to close the budget deficit. No one wants to make the tough choices. He will be cutting more from education. Soon, NIU will not be a public university.
Make sure everyone votes for Quinn in the Fall. That way, we will file for bankruptcy quicker.
We can always vote for a Republican so corproations can have bigger tax breaks which will make the budget deficit even bigger.
I would hate to create jobs. Reducing taxes brings business to Illinois (See Texas and Indiana). More business, more jobs and then more tax revenue because people are working.
So what you are saying is that we can grow the state enough to offset the deficit caused by the lower taxes in one year(hell, in 4 years)? In a slow economy? You really need to really think about what you are saying because it is making you look really foolish. I am now going to guess you will come back and say, well we can cut government. Sure we could. What do you want to cut? I mean other than cut the pensions for those that earned them.
(03-10-2010 12:48 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe if the GOP could actually field a mentally sane moderate they would win an election or two. But I guess thats too much to ask.
Maybe if the average voter (Democrat) in this state realized that those Democrat policies have made Illinois the 49th worst state economically, we might be able to improve things. But, I guess that is too much to ask.
Thirty years of Mike Madigan and twenty years of Rich Daley have sure been a sucess, haven't they?
(03-10-2010 01:09 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 12:48 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe if the GOP could actually field a mentally sane moderate they would win an election or two. But I guess thats too much to ask.
Maybe if the average voter (Democrat) in this state realized that those Democrat policies have made Illinois the 49th worst state economically, we might be able to improve things. But, I guess that is too much to ask.
Thirty years of Mike Madigan and twenty years of Rich Daley have sure been a sucess, haven't they?
Im not sure what policies you're referring to, but as long as the GOP continues to field
socially radical right wingers, I will vote Dem. And so will the vast majority of independents in this state. If you guys like losing, keep it up. Might as well swear Quinn in now, because while Brady might be a poster boy for the down staters, you need to carry Chicago if you want to have a snowballs chance in hell of winning. I dont particularly like Quinn, but he's a "known known" and Ill hold my nose on election day and take the far lesser of two evils. Brady is a NUT.
As far as Daley goes, it could certainly be argued his tenure has been a success. Yes, the corruption and scandals are something that cannot be ignored. The abuse of TIFs, shady contracts, turning a blind eye to police torture, and the selling off of city assets infuriates me. The budget hole is serious (name me a city not grappling with one). But compare the Chicago of today to the city of the 80's and its not even a question that things have overwhelmingly been improved. Chicago was on the verge of going the way of Detroit. Council wars almost brought this city to its knees. Today vast swaths of the city previously written off have been rejuvenated (who would have thought in the 80's that downtown or the surrounding neighborhoods would be a desirable place to live, or even grab a drink after work?) Corporate HQ's continue to return to the city proper. Crime rates have steadily marched downwards. Experiments like charter schools have been overwhelming successes. the revamp of the CHA and the tearing down of housing projects should have been done long ago. Tourism has skyrocketed. People (and not just any people, but young and educated people, the lifeblood of success to a modern day city) WANT to live here. In my office, almost everyone is young 20/30 somethings, and I would say 95% of them have moved here from elsewhere in the Midwest. Other cities would kill for that kind of cachet.
The evolution in 20 short years cannot be ignored. Dont confuse the issue, Im not excusing the transgressions which have taken place, or the seemingly continual neglect of hoods without money. But the fact remains, most city's in this country simply sit back and ask themselves "how does Chicago do it?" while Chicago just DOES it.
(03-10-2010 12:54 PM)RobertN Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 12:22 PM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 12:15 PM)RobertN Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 11:43 AM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]In Quinn's state of the state speech today, he plans on requesting borrowing $5 billion dollars to close the budget deficit. No one wants to make the tough choices. He will be cutting more from education. Soon, NIU will not be a public university.
Make sure everyone votes for Quinn in the Fall. That way, we will file for bankruptcy quicker.
We can always vote for a Republican so corproations can have bigger tax breaks which will make the budget deficit even bigger.
I would hate to create jobs. Reducing taxes brings business to Illinois (See Texas and Indiana). More business, more jobs and then more tax revenue because people are working.
So what you are saying is that we can grow the state enough to offset the deficit caused by the lower taxes in one year(hell, in 4 years)? In a slow economy? You really need to really think about what you are saying because it is making you look really foolish. I am now going to guess you will come back and say, well we can cut government. Sure we could. What do you want to cut? I mean other than cut the pensions for those that earned them.
When you start paying taxes, talk to me. If we raise taxes, we will lose more jobs to other states. Making our state business friendly should be #1 priority. There are a lot of cuts that can be made.
I guess we can just agree to disagree.
If one won't vote for Brady because you think he's too far right on social issues, but one will vote for Quinn et al. who are finishing the bankruptcy, I simply have different priorities.
This state has been forever run by the Combine, which is Dems of all stripes and "moderate" repubes. Any vote for the Dem machine continues those policies and goals. They have financially ruined the state.
Chicago is a disaster. I'm sorry. Look at the levels of taxation. How much is the entertainment tax on a theatre ticket now? The school system is a wreck. Property taxes are high. McCormick Place is losing how many shows a year due to union costs? The mayor's signature project, the airport expansion, is a pretty poor use of billions of dollars when you consider how little it truly improves efficiency. Red light cams are all over. The mayor is screaming for a casino to bring in more money.
And above all, for me, I cannot see past the cronyism and the corruption of the city. I believe everything flows from that.
This is truly a Dem machine state. I don't understand why people will continue to vote for the Madigans, and the rest when they have completely bankrupted this state. Did you see the article in the Trib of a couple of weeks ago about how Madigan has doled out public money to people who hired his law firm?
(03-10-2010 02:54 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote: [ -> ]I guess we can just agree to disagree.
If one won't vote for Brady because you think he's too far right on social issues, but one will vote for Quinn et al. who are finishing the bankruptcy, I simply have different priorities.
This state has been forever run by the Combine, which is Dems of all stripes and "moderate" repubes. Any vote for the Dem machine continues those policies and goals. They have financially ruined the state.
Chicago is a disaster. I'm sorry. Look at the levels of taxation. How much is the entertainment tax on a theatre ticket now? The school system is a wreck. Property taxes are high. McCormick Place is losing how many shows a year due to union costs? The mayor's signature project, the airport expansion, is a pretty poor use of billions of dollars when you consider how little it truly improves efficiency. Red light cams are all over. The mayor is screaming for a casino to bring in more money.
And above all, for me, I cannot see past the cronyism and the corruption of the city. I believe everything flows from that.
This is truly a Dem machine state. I don't understand why people will continue to vote for the Madigans, and the rest when they have completely bankrupted this state. Did you see the article in the Trib of a couple of weeks ago about how Madigan has doled out public money to people who hired his law firm?
Because the dems have promised hand outs for everyone. Now the well has run dry and they don't want to make decisions about who they will cut. Chicago public schools are cutting sophomore sports. U-46 will be cutting a lot of sports. What will this do to the graduation rates? Now we will have more un educated youths than before which will cost us more money. All Federal, State and Local employees should take a pay cut. Pensions should be drastically changed. All the patronage jobs should be eliminated.
(03-10-2010 02:54 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote: [ -> ]Chicago is a disaster. I'm sorry. Look at the levels of taxation. How much is the entertainment tax on a theatre ticket now? The school system is a wreck. Property taxes are high. McCormick Place is losing how many shows a year due to union costs? The mayor's signature project, the airport expansion, is a pretty poor use of billions of dollars when you consider how little it truly improves efficiency. Red light cams are all over. The mayor is screaming for a casino to bring in more money.
by and large i dont mind the taxes in Chicago, because the services in this city are top notch, and I utilize them. examples:
# When an abandoned car sat outside a friends apartment for 5 weeks, he called the city and 2 days later it was gone.
# When a neighbor caught someone trying to steal his car, the police were there within 2 minutes and caught the perp.
# Fantastic library system
# When a street light burned out, another neighbor called the alderman's office. It was fixed by the end of the week.
# Quite a few streets around here have been resurfaced in the 2.5 years
# The city runs a rather tight ship with regard to rat & pest control and restaurant health inspections
# Snow removal is impeccable
# Though we may complain endlessly about it, public transportation is pretty adequate and many derelict stations have been recently refurbished
# Our parks and park district are the envy of many major cities.
# Calling for new trash cans and getting them in 2 days
# Free lead testing
# You can use 311 for any myriad of problems. I've called on numerous occasions to report graffiti and it is almost always blasted away in record time. There was another occasion when an absentee landlord wasnt shoveling snow. I called, and by the next day the walk was clear.
Those are just some examples off the top of my head. I truly feel Chicago's cost of living is a bargain considering what you get, especially when compared to NY/LA.
(03-10-2010 03:23 PM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]Chicago public schools are cutting sophomore sports. U-46 will be cutting a lot of sports. What will this do to the graduation rates?
I would imagine the graduation rates will remain steady, seeing as they are prudently cutting non essential extra curricular activities as opposed to core academic programs and teachers. Sounds sensible to me.
(03-10-2010 03:40 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 03:23 PM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]Chicago public schools are cutting sophomore sports. U-46 will be cutting a lot of sports. What will this do to the graduation rates?
I would imagine the graduation rates will remain steady, seeing as they are prudently cutting non essential extra curricular activities as opposed to core academic programs and teachers. Sounds sensible to me.
Males stay in school for sports. Now they will have more free time to get into trouble as less students will be participating. I don't like that it is this way but Sports is the carrot to keep kids in school. Take it away and they have one less reason to continue education after 16. Then what chance do they have of making more than minimum wage?
(03-10-2010 04:04 PM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 03:40 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2010 03:23 PM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]Chicago public schools are cutting sophomore sports. U-46 will be cutting a lot of sports. What will this do to the graduation rates?
I would imagine the graduation rates will remain steady, seeing as they are prudently cutting non essential extra curricular activities as opposed to core academic programs and teachers. Sounds sensible to me.
Males stay in school for sports. Now they will have more free time to get into trouble as less students will be participating. I don't like that it is this way but Sports is the carrot to keep kids in school. Take it away and they have one less reason to continue education after 16. Then what chance do they have of making more than minimum wage?
I agree kids, especially those in disadvantaged neighborhoods, need after school options. But in a budget crisis where everyone (especially those on the right) are calling for cuts, where exactly do you propose those hard cuts come from if you're more concerned about frivolous sports programs than the education itself?
If you want to talk about carrots, I would argue the biggest carrot of all should be the $1.3 million lifetime earning differential between those who have a college degree and those who don't. Sports programs do not prepare kids for a university setting or life in the real world. Science, humanities, the arts, language, and mathematics courses do. When it comes down to one or the other, is the decision really that difficult? Im sorry, but people need to realisitcally look at ther priorities...why are sports a sacred cow?
Just yesterday a friend who teaches at Morton East told me that all teachers working 1-4 years were given pink slips, plus ALL teachers in fine arts, career tech, and foreign languages. He said nearly 200 people were let go, and that many of the teachers who were let go had been there many many years (some 20+). Athletics were untouched. Take from that what you will.
It time for the governmental unions to take the bullet. They need to realize we can't pay their salaries and benefits. Private sector workers know what we are talking about.
Quinn also wants to raise the Illinois income tax to 4%. Vote for Democrats, get higher taxes.
RobertN Wrote:We can always vote for a Republican so corproations can have bigger tax breaks which will make the budget deficit even bigger.
How big will the deficit get when corporations leave Illinois for lower tax states? (Indiana)
See? That's the problem with Socialism. You eventually run out of other people's money.
Quinn's Solution:
1. Raise taxes 33%.
2.Borrow 5 billion to pay last years obligations.
3.Defer paying an additional 6 billion of payable in the current budget.
Problem solved but what do we do next year when tax revenues drop, we owe more vendors, interest payments need to be made to bondholders, our bond rating is further eroded, businesses leave the state and our deficit is bigger in 2011?
Patching potholes does not work anymore. We need to rebuild the whole state government. In addition, we need to change our state constitution. Pensions need to be modified so the old constitution is a sticking point.
(03-10-2010 12:48 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe if the GOP could actually field a mentally sane moderate they would win an election or two. But I guess thats too much to ask.
Right! The GOP needs to field a moderate. Like Judy Baar-Topinka? That really worked out.
The GOP needs to quit following the advice of Democrats, as they obviously have and separate agenda.
I would advise the St. Louis Cardinals to trade Albert Pujols.
(03-10-2010 04:23 PM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ]It time for the governmental unions to take the bullet. They need to realize we can't pay their salaries and benefits. Private sector workers know what we are talking about.
I agree we are paying teachers too much. We need to start paying our teachers minimum wage like many private sector jobs in this country. This way "I" don't have the government stealing "my" money. Lets just lower the wages on all the jobs so we can compete better with China. Lets not cut sports because males don't care about school and it is the only way to keep males off the streets. Why should "I" pay for all the other kids in this country? Me, me, me, me, me. Now, now, now, now. The Republican way. It is all about ME and NOW!
(03-11-2010 10:45 AM)Huskie_Jon Wrote: [ -> ]Quinn also wants to raise the Illinois income tax to 4%. Vote for Democrats, get higher taxes.
RobertN Wrote:We can always vote for a Republican so corproations can have bigger tax breaks which will make the budget deficit even bigger.
How big will the deficit get when corporations leave Illinois for lower tax states? (Indiana)
See? That's the problem with Socialism. You eventually run out of other people's money.
As opposed to cutting taxes and making the deficit larger?