By Steve Rhodes
“When advocates for the needy and vulnerable wanted to stave off budget cuts earlier this year, they fought for a change in tax laws that would save Illinois hundreds of millions of dollars,” AP reports. “Six months later, state leaders are giving the idea serious consideration – as a way to pay for corporate tax breaks.”
Here’s my favorite part:
“The idea went nowhere in the spring largely because of opposition from business groups, which considered [the change] to be a tax increase. Lawmakers wanted nothing to do with anything labeled an increase so soon after raising income taxes. Now, however, they’re on board with the idea.”
Funny, that.
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We coddle the rich and punish the poor. And you know what? The rich are soft as a result and the poor are tough. Who do you think would have a better chance of survival in a post-apocalyptic world?
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“The 2012 budget passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Pat Quinn earlier this year cuts funding for homeless prevention services by 52 percent, eliminating $4.7 million for shelters, emergency housing and transportation,” Megan Cottrell reports. “Homeless advocates are fighting for that funding to be restored, but neither party seems optimistic about that happening.
“Numbers from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless indicate that more people were turned away from homeless services last year than were taken in. That’s 45,673 turn-aways compared with 40,542 intakes.”
Maybe the homeless should occupy the lobbies of Boeing, Groupon, Navistar, Chrysler and other beneficiaries of the corporate safety net.
“[I]n two years in office Mr. Quinn has doled out corporate welfare to at least 80 firms, costing the state nearly $500 million,” the Wall Street Journal noted recently (citing a Tribune report).
But there’s not enough money for homeless shelters. Occupy Quaker Oats; maybe there’s food there, too. Better yet: Jewel.
“The TIF program was designed to eradicate blight, add jobs and spur economic growth. It supports public and private sector projects including infrastructure, parks, schools and corporate subsidies,” the Chicago News Cooperative recently reported. “Of the $1.2 billion designated for private sector projects since 2000, nearly half was earmarked for some of the area’s most profitable corporations. City officials approved financing for Quaker Oats, CareerBuilder, UPS, Target and Jewel-Osco, among others.”
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It ain’t getting better, either.
“A little more than 46 percent of all single-family homes with a mortgage in the Chicago area were underwater in the year’s third quarter, far more than the nation as a whole,” the Tribune reports.
“The percentage of homes in the Chicago area with negative equity, meaning more is owed on the mortgage than the value of the underlying property, rose 9 percent from the second quarter, according to a report scheduled to be released Tuesday by real estate website Zillow.”
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Meanwhile:
Revamped Gambling Expansion Passes Illinois House Panel
Vs.
Lotto Sales Up In Poorer Areas.
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And then there’s the fierce urgency of now.
Vs.
A Plea To Save Our Mental Health Centers From Rahm’s Rampage.
City Honors Bill Kurtis . . .
. . . For His Service To Official Sources.
Remembering Heavy D In Chicago
At The Shrine in 2009.
Lonely Bear In Chicago
Kilroy proves it was here.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Heavy.
Posted on November 9, 2011