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"I Pay $271 A Month To Schools And I Don't Have Kids": Illinois Bureaucracy Sucks Homeowners Dry
Ever since the Illinois Supreme Court struck down a pension reform bid in May, prompting Moody’s to downgrade the city of Chicago to junk, the state’s financial woes have becoming something of a symbol for the various fiscal crises that plague state and local governments across the country.
The state High Court’s decision was reinforced late last month when a Cook County judge ruled that a plan to change Chicago’s pensions was unconstitutional.
As we’ve discussed at length, these rulings set a de facto precedent for lawmakers across the country and will make it exceedingly difficult for cities and states to address a pension shortfall which totals anywhere between $1.5 trillion and $2.4 trillion depending on who you ask.
For Illinois, the situation is especially vexing. As you can see from the following graphics, the state’s unfunded pension problem is quite severe.
(Charts: Chicago Tribune)
As the New York Times explains, "pension costs in many American states and cities are growing much faster than the money available to pay them, causing a painful squeeze. Officials who try to restore balance by reducing pensions in some way are almost always sued; outcomes of these lawsuits vary widely from state to state. Some of the worst problems have been brewing for years in Illinois, particularly in Chicago, where the city’s pension contributions have long been set artificially low by lawmakers in Springfield, the state capital. With more and more city workers now retiring, a $20 billion deficit has materialized."
And while we’ve spent quite a bit of time discussing the various issues involved in the pension debate from overly optimistic return assumptions to the use of pension-obligation bonds as stopgap measures, even we were surprised to learn just how convoluted the fiscal situation truly is in Illinois.
As the following excerpts from a Reuters special report make clear, Illinois is in bad shape, and fixing things isn’t going to be easy.
* * *
From Reuters
"Multitude of local authorities soak Illinois homeowners in taxes"
Mary Beth Jachec [a] 53-year-old insurance manager gets a real estate tax bill for 20 different local government authorities and a total payout of about $7,000 in 2014. They include the Village of Wauconda, the Wauconda Park District, the Township of Wauconda, the Forest Preserve, the Wauconda Area Public Library District, and the Wauconda Fire Protection District.
Jachec, looking at her property tax bill, is dismayed. "It’s ridiculous," she said.
A lot has been said about the budget crisis faced by Illinois - the state government itself is drowning in $37 billion of debt, and has the lowest credit ratings and worst-funded pension system among the 50 U.S. states. But at street level, the picture can be even more troubling.
The average homeowner pays taxes to six layers of government, and in Wauconda and many other places a lot more. In Ingleside, 55 miles north of Chicago, Dan Koivisto pays taxes to 18 local bodies. "I pay $271 a month just to the school district alone," he said. "And I don't have children."
The state is home to nearly 8,500 local government units, with 6,026 empowered to raise taxes, by far the highest number in the U.S.
Many of these taxing authorities, which mostly rely on property tax for their financing, have their own budget problems. That includes badly underfunded pension funds, mainly for cops and firefighters.
A Reuters analysis of property tax data shows that the sheer number of local government entities, and a lack of oversight of their operations, can lead to inefficient spending of taxpayer money, whether through duplication of services or high overhead costs. It leads to a proliferation of pension funds serving different groups of employees. And there are also signs that nepotism is rife within some of the authorities.
On average, Illinois’ effective property taxes are the third highest in the U.S. at 1.92 percent of residential property values.
In many Illinois cities and towns, high taxation still isn’t enough to keep up with increasing outlays, especially soaring pension costs, and some services have been cut. For example, in the state capital Springfield, pension costs for police and fire alone will this year consume nearly 90 percent of property tax revenues, according to the city's budget director, Bill McCarty.
Sam Yingling, a state representative who until 2012 was supervisor of Avon Township, north of Chicago, has become an outspoken critic of the multiple layers of local government.
Yingling said when he left the township three years ago, the township supervisor's office had annual overheads from salaries and benefits of $120,000. He claimed its sole mandated statutory duty was to administer just $10,000 of living assistance to poor residents.
The large number of local governments is a legacy of Illinois' 1870 constitution, which was in effect until 1970. The constitution limited the amount that counties and cities could borrow, an effort to control spending.
So when a new road or library needed building, a new authority of government would be created to get around the borrowing restrictions and to raise more money. Today, for example, there are over 800 drainage districts, most of which levy taxes.
And it isn’t only the number of authorities that is a concern. Illinois has about one sixth of America’s public pension plans – 657 out of almost 4,000.
Local authorities in Illinois are mandated by law to keep the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, with 400,000 local government members, fully funded. They had to contribute $923 million in 2014, up from $543 million in 2005.
However, there is no such requirement for the local pension funds. The result: Many of these funds throughout the state are woefully underfunded, and some have less than 20 percent of what they need to meet obligations.
* * *
The piece - which you're encouraged to read in full as it contains several of the most egregious examples of government waste and inefficiency you'll ever come across - goes on to say that reform simply isn't an option, as the Illinois legislature is filled with lawmakers who have at one time or another themselves benefited from the state's sprawling local bureaucracies. Reuters also says it has identified nearly a dozen instances where husbands employ wives, mothers employ daughters, and fathers hire sons," suggesting nepotism weighs heavily on the already elephantine system.
Bear in mind that this is the same state whose court system refuses to allow efforts at pension reform to move forward, and while all of this may seem like a recipe for default disaster, just remember, PIMCO sees a lot of "long-term value" in Chicago's debt.
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You're supposed to have a state pension.
Hook up with Saquanda and start pumping out the meal tickets!
It's only a meal ticket if you have a vagina and no husband. So sayeth our glorious oligarchy.
NOPE HES WRONG THERES FULL REPRESENTATION>>>THE FED TOLD ME SO.
EIPS
When Oprah produced her show in Chicago she commuted from a home in Indiana. It was all about property taxes as I recall.
Damn! Right through Gary and the South Side. She musta felt right at home!
How come she don't live with her kind? What with them mansions and jests, papal visits
She's obviously a black female Jewish woman, which mean's she's the 2nd coming of Christ.
How many straws does it take to break the back of an American citizen? Before I left the USSA I was a resident of Texas... I was paying $6500 per year in school taxes and I don't have any kids... This is based on property values, so anyone that owns property in Texas pays for children of renters to be educated, including all the illegals... Just one of the reasons I sold-up and thumbed my nose at the USSA... Public sector pensions were designed to fail while you and I pick up the tab... Fuck that...
I pay over $50K in taxes every year to maintain black parasites and their ugly children.
Welcome to the real world buddy!
I wonder if they could have brought their suit in Federal Court; they tend to be very sympathetic to changes in pension plans or complete abandonment of them. But maybe they only have jurisdiction over ERISA stuff.
Time to go bankrupt and then hammer out an affordable deal.
LOL.
You could not pay me to visit IL, let alone live there.
But..... this is what you get when you continually reelect liberal schmucks into office.
So suck it up, IL.
In the end, YOU THE PEOPLE are responsible for making this mess.
I think it is fitting that Barry O'Bummer is building his Presidential Library in IL.
What a dump.
For the evidence, right?
Don't worry... ex-Israeli Defense Force soldier Rahm Emmanuel will save the day.
What country did you move out to Keyser?
Always great to see Leftists getting the government they deserve.
I pay way way way way way way way more for kids I have never had.
COSMOS dear.. if you are anywhere as good looking as your avatar .. I will lose the wife and seek you out.
just a joke,, God Bless......
Pension plan income was stolen by ZIRP. The pension problem would not be so bad with that income. The biggest debtor, the federal government has been on a giant borrowing spree because ZIRP makes it look costless. To those who worry about a 1/4% interest rate increase, look at the mess ZIRP has made.
Yeah well, it does kinda make it sorta hard to roll all that existing debt over when you're at damned near zero and that debt is insurmountable now, so I wish all the suckers of neo-con-Keynesianism all the luck in the world with that...lol.
But I'm sure a "few solar panel industries" staffed with illegal Mexicans collecting WIC & EBT will sort it all out with the competing ChiCom subsidized rice eaters in no time at all.
I have it on the very best Keynesian authorities word that Princeton ever produced, it will happen.
Piece-a-Cake, trust me ;-)
And you gotta feed those little niggers breakfast and lunch (and hire police and build prisons, yadda yadda) or they gonna burn yo house down, an shit...
Meet Neil Codell an Illinois educator with a $26 million state pension.
Look for 'Codell, Neil C' -- 4th from the top of the list. His estimated career pension is $26,661,604. That's almost $27 million for a single administrator within just one local Illinois school system (Niles, to be exact).
http://dailybail.com/home/make-this-story-go-viral-you-thought-californi...
In the old West they had posters, wanted, dead or alive...
Right. That's the story that "journalists" like this don't tell. Anyone reading this story will assume it's the rank and file teacher or policeman or fireman that's breaking the bank, when in fact it's the top administrators.
You don't know what you're talking about. Look up "Timothy Bowman" from a few years ago. Ordinary nobody teacher in an ordinary nothing high school who gamed $683,000 (IIRC) from the poor Illinois taxpayer schmucks one year (I assume his last 'cause he disappeared thereafter); probably a case of pension spiking, but there were quite a number of others on the 'I-Can't-Fucking-Believe-This' List.
Top to bottom, they are all greedy thieves. Grotesquely overpaid and underworked, and when they do in fact actually do anything, it just harms society.
Come out to NM. The pay for teachers is shit and the teachers who are actually capable of teaching are treated like shit and not allowed to actually teach. If one teacher sets up a program that actually works, it will get squashed because it makes other schools look bad, and the administrators can't have that. The ones who are capable are all jumping ship. NM's school system is imploding. But just like everything else government these days, the governor uses the same statistical methods for showing how good of a job she is doing as the BLS does to show how well the economy is doing.
PTI,
@LasVegasDave....they need the energy to keep fuckin your wife and daughters...
271 per/month! i suggest you get on your knees now and thank God you dont live in Houston..77024
Yes, but no state income tax in Texas.
I do know what you mean. Homeowner in 77054 from 1983-2010. Enjoyed paying those HISD taxes while my child was in private school or in another country on exchange for 1/2 the time.
come to NJ....the average nothing house is $1000 a month in property taxes...cops and teachers retire on $100k pension...with cops retiring when they are in their 40's
Sheeit. Move to CA and you'll pay 17 different agencies on just one of many tax bills. And they're raising taxes left and right, just callin' 'em "fees"
CA is another pro-public union state.
It'll be tough to sell your home because nobody will want to buy in these ultra-liberal states.
CA is paying for the hordes of illegals. Chicago welcomes them as well. Let them tax themselves to death.
Uh, yogi, California is pretty much in the vanguard of the latest real estate bubble. Dumpy houses in SF in decent neighborhoods are going for $1 million over asking price. That doesn't sound like "no one wants to buy". The dot com bubble is fueling the real estate bubble and when the dot com bubble bursts (again), there are going to be a shitload of bag holders in those properties.
For the 1% it is wonderful. For the other 99% it is hell.
uh, yeah. The bagholders are you and I...the USSA taxpayers.
Very true Bay Area Guy.
But a ton of those buyers are Chinese parking their ill gotten gains offshore. And nobody but the very rich can generally afford to live in the good areas in the big cities of California. Once you get outside the nicer neighborhoods (many of which are now gated communities) you quickly run into semi-dangerous, high crime, gang-infested areas (which are "gentrifying" now) and so houses are still expensive, think $500-750K for a 1200 square foot 2-bedroom "fixxer-upper." Traffic is awful in these areas too.
Check out Dr. Housing Bubble for some great discussions on how crazy Cali RE really is. Unless you're loaded I see no reason to buy there now as most of the price gains are gone and carrying costs are huge.
OT...lol...here we go NSA-DHS, increase paranoia factor to 9.7 (thats Brown Level on your color code guide of you're playing along at home)...
http://opsecteam.org/download/080315_Letter.pdf
...now you've got former spec-ops & spooks pissed about Hillary! and her private email server.
Oh...my ;-)
Brown level b "shit ur pants?" level?
Got it.
Hillary is in my Stevie Wonder level: can't see shit
- Ned
Former spec ops and spooks disgusted. They think anyone cares? Strongly worded letters? LOL! What did they do to uphold their Constitutional oath?
As long as their pensions keep being paid then the circus goes on.
bug eatrz will alwayz play, don't cha' know
They haven't forgot anything, they were just "mis-informed".
What you need to understand is now the Deep State is in a quandary of who to trust, with what. Its really good shit Freddie, DP will now go the way of every other despotic crony crash-up nation, assigning other spooks to spy on other spooks with the spooks assigned now wondering who is watching them.
Paranoia Self Destroya!...literally LMFAO!!!
I have customers in CA, every 2-3 years the state tries to send me a tax bill saying I own them (usually in the 1-10K range.)
My accountant then sends a nasty note to them pointing out income tax is paid on where the company performs the work, not where the customer is.
It still hasn't happened, but I strongly suspect CA will cook the golden goose and chase their big firms out of the state withn the next few years as they try to pay for all the promises they've made.
check out what some states call "privilege fees." They are all coming at us through every channel possible. Skirting existing laws, etc. Recourse? none. Comply or go to jail. Private sector is being roasted alive.
"Privilege fee." Coming soon to every white/Asian/Indian taxpayer. Gotta keep them niggaz 'Ejaculating Better Today'.
Every year I have to pay for a license plate sticker I ask them why.
The car is already registered, the plates didn't change, so why I got to pay $110 every year for a sticker?
They look at me like I am the crazy guy.
Taxes, fees, renewals... all the same shit, just another hand in your pocket.
Illinois is not all that bad, the politicians are the problem.
I live in IL and went to high school here, my teacher drove a mercedes and the rest were making well over $65K for working only 9 months out of the year and reusing worksheets and exams each year. :(
I too live in Illinois and this article is spot on. Just this week I went through a 4br 2.5ba 2000 SF house built in 1975 in the western suburbs of Chicago. Asking price was $338,000. House was a POS if I ever saw one. Total gut job top to bottom. After crunching the numbers, even flipping it on the extremely cheap side would not yield anywhere near a decent profit to make the venture worth while. The icing on the cake was the listed property tax rate was $4000 per year. Located on less than 1/3rd of an acre mind you. Turns out the new 'adjusted' rate for anyone buying the property rises to $8200 per Fing year! The great reset can't happen soon enough. And I say that with full awareness.
In the 70's I had a neighbor by the name Al Swearengen on Gloria Street in Lockport, Il. Ring any bells?
Al, Trixie and Wu are double cocksuckers!!!!
Suck it. I pay that tax and I pay for private school too.
Shaniqua gonna teach yo granchillins real good. Pay yo bill.
If Pimpco thinks it's so great perhaps they ought to buy it all.....
owning ANYTHING labels you as a target for tax hungry burocrats
You never own nuffin
It´s called socialism. When will you Americans ever learn...? Yes - you will have to pay for schools that you don´t use and health care that you xan´t use and benefits that you never will recieve.
It´s been blatantly obvious since the fifties.
Where´s Goldwater when you need him? Take it from a European who has seen all of this before, up close and personal. These systems are like having an endless meeting about having a meeting. Somewhere in the future. While the actuaries tell you that the figures don´t match up and never will.
Your precious Obamacare will be there for you to be paid into but when you need it it will be gone. It´s still there and "free" healthcare but you won´t get it. Though it´s there - in principle.
Haven´t you figured it out yet? Yankees used to be thrifty and business-smart but the last 5 decades or so they have just been suckered by one dixiecrat after the other.
it hurts less if you put some lube back there first and try to relax
this is a major LOL
Living in Illinois is the equivalent of leaving your money in a Greek bank up til about 4 weeks ago.
It's like being a cabin boy for pirates. Seriously, wtf?
And if we just had a bit more money everything would be fixed. For sure this time, just a bit more, promise and that will be it. Just one more little increase and everything will be perfect.
Theyve got to find it somewhere. I recall a few years ago there was acutally a website www.illinoisisbroke.com it laid out all of the debtors and the amount owned..Talk about shock and awe.. couldnt believe my eyes... Schools, Hospitals, colleges etc. It no longer exists, go figure..
I swear this is true. And to top it off we're now getting 'special assessments' for fire and police based on the square footage. On top of our regular property tax.
I bet that fucking Section 8 housing down the block, yea that nice new shiny 10 story RM-30 zoned shit hole that the county owns is not paying any of this tax.
End this FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NOW!
How long before the FBI levy's a special assessment so they can maintain their fleet of G5's for their sexy FBI agents?!
How long until you figure out what the fucking apostrophe is for?
Isn't the "fucking apostrophe" used to massage the G spot.
They are dumbing down teachers in teacher's college training. Only administrators are paid big time. Your Average school superintendent is paid $500K a year plus very generous benefits in AmeriKa while public school teachers are now views as the new "welfare queens". you can get much better idea what is happening to public education K to Graduate School from Education and The Crisis of Public Education by Henry Giroux (2012).
"The Future is Stupid"
It's EXACTLY the same with college professors at uni. There are 2 - 3 in a department making BIG BUCKS, and the rest of us "associate professors" who actually do the teaching are making less than minimum wage. I don't even know how it's legal. Whats the point of a minimum wage law anyway?
I am teaching a class now with 10 students in it. Tutition is 2800 bucks a head. I get paid 1200 bucks for the course. Where is the rest of the money, 26800 USD going? Fucking insane.
If you don't like the pay then quit fucking teaching the class!
Who is John Galt?
Where is the rest of the money, 26800 USD going?
It is going straight to the deans and uni presidents who enjoy their mansions.
It would really depend on the course that you say that you are teaching. If the course has any mathiness in it, then u are being screwed. On the other hand, if u are teaching a "social science" course or similar, such as "minority studiez" or "FEMIMIST THEORY!!!!" then you are being overpaid.
To get to them "big bucks" situations, well, u gotta' suck or kiss a lotta' <<insert all of the bodily orifices and other body parts here>> thangz 2 get there.
- Ned
<<u will notice that I've dumbed down the above spelling so u kan unnnnerstand, got it?>>
Back in the late 90s, my friend, who had a PhD from MIT and was working as a research scientis at the world-renowed Lucent formerly known as AT&T Bell Labs , taught in evenings at Rutgers for undergrad from its Computer Science Dept and got paid about $2 grand a course per semister. The average class size was about 100 students. He was teaching there more for the younger generation tnan for himself financially.
Yea, that sucks.
In the early 90's I was ofered a salaried position in the UC network (without evne having a PHD or anything yet, just really high undergrad grades & great recommendations) for 35K including full graduate tutition, and of course for that dough I would have to teach all of my mentors classes and do lab time as well.
I just mention this to put in perspective just how fast and how far salaries have fallen for the people that actually do the work of education.
The world has really gone to shit in my lifetime.
Is that $2800 tuition just for your class or their entire course load?
Looks like somebody may need to attend remedial arithmetic.
Wow dude did you just step out of a time machine from the past? :)
It's 2800 USD PER STUDENT PER CLASS PER SEMESTER, and that seems like the going rate for private college right now.
This is how the kiddies are racking up 30k+ a year in tutition
Teachers in Chicago and the suburbs are also paid big time for 9 months of work. On top of that, they have gold-plate pensions, especially when compared to those private sector workers footing the bill. "A teacher in Illinois who retired in fiscal year 2012 after 30 or more years on the job could expect an initial average annual pension of $72,693." Agree though, that administrators' pay and pensions in Illinois are obscene.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/policy-points/average-government-pensions...
Situations like that in Illinois will eventually devolve into court battles between home and business owners vs the public unions as the unions attempt to foreclose on properties within the jurisdiction of bankrupted and defunct government units.
Here's exactly what will happen:
Don't want to pay? NO problem. We'll sell your house on the courthouse steps for a fraction of it's value to a rich investor who will in turn rent the property at an obscene price.
Fk 'em all.
not bad assessment, 'cept "rich investor" won't have no buyerz. See previous Z/H articlez.
In the end your assessment is correct. It's not the end. Yet. Plenty of screwing between now and then.
If you are the guy who cant pay his taxes, I suggest opening up your home to a pack of crackwhores. Rent out your top-of-the-line flophouse by the room/hour. Take the whole fucking neighborhood down. Dare that investor prick to come in and buy your place. . .
+1. Got to ride it out. At some point the system implodes. Fight up straight up and lose. Instead, withdraw everywhere possible. Move if necessary (and possible). Fuck em.
Not if you strip out everything of value and dump cement into the plumbing.
Then you say rent THAT, asshole...
So far as property taxes are concerned, at least in this neck of the woods, someone buys your overdue property tax payment at face value from the government. They do not gain title to the land. You have, I think, up to five years to pay them your original assessment plus a statutory fixed interest rate (7% ?). Only if you fail to cover by then do you lose your property.
If this was a five figure problem like some of you guys are facing, I would be worried. Five years to come up with 300 bucks, in my case... I'd have to be a serious fuckup to do that to myself.
Taxation to the point of expropriation is the counterparty risk tied to land.
Nice post!
That's exactly why I'll never own another home! To Local governments you are just a cash cow. They ruin the economy and the real estate market and then tax your land and home on inflated valuations. Then they steal it from you and share it with friends if you miss making a $25 property tax payment. It should be Unconstitutional for government to steal your property because of property tax arrears! I'll maintain my freedom to move to less corrupt locales.
....in a van down by the river...
Reading threads like this is about the same as receiving radio transmissions from an alien planet.
I pay 271 a year for 40 acres and a 2200 sq ft house plus a barn.
But, darn it, I can't get a genuine Chicago dog or Philly cheesesteak or decent bagel.
Somehow, I'll manage to survive this vast cultural deprivation.
Sam Kinison used to say: those starving Africans should just move to where the food is.
Looks like you came upon the same solution for higher property taxes.
do you make deer neck tacos in a crock pot instead?
Facts:
The current mayor of Chicago wants to raise property taxes 50% !
The ex-gov Pat Quinn gets over $100k for life.
Basically, this was a failed system to start with, and now that it has reached the FAIL point they are trying to make something impossible work.
I suggest everyone in the state burn their fucking houses to the goddamn ground and bury the politicians alive in pile of fucking ash.
Not so sure it was a failed system from the get go. If Amerika had not been zio-raided by NAFTA/WTO and the other globalist madness, Americans may have had decent enough wages to keep the pension cycle going. But when WTO was signed in, all these government job pensions should have been axed the next day as the future earnings of Americans had been terminated.
Only two ways out:
1. WW3, which is the zio plan
2. Dismantling globalization, shit-canning the WTO and rebuilding sovereign nations built for the benefit of their own citizenry. Oh and of course, shutdown the Fed.
No. 1 sonuds more realistic
Only two ways out:
Secede. Then secede again, and again, and again. After about five or six iterations you should have a jurisdiction small enough that you actually know who is representing you ... and they know you.
The problem of being locally famous is that everyone is constantly looking at you. You can't even pick your nose without a local headline or facebook post from some asshole. I've lived in some small towns, where everyone knows everyone, even if you don't because your the new guy and are fascinating to the locals. You're immediately famous, and the fact that you married a local and are the son in law of these people and ... it goes on and on. I knew almost immediately I had to walk the straight and narrow, because I had a big fuckin sign over my head.
And I knew it because I grew up in a small town. We had one store, one restaurant, one drive through (private, not a chain), six bars, two liquor stores, a bank, a drug store, a feed store and a newspaper. That was town, 1977. Population 2,200 spread over 250 square miles. (Since 1977 it's grown quite a bit, population is 5,600 (spread over 250 square miles), and there's now three grocery stores, seven restaurants, currently no drive throughs, bank closed [Bank of America] and sold their trailer to one of the restaurants, there is a credit union, three stop signs and one stop light. Progress! Still no McDonald's, BurgerKing, or other similar brand, though a Dollar General is starting to build a store next to the Big Store.) Sat at the restaurant telling some lie about myself, knowing that the barber Swas listening to every word, he left, I stayed, it took fifteen minutes before someone came in asking about my lie.
Now I'm in a bit bigger town, I think the population here and the nearby cities is around 300k. It's a similar situation. You get involved in civic life, you get recognized as 'hey, you're the oldpharts!'
Standing up to declare the fraud of what our banks, money and government really are has to be done in a way that slowly wakes up, and educates, all the rest of the ignorant mass. Otherwise, they view us as going nuts overnight. Now, I'm talking to people, gently explaining what is happening. This seems to be working, because I refer them to start reading Zero Hedge and taking a different view of what headlines on the news represent. So far, since 2008, I think I've woke up about a dozen people. Hopefully they'll start spreading the message and we'll see a logrithmic expansion in awakenings.
At least one of my converts was the local newspaper editor. He's confined by his chain, but he does write an editorial once in a while. Another is a judge, a handy convert to take a $450 traffic violation down to $100. "[myname], what are you doing here? Got a speeding ticket. Were you speeding? Yep, but not this damned fast. $100 fine, pay out front. Ok, thanks." Every head in the court follows me out the door.
The problem of being locally famous is that everyone is constantly looking at you.
The "advantage" of being locally famous is that everyone "can" constantly look at you ... and you at them ... and your fame is held in perspective.
Yo infQE:
There is a thing about larger systems: {us little piglets learn these things and have to to survive} all of a sudden there becomes a collective "we" that wants moar money for the "common good".
Sometimes that is workable.
Sometimes not.
But u can't totally tag this on the zio plan when there were many plans including Rome, Sicilician, Viet Cong/NLF, Mao, Stalin, and the beat goes on.
Met any "made-men" from our little thing?
- Ned
The Chicago governement has been corrupt since before the Great Fire of 1871.
It is the Midwests version of NYC. Everyone in the midwest wants to go there.
I don't know. It is too cold and flat for me. I was there in May, and I froze my ass off.
The Chicago government destroyed the mafia, then they co-opted it's business model.
How is that working out?
SH
How dare you talk about the "2nd city" like that!!
At least the Mafia turned a profit...
The Chicago government destroyed the mafia...
You're welcome ;)
But the mafia is still here. They're called unions now.
try to plug in a light at a trade show in the "windy city" lmfao
In ancient Rome, near the end, people just walked away from thier houses. From the city.
History is repeating... this time on a massive scale with much more dire consequences for most. It very well may be necessary in some areas to just say fuck it and leave. Who knows? Best to at least come to grips with this possible direction and find peace in it. Boy scout sort of stuff... be prepared. Which extends to mental resolve as much as physical. Just my 2 cents, fwiw.
or move out to the sticks where taxes are low after you make your pile. i made a visit back home to the rust belt and was amazed at how bad things looked. all was going down hill in the 1970's and 80's, but it all looks like absolute shit now. ALL of the streets were absolutely in a total state of disrepair you cannot drive the speed limit for fear of destroying the car. you need to do the slalom through the pot holes. even the street going to the country club looks like a bombed out street from Baghdad. absolutely no money or investment coming to a city that probably peaked in the 1940's as a manufacturing hub. so sad.
Making a pile is the rub for most. At least doing so honestly. The percent that can do such is really the top 5%. That is not enough. Heck it takes 10% public action at minimum to make a difference... to create a change in the status quo. But, hey... when the pressure really mounts, I think the next 5% might just "wing it." Get crushed or take a chance... hmmm.... for those with real skills, going Galt might make more sense. Can't say I don't think about these things every day while driving to work. Like a damn prisoner planning an escape. lol. Victim's mentality is damn strange thing.
yes you need a good job and work like a mofo at saving. but it will all probably disappear in hyperinflation anyway
I live in the sticks. Not even in Illinois. I cough up $300 per month, too. Then there's the electric that keeps going up. You have to live in the fucking dark out here just to keep it sub $300. No kidding.
So let's see, that's $600 month to just fucking maintain taxes and power and then you drive to town and see 6 utitilty trucks and 10 guys and 1 pole to put up.
The 'only' reason I stay here and pay it is because of all the shit going on. I can't wait for the day when it flys to hell and any taxman that shows up out here will get beheaded. I can live without the power, it's the creature running around here with large breasts that would argue that part lol.
There are cheaper areas, and you don't have to live in a huge house like I do. It's paid for, I like it, i'm staying to the bitter end. If this mess of shit economy hasn't imploded by the time I die i'm going to time the burning of my house to the ground with my health. I don't have kids, i'm sure's the fk not letting the state have it. I'll try to hand it off, I am assuming by then that the inheritance taxes will be so screwed it will be impossible. Yep, tax this pile of charcoal assholes lol.
i think there are a lot of places in the midwest where $100/mo property taxes is fairly standard for an average home. What state are you in?
How bit a little Elton John to set the mood:
"Hold me closer tiny daaans-her!
Count the headlights out on the highwaaaay"...lol.
Dude, git'cherself off to delightful vacation! We'll b here when u get back all "refreshed" 'n' stuff
;-)
- Ned
T-minus___and counting ;-)
And it's only going to get worse.
Illinois promised teachers, firemen and police fat pensions.
There are many HS teachers making well over $100,000 in pensions. Someone has to pay for it.
Many of the public union pensioners move out of Illinois when they retire because they know cost of living taxes are close to the highest in the nation.
Plus Illinois is a pro-union and hostile to private businesses.
Bureaucrats have taken over, that's the problem.
Once a bureuacrat has made up a new rule, he's out of a job, unless he can come up with another one.
That's why all the rule books are a yard thick and nobody understands 'em.
Non-productive arseholes destroying those who might be producing something - they can't because of the costs of shit like licenses and permits plus the taxes they pay for the bureaucratic fucks and their pensions.
Same everywhere, it just varies a little here and there.
Ha, take a look at Texas.
Give me a break. Report on something meaningful will you.
One of the many reasons we left Chicago.
And I thought we lived in the armpit of USA. Kinda makes me feel better.
Miffed
Bent Armpit, Wyomin?
I think Miffed lives somewhere in San Diego.
Well, I was thinking of Cali as a whole. Honestly, San Diego is a relatively good place considering LA, San Fran and Sacramento. There are a few sane people left here.
Miffed;-)
Funny, I used to live in Escondido years ago as a twenty something horney working on construction dude. Beautiful place if you have money, which we didn't. I got tangled up with the meth industry for a year (it was the BEST of times, it was the WORST of times), and had to move back to Chi town to get my shit together. We left Chicago in the late 90s but even then I saw the writing on the wall. Corruption, nepitism galore, work projects that didn't need to be done, work projects that needed to be done but were not done. I can't imagine how it is now.
Don't come back to visit Escondido for some reconnection to the past. I'm afraid it isn't anything what you imagined. 15 years ago I was at Palomar. Two gangs were having a shoot out in the ER parking lot and I was walking to the parking garage elevator. I started to run as the bullets hit the window. Taught me to peak around the wall, assess the situation and make a dash for it after that. Several women were assaulted in their cars so I carried a knife. Great place to learn microbiology though! Infections from knife wounds, human bot flies, PID in 16 year olds, malaria in migrant workers. Things I had only read about in school. The biggest excitement working in la Jolla was finding Giardia in my pathologist's dog.
Miffed;-)
Thanks for reminding me why I chose engineering. Yuck! ha ha.
(Hats off to you miffed, as always. Realistically, I am huge fan of biological sciences... especially lab work. Would be beyond proud if one of my kids - both are great at science - wind up there.).
You know, over the years I started to appreciate it. Coming home after experiencing a day filled with the above, I could sit next to a sniffling girl who got a B on her algebra final when she was determined for an A and say " Sweetie, in the grand scheme of things, it really is ok."
Miffed;-)
Its all relative to your situation. To her, it's the end of the world (because she can do better and is driven to do better, I know, I'm one of those myself) but to you, you know it could be much, much worse. Hats off to you miffed for what you do. Its an unsung profession that keeps alot of people alive.
Union-road-worker (working because pols need their votes) and crony-capitalism building projects that are nice to have but not needed...
Same old, same old. Last Daley saw the writing on the walls.
Yo, Miffed:
Schadenfreude doesn't become you, babe. Fight's on, and it is a marathon. U b surrounded by all kindaz' friends. just say "Semper Fi" or "hey Sailor" (-;
Don't cha' know.
- Ned
I agree. That post smacked of it. My wrist is lashed in remembrance of Sister Agnes. She had a low tolerance for whimpering, impudence and pride.
Miffed
Armpit, and Meth Capitol of the World is my home town, Lucerne Valley. Apple Valley is little better.
San Diego is a pretty city, had to drive there everyday when I was way overpaid, in Hanson's Pit next to Miramar Marine Base. Don't miss it, or the drive.
One of these days, Miffed, you and Mr. Miffed, will have to meet me and OldphartsWifeOutInTheDesert at Froggies [it's a shithole bar] for a beer. We're damned near neighbors.
Next trip to Lost Wages, get in touch for a meet up.
Love to! Connect with me on chat.
Miffed
Good old taxation with or without representation.
In fact, I am really pissed off to the point of screaming about "represenation without taxation"
In Boston of yore, they would have to have dumped the local .gov into the harbour.
You fucked it up.
It's 'Taxation With Misrepresentation.'
Government (at all levels) keeps saying they want to imporve the life of the middle class. Yet it's the SAME socalistic governments that are the ones bleeding the middle class dry.
An extra few hundred dollars in fees/taxes here or there is nothing to the rich. But to the struggling middle class, its an anchor they can never shake.
Governments can't raise enough money JUST by taxing the 1%, they have to tax everyone who has ANYTHING of value, meaning the middle class.
Ironic, that the middle class voting for socalist governments are in fact just hurting themselves, but of course they can't see it. The governments promise to "give" them $1, and the people are overjoyed, but then the same government turns around and picks their pockets for $3, while telling them it's good for them.
4 years ago I sold my house in Lake County, Il (where Waconda is located). Data shows that Lake County has the highest property taxes in the United States except for some in New York and New Jersey. Even though the value of my house had declined, by over 30% the taxes are up over 10%. I guess the sucker who bought my house loves paying for the teachers.
At least these pensioners will have Social Security to fall back on......... lol
If you really want to get pissed off, take a look at those government unit's CAFRs Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. I looked at my county's CAFR, the county that is demanding higher taxes, and there is enough idle money there for two full years of county budget. I've been fighting property taxes, and studying their process. It is a scam and a lie. It is done with threat only and fails miserably in law.
How do they have this idle money designated? Is it part of a fund that pays future pensions? Is it part of an infrastructure fund to pay for future road work? Illinois is broke. It has a $111 billion pension shortfall, the worst in the nation. Not sure how it is possible that they have idle money laying around that isn't already earmarked for a future expense.
cafr1.com
Look at Cook County CAFR.
Somehow we've got to figure that money is in interest and sinking funds for debt service.
Same here in Oregon, and a couple of years ago when they wanted to raise our property taxes "for the children" the vote was overwhelming NO. So what did the skools do? They started charging "fees". Book fees, locker fees, breathing fees, etc, and then put in coke and candy machines to help with costs. What is even more sick about property taxes for skools is that you are paying them to dumb down your children and turn them into zombie government slaves... Same with federal taxes being used to bomb other countries that are NO threat to us, but the bankers want to control the world and the resources. Isnt life fucking grand
"for the children"
Get ready to be reamed by the school administrators who make fat pay and pensions.
Yes, when they all squeal its 'for the children'....I promptly tell them all that a voucher system would be better for the children.(let people decide where to educated their children versus state sponsored eduation camps).
I'm from Quebec,Canada and everybody here int he province have this taxe too. Quebec is much worst than Illinois same socialism crooks
Hey you whiner, that's your "civic duty"...hahahahahahaha
Suck it up bitch.
(jeez, all the people who recognise sarcasm left ZH or something?)
we recognize sarcasm, we're just to beat tooshit to upvote. You get the results of the dregs of society. Most of us, if we had the energy after working 13 hours to support everyone fucking else, would click on your upvote, but we take it for granted that what your posted is essentially true and scroll on.
You want upvotes, post a lie.
The fuckng guy probably doesn't use the library either.
One thing great about the United States is that we can at least still vote with our feet. I would not live in a state like Illinois (my father was born in Illinois but he left before WW 2 and never returned). People need to leave and let Illinois collapse down on the heads of the governments and the FSA.
Call the local fire department and see how much they charge you for fees besides making money from taxes and working on the side.
Just use the U-Haul rates to see where people are fleeing.
Cost to rent a 10' truck going from Chicago to Dallas: $1,405.00
Cost to rent a 10' truck going from Dallas to Chicago: $551.00
Anybody that stays in those liberal tax/borrow/spend state/cities deserves what they get.
Glenn Hegar, the Texas state comptroller, was the speaker at I meeting I attended Monday evening. He made the point about truck rentals to versus from Texas. Said it is on his website somewhere with little pictures of trucks. I gave up looking for the link to share here. Thanks for posting that.
Were you in Longview Monday night?