Chicago budget sets stage for long-term austerity

[Hannah Bell]

Just weeks after announcing that he would not seek a seventh term as mayor of Chicago in next spring’s municipal elections, Richard Daley presented his last budget to the city council. Facing ongoing declines in revenue—nearly $1 billion since 2007—the city projected a deficit of $654.7 million for the upcoming fiscal year....

The top candidates in the election, to be held February 22, are now attempting to outdo each other in their commitment to austerity. For example, Gery Chico, current chair of the board of the City Colleges of Chicago, said he would “strip down the city budget and rebuild it,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

The leading contender, Rahm Emanuel, until recently Obama’s chief of staff, is well-placed in the contest, having worked both in the finance industry and as its political servant in Congress and the White House. Among the largest contributors to his campaigns over the years have been Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Blackstone, Citigroup and UBS.

Notably, Daley did not propose raising taxes on Chicago’s 19 billionaires, whose combined fortune is $34.2 billion, about 49 times greater that the city deficit. Nor did he consider increased taxation on the more than 20 Fortune 500 companies that make their home in the Chicago area, among them Boeing, Kraft Foods, Allstate Insurance, McDonald’s, Motorola, Exelon, United Airlines, Discover Financial, and Abbot Laboratories. Daley instead liquidated financial reserves that will pave the way for an assault on social spending in the years to come...

Daley’s final budget is the culmination of a career in the service of Chicago’s financial elite. Since 1989, city spending has been cut by $3 billion, a significant figure considering the 2011 budget is roughly $6.1 billion. Highlighting the extent to which concerns of law and order have predominated among the bourgeoisie, 68 percent of the city budget is now spent on police and emergency management.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/chic-o21.shtml

[dkf]

1. What is the purpose of listing someones total wealth when we don't tax on that basis?

And then they compare this total wealth number to the budget deficit? That makes no sense unless they want some entirely new form of taxation.

[Hannah Bell]

2. because total wealth gives us an idea of their income. since we don't have access to their

tax returns in the routine way of things.

50-60% of income in this country goes to 10% of the population: that's the point.

[dkf]

5. I'm not sure that follows

The last 3 years of equity returns is still minimal percentage wise so a billion in wealth may not have created much income. Let's say they gained 5% annually...That wouldn't pay for the debt the way the article is suggesting it would.

[maryf]

3. K&R

Tax the rich more...

[blindpig]

7. Tax them until their eyes bleed. n/t

[madrchsod]

4. the most important paragraph is the last...

rahm maybe the leading contender but he`s not all that well liked in the different communities in chicago. if tom dart decides to run he has a chance. dart stopped evicting people again....

[DailyGrind51]

6. As a life-long Chicago resident who has been "underemployed" for several years, but pay

the highest sales tax in the nation (tied with L.A. at 9.75%, but used to be 10.25%) and a real-estate tax nearly $1K more per year than what those with similar homes pay on the other side of the city limits, I am relieved! I have unemployed neighbors who feel the same way. Believe me, I am no fan of the retiring mayor who is largely responsible for the mess he is leaving behind him, but many of us can't afford higher taxes, fines, and user fees, and Mayor Daley knows it!

[AngryAmish]

8. Taxing Allstate would be a pretty good trick considering they are in Northbrook

I, personally, have always been a supporter of taxation without representation...

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Good Catch!

I saw that too. Kraft is in Northbrook too, and Abbott is in North Chicago. So, that is three of them listed that have virtually NOTHING to do with the Chicago budget.
GAC

[AngryAmish]

11. Allstate does do business in Chicago

Write (shitty) policies, have franchise agents, has a law firm. But same could be said for any large corporation. BTW, McDonald's is in Oak Brook.

[unhappycamper]

9. And in other news, the DoD spends about $10 billion dollars a year in laser research.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9366533


Too bad we can't siphon some of that $10 B off and put it to good use.