QUOTE OF THE DAY
WSIL: One in five Illinois households on food stamps
New statistics show the state jobless rate is dropping but the number of people looking for food help is on the rise. Roughly one in five families in Illinois rely on food stamps.
September brought some good news for Illinois’ unemployment rate. Every single county in our region fell below nine percent. However, 5,000 families statewide signed up for SNAP in September.
Those numbers have some critics saying the state’s recovery is falling behind.
The Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, has been looking into job creation in the state. They believe the unemployment rate isn’t telling the whole story.
WSJ: The Ultimate Global Antipoverty Program
The World Bank reported on Oct. 9 that the share of the world population living in extreme poverty had fallen to 15% in 2011 from 36% in 1990. Earlier this year, the International Labor Office reported that the number of workers in the world earning less than $1.25 a day has fallen to 375 million 2013 from 811 million in 1991.
Such stunning news seems to have escaped public notice, but it means something extraordinary: The past 25 years have witnessed the greatest reduction in global poverty in the history of the world.
To what should this be attributed? Official organizations noting the trend have tended to waffle, but let’s be blunt: The credit goes to the spread of capitalism. Over the past few decades, developing countries have embraced economic-policy reforms that have cleared the way for private enterprise.
Civid Fed: State’s Operating Budget Continues to Supplement Capital Projects Fund
When the Illinois Jobs Now! capital spending program was approved in 2010 the State also approved a series of dedicated revenue sources intended to fund new borrowing costs outside the State operating budget. As previously sold capital bonds were retired, it was anticipated that the cost for new bond funded capital projects would fall outside the operating budget.
However, five years into the capital spending program the FY2015 General Funds debt service costs for capital bonds continue to increase.
The package of dedicated revenue sources passed with the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program included statewide legalization and taxation of video poker; expanded sales tax on candy, sweetened beverages and some hygiene products; leasing a portion of state lottery operations; increased per gallon tax on beer, wine and liquor; and increased license and vehicle fees.
Tech Crunch: Building A Better Version Of Capitalism Is A Massive Startup Opportunity
Why, on a philosophical level, has Facebook been so staggeringly successful? A startup that swelled into a multi billion dollar revenue generating business in a relatively short span of years, one which continues to attract billions of users every month?
According to writer and philosopher Alain de Botton the company’s success can be explained by the fact it tapped into a genuine human need that was being overlooked and underserved by the rest of the business community: the desire to have better relationships.
Whether Facebook is actually serving that need well is a whole other question, but the appetite it taps into is undeniable. And de Botton argues that other core human needs continue to be drastically underserved by the modern business community — providing a fertile opportunity for startups to fashion and forge businesses that are successful exactly because they serve the goal of increasing our wellbeing.
Madison Record: If you own property, why do you have to keep paying for it?
There’s an old joke lager lovers tell about how you can’t buy beer, you can only rent it.
Some homeowners and business owners in Chicago and environs undoubtedly feel the same way about the property that allegedly belongs to them.
With property tax rates in some areas topping 15 percent – on lots and buildings that are often overvalued – annual tax bills can easily exceed monthly mortgage payments and make ostensible owners feel more like renters.
Daily Herald: Mt. Prospect panel recommends 1% levy increase for village
The Mount Prospect Finance Commission has recommended the village increase its portion of the property tax bill by 1 percent for the upcoming budget year — less than a quarter of the amount that was recommended by Finance Director David Erb earlier this week.
Erb had projected a 4.42 percent increase in the property tax levy collected in 2015, to raise an additional $760,000. But the Mount Prospect village board has talked about trying to lower that increase. Trustee Paul Hoefert has been especially vocal about wanting to give something back to residents in the wake of recent tax and fee hikes to fund street repairs.
On Thursday, the Finance Commission, an advisory body which reviews the budget in detail and makes recommendations to the board, agreed on several ways the village can find money to make up for a lower increase.
Chicago Now: Illinois Patronage Politics Routinely Disenfranchise Voters
Another Election Day is upon us and like the many I have participated in thus far over the past 4 decades I remain frustrated at the lack of progress. Sadly Illinois Patronage Politics Routinely Disenfranchise Voters as party slate-makers play musical chairs with mostly the same career political hacks that either can’t seem to find the right office to satisfy their own thirst or that of the party honchos.
And when they do find that career hack willing to stay in the same place voters are all too often left without an opposition candidate which is probably the most frustrating aspect of a rigged process. True opposition, as we have seen, is also all too often shut out of the process because they are forced to adhere to a different set of rules than incumbents when it comes to running for office – especially when it comes to the number of petition signatures they must gather.
As a result, many good and qualified people decide to not seek office and that is the greatest shame of a political system that has trapped politicians and beneficiaries of a patronage system that has done nothing more than define what each must do in exchange to earn the government salary which butter’s their bread.
Chicago Tribune: Tinley Park Disposal received no-bid contracts for years
In 2011, Tinley Park concluded its residents were paying more for garbage collection than people in neighboring towns.
But instead of trying to find a less expensive alternative, the village rehired the same garbage collection company, a firm tied to a political insider, without any competitive bidding. That contract extension in 2011, worth an estimated $24 million, won’t expire until 2019.
A Tribune review of records found that the garbage company, Tinley Park Disposal, has continued to receive no-bid contract extensions for nearly two decades. The company was founded by Al Siegers, who has been a volunteer village commissioner since 1993, just a few months before his business inked its first deal with Tinley Park. Siegers also is a campaign contributor and friend to longtime Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
