We will not let down all those Pioneers who tamed the prairie and defeated socialism in their hay day. My friends, this day is ours! Get Grizzly right in your backyard!

Obama’s Chicago and Illinois part 2

Obama’s Chicago Part2

 

Continuing the series of the condition of the City of Chicago, County of Cook, and the State of Illinois to give you an insight into the environment Barack Obama has arisen from. From a native’s perspective.

 

TAXES – Illinois has an almost 6 % retail sales tax. This tax includes restaurants. In addition to the Illinois Sales Tax, Todd Stroger, the President of Cook County was able to get a tax increase passed. Now combined with the Illinois Tax, and Cook County Tax, you pay 11.25%.

 

Gasoline Taxes in Chicagoland have a significant impact as well. If you buy gasoline within the Chicago City limits, you pay the following taxes per gallon:

Federal Tax + Illinois State Tax + Cook County Tax + City of Chicago Tax. The Cook County tax and City of Chicago tax are a percentage of the price per gallon, so when the price of gas goes up, you pay an even higher amount in taxes.

 

Along the border of the City of Chicago, you will only find Gas stations just across the City limits. Those stations on the outskirts of the city, yet within city limits, cannot compete against rivals just across the street where the City of Chicago tax does not apply.

 

The same story is true for Cook County. The northern edge of Cook County is bordered by Lake-Cook Road. The road is the dividing line between Lake and Cook Counties. Along this road, you will only find gas stations on the north side (Lake County) as Lake county gasoline is cheaper.

 

To avoid all this, many people on the South side of Chicago go across the Indiana border and buy their gas in Indiana saving themselves a significant amount of money.

 

Meanwhile despite these taxes, there are significant revenue shortfalls. The more they raise taxes, the more money they lose. This phenomenon is known in Economic terms as Diminishing Returns.

 

Remember the City of Chicago, Cook County, and State of Illinois are all dominated by Democrats.

 

SCANDALS – Illinois is notorious for political scandal and it cuts across both parties. But it is mostly dominated by Democrats. The Daley Administration has been hit by several scandals. Several in Daley’s administration are now serving jail time. The Hired Truck Scandal is the most recent. This scandal involves using private dump trucks to assist the Street & Sanitation Department for infrastructure projects. The scandal comes in that to be a part of the Hired Truck program, cash kickbacks were required. In addition, the City was being over billed for trucks that weren’t needed. (SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hired_Truck_Program )

 

Ghost Payroll is a very common activity throughout the State, County and City level. Ghost payroll means that you put someone on the department payroll, but they never even show up for the job, yet they still get paid. (SOURCE: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS258&q=ghost+payroll+Chicago&btnG=Search )

 

The Porch scandal is another incident. A porch connected to the outside of the back of a several story building collapsed killing a person and wounding others. There had been several incidents occurring in the City. The inspector responsible for inspecting the porches was found to have been taking money and falsifying reports. He was found guilty. (SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Chicago_balcony_collapse )

 

License for Bribes scandal – This scandal was at the State level and as mentioned in part 1, it involved cash payments to the DMV to allow Illegal aliens to get truck licenses. As mentioned in part 1, this led to a deadly accident and subsequent investigation which now has the former Republican Governor in Jail. (SOURCE: http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2008/10/20/Editorials/When-Will.Gov.Blagojevich.Bottom.Out-3494672.shtml )

 

PATRONAGE – Hiring your friends, family and supporters is tradition in Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois. It has gotten so bad that a lawsuit was filed to try to stop it. This lawsuit resulted in the Shakman Decree (SOURCE: http://www.chicagoist.com/tags/shakmandecree )

 

REAL ESTATE SCANDALS – The current Governor Rod Blagojevich is under investigation by the Feds for some real estate dealings by his wife. She received fees for supposedly helping some business associates who had dealings with the State complete some real estate transactions where she received thousands in commissions. But she did no work on these deals. (SOURCE: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1229071,CST-NWS-patti18.article )

 

BUDGET Shortfalls – Even before the mortgage crisis, the City of Chicago, Cook County, and State of Illinois all have significant budget shortfalls.

 

City of Chicago Shortfall - $200 million shortfall (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-daley-budgetoct16,0,177230.story)

 

Cook County Shortfall - $300 million (SOURCE: http://chicagoist.com/2008/02/28/cook_county_bud.php )

 

State of Illinois Shortfall - $2 Billion (Does not include Pension obligation)

(SOURCE: http://www.khqa.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=213632 )

 

Even with gasoline and other taxes and fees, the City of Chicago has a budget shortfall of $200 million. Mayor Daley has submitted a proposal to raise taxes on parking garages to 30%. In addition, the City is laying off Chicago Police Department staff in a time where there is the largest murder rate in the nation

 

Keep in mind that Chicago is also in the running for the 2016 Olympics.

 

Cook County has had huge financial problems. Todd Stroger got his tax raise passed but it has not helped. As diminishing returns prove, the are not getting as much revenue as expected. Todd Stroger has also secured a $900 million loan to the county to help keep it functioning.

 

When Todd Stroger took office as President of Cook County, he went on a hiring spree hiring many of his friends and relatives at $90,000 a year salaries. In addition, Stroger had a private elevator installed in the County building for his personal use. (SOURCE: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-county-hiring-settlements_nusep26,0,1720496.story )

 

The current Governor Rod Blagojevich (Bla-Goy-A-Vitch), Blago for short, has a worse rating that Congress. Currently, his approval rating is 13%. The State of Illinois has a $40 Billion pension obligation that it is unable to meet. This is to pay all retired State employees their pensions. In the meantime, Blago was able to pass legislation to allow free public transportation for all Illinois Seniors over the age of 65.

 

The Governor is looking to lease the State Lottery to a private business for $1 billion. The State Lottery was supposed to be used to help fund Illinois Education, but every year the State has Education shortfalls in funding as the State takes money from the Lottery revenues to pay other obligations. But this leasing agreement is only a one time revenue fix, while the lottery is a continuous revenue stream.

 

The State jet is another source of contention. The Capitol of Illinois is in Springfield which is in the center of the State. Chicago is at the northern end of the State on the bottom curve of lake Michigan. The Governor is from Chicago and does not like living in Springfield. Rather, he commutes between Chicago and Springfield on the State jet at taxpayers expense. If the Governor stayed in Springfield, living in the Governor’s Mansion instead of commuting back and forth by jet, he’d save the taxpayers thousands. Springfield is about a 3 hour drive from the City of Chicago. Even if the Governor commuted by car each day, he’s still be saving the citizens thousands.

 

INTERNICENE FIGHTING – Just because the major players are Democrats does not mean they play along well together. Michael Madigan the Democratic Speaker of the Illinois State House does not get along with Rod Blagojevich. In fact they do not even speak to each other. The Illinois budget is never approved on time so the legislature is then forced to work overtime until it is passed. By the way, they get time and a half pay while doing this. The session is supposed to end at the end of May. This past year budget wrangling caused the State Legislature to remain in session through August thus adding to the budget shortfall.

 

There are several Casinos in Illinois and there is an open license that has become available. The State legislature will not let Chicago or any private entity that plans to place that Casino in the City limits bid on the license.

 

There is a constant battle between Mayor Daley and Blagojevich and Michael Madigan with the Attorney General Lisa Madigan (Michael’s daughter) occasionally stepping in.

 

Recently at the Democratic convention, the Illinois delegation had a meeting. Jesse Jackson Jr. got up to speak and got Michael Madigan and Rod Blagojevich to hug each other. There was press there and it made big news in the State.

 

MICHELLE OBAMA’S 200% RAISE – Right after Barack Obama was elected to the Senate, he was able to coordinate a $1 million donation to the University of Chicago Hospitals. Barack’s wife, Michelle was Director of Community Relations for the Hospital at the time earning a salary of $100k per year.. Soon after the $1 million donation, Michelle Obama was promoted to VP of Community Relations wit h a new salary of $300k. This new position came with a $200k raise, or 200% raise. (Source:

 

At the same time as Michelle’s raise, it was discovered that the Hospital over-billed the Federal Government by $20 million. The Fed’s then took the $20million from the hospital leaving the hospital with a $20 million budget shortfall. Many people were laid off, department budgets were slashed and remaining employees did not get raises. Except for Michelle of course. (Source: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/michelle_obamas_hospital.html )