I think that Washington D.C. may be the top city when it comes to retarded politics but Chicago has got to come in second. God knows I love that city but sometimes…Here are a few nuggets that I pulled from the Chicago Tribune:
Governor Ryan
Former Governor George Ryan corruption conviction landed him a sentence of 6 ½ years in prison. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that thought he got off light. So, kudos to the attorney general who is now going after Gov. Ryan’s pension. Don’t expect me to shed any tears as his $200,000 a year pension is ripped away from him.
Someone in the Ryan camp, I believe it was his lawyer, conceded that part of Gov. Ryan’s pension was able to be taken away but not all of it could. The governor’s corruption conviction stems from his time as governor and as secretary of state. They contend that he should be allowed to keep the benefits he earned during his service as a state legislator and as lieutenant governor. The attorney general said nope. She wants it all.
According the article, “pension benefits can be denied to employees convicted of a felony arising from their public service. That change was written into the law after another former governor, Otto Kerner, was convicted in 1973 in connection with a racetrack scandal and sought to collect retirement benefits.” What is it with Illinois and its governors?
The Big-Box Ordinance
The City Council will try to override Mayor Daley’s veto of the Big-Box Ordinance. The measure would have required stores such as Wal-mart and Home Depot to pay their workers at least $10 an hour plus $3 in benefits.
The aldermen supporting the measure point out that this type of ordinance has been successful in other cities that have passed similar legislation. Critics say that this will drive jobs out of Chicago and keep business from coming in.
Well the critics are right and it has already happened. A Wal-mart was going to be built in the city but due to all that red tape, they decided to move the store just across the city line. Who lost? The city. Who gained? The suburb and Wal-mart. The suburb gets a nice little tax check from Wal-mart while the store enjoys a lower tax burden. They don’t have to pay their workers what the city demands but they get all those customers coming in from the city. City money flows out into the suburbs. Tsk, tsk. They brought this on themselves.
The Foie Gras Ban
Alderman Burton Natarus is tyring to overturn the foie gras* ban that went into effect last month. Alderman Bernard Stone says that the ban has made Chicago a laughing stock. (Not that it hasn’t been recently.) I mean, c’mon! Foie Gras? Does the city council really need to get into kitchens and decide what is fit to be on the menu? If they can take out duck or goose liver, why not also make a ban on lobster? I think that throwing live lobsters into boiling water can be deemed cruel. And if force feeding is cruel, then perhaps we should quit using the practice on Gitmo prisoners who insist on going on a hunger strikes.
*For the record, I would never eat foie gras (yuck) but I wouldn’t stop others from doing so.
4 comments:
I'm with you on the froi gras- I think the council has too much time on its hands-
BUT
As far as Big Box goes, I have to respectfully disagree. As much as I love going to Target as much as the next boy, the untapped market within the city on the north and west side has been touted in the tens of millions of dollars, much more than the big box ordinance would cost these giant retailers.
I read a study from UIC as well, saying that low paying jobs, including at big box stores, force almost a half-million Illinois families onto public assistance. The study also says that the ordinance would actually save the city close to $40 million dollars in saved financial assistance to these workers with no health care who make a very meager wage.
There is only so much market potential if the big box stores stay outside the city, even just across the city lines. The lines that I experience at Kohls, Target, etc., every weekend and after work when I go kind of lead me to believe they are full of shit when they say they might up and leave if big box is passed. I’m kind of proud of the council for making this stand.
And I think this is officially the longest comment I've ever left ;)
While there maybe market potential within the city, Big-Box retailers will continue to bo where there is least resistance. Until the market is saturated in the suburbs, I don't think the city is going to get many enthusiastic applications.
I also don't think that it is a company's responsibility to make sure that an employee has a "living wage." Every one of Wal-mart's workers agreed to work for a their current wage. It is not Wal-mart's concern that some of their workers come from desparate circumstances. I know that sounds horrible, but it's the truth.
But let's go with a situation when Wal-mart is paying $13 an hour. That is almost twice as much as I am making right now. If I get this full time job that I applied for, Wal-mart will still be paying more. As a graduate with a college degree, where would I go to work? Wal-mart even though it has nothing to do with the degree I earned. Or let's even consider the middle class white kid who needs a part time job. Who are we I going to beat out? Joe Dropout who has 3 kids to take care of. I think that it is fair to say that such a wage increase is going to attract people that the ordinance was not designed to help.
And hey, I like it when people comment. Especially long comments. Makes me think I actually posted something worthwhile. :)
As a followup, I know we are on different sides of this particular issue, but I thought this was interesting-
At the first WalMart that opened up in the city, WalMart says there were 15,850 applications for 400 jobs.
Unbelievable.
^I was debating whether or not to make another blog post about that. Anyways, the same thing happend with that one Wal-mart that was moved across the city line. You can make an argument either way using supply and demand. Yet in the end, I think you and I will still be on opposing sides. But that's okay.
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