From the Dennis Gartman Letter: CAN ILLINOIS REALLY BE THAT STUPID?: Illinois is, for all intents, insolvent. We can let the accountants and the lawyers take issue with this statement for we are not accountants here and certainly we are not lawyers writing TGL each day, but from our perspective this is our perception of that important Midwestern state, once our home. Spending has gotten out of hand in the âPeopleâs Republic of Chicago,â and it is taking the rest of Illinois down with it. As Lily Tomlin used to day, âAnd thatâs the truth!â What concerns us is Illinoisâ approach to fixing the What concerns us is Illinoisâ approach to fixing the problem. Rather than chopping spending on frivolous programs, Illinois is taking the Leftâs preferred way to fix the problem: it is raising taxes on its citizens and it is raising them violently. Facing insolvency⦠and ahead of a new, more Republican legislature that was to be seated yesterday⦠the out-going state legislature pushed through a 67% state income tax increase!. The sheer audacity of that move still has us in awe⦠and shock. The measure passed the stateâs House of Representatives a few nights ago on a 60-57 vote and then passed through the Senate in the wee hours of the next morning 30-29 vote. This is utter and complete nonsense; this is governance of the first and worst type. We watched yesterday then as the Governor of Indiana, âMitchâ Daniels, openly applauded the decision made by the legislators to his west, knowing that his state shall be the beneficiary of jobs and businesses that shall be leaving Illinois and making their way to Indiana to escape this tax increase. At the margin, this will indeed happen, and at the upper end of income levels this will happen even more substantively. Attorneys that can do business from anywhere will, at the margin, leave Chicago and make their way to Indiana [Ed. Note: We do acknowledge that some may not consider this a benefit to the good people of Indiana.]. Accountants will do the same; doctors from Chicago and from downstate within miles of the Indiana/Illinois border will do so also. Manufacturing jobs on the south side of Chicago will, where possible, fold their operations there and make their way to Indiana. Up north, retail operations on Chicagoâs north shore will pack up and move to the suburbs of Milwaukee in Wisconsin. The âarbâ between real estate values in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, or between south side Chicago and western Indiana will narrow in the favour of Wisconsin and Indiana following this idiocy by the Illinoisâ legislature. We are willing to bet that two years hence, even with the economy doing better nationally, that Illinoisâ overall tax âtakeâ from its citizens will be lower than where it was in â10 while the tax revenues raised by Indiana and Wisconsin shall be higher. The âgoodâ done by the legislators of Illinois for the states of Indiana and Wisconsin should be applauded⦠and will be⦠by the good people of the latter two states, and should be condemned⦠and will be⦠by the citizens of Illinois. Can Illinois really be that stupid? Apparently it can be.
How touching. Tolerance and acceptance from a totally colorblind, non-bigot that is as humble as Texas is big. No sir, not an ounce of conceit, arrogance, or prejudice in that post.
I hate to resurrect this thread cause its so depressing but this article will interest some, background note Ari Emanuel is a hollywood agent, (see entourage), hence the hollywood connection. don't live in Chi so doesn't effect me, looks like business as usual. If he doesn't get elected I would be shocked, although the jury is out on the resident thing. http://www.suntimes.com/3426204-418/chicago-emanuel-hollywood-fund-calif.html having trouble with the link here is the story: By Abdon M. PallascH Political Reporterapallasch@suntimes.com Last Modified: Jan 23, 2011 11:34AM Local and national hedge fund managers and movie industry moguls helped mayoral hopeful Rahm Emanuel collect more than $10 million in a mere three months for his mayoral run. Twenty-four supporters gave $100,000 or more to the campaign before new limits on contributions kicked in Jan. 1. Now individuals can give only $5,000 each per election cycle, so director Steven Spielberg would not be able to give the $75,000 he donated last year. Emanuelâs rivals for the mayorâs seat find those big-dollar contributions â especially the out-of-town ones â worrisome. âThis ... is an obscene amount of money,â said City Clerk Miguel del Valle. âThis is Chicago. We should not be picking a mayor of the city of Chicago based on what Hollywood star or what Hollywood tycoon is able to provide ... funding for the mayoral candidate.â Del Valle conceded Spielberg was probably not looking for a city contract. âWeâve raised nearly $3 million, the vast majority of our money has come from the Chicagoland area,â said former School Board Chief Gery Chico. âRahm Emanuel has raised that much from outside the city, Hollywood.â But Emanuel said his successful friends will be as willing to give money to worthy causes in Chicago as they are to his campaign. âI am proud and happy that Steve Jobs, who runs Apple, one of the most successful CEOs, supported that campaign,â Emanuel said. âEric Schmidt from Google, supported the candidacy, Google has a big operation in Chicago. Eli Broad, one of the big philanthropists who sponsors and funds education reform, has supported the candidacy, These are the people, on behalf of Chicago, I will be, not owing them, but some of the people I will be calling upon when I talk about a public-private partnertship, a race to the top, for Chicago for education reform, to invest in ... better quality teachers. I will be calling upon those individuals to join Chicago and invest in Chicagoâs future.â Three quarters of his contributors are local, Emanuel said, but he could not say what percentage of the cash was from local contributors. Here are the members of Emanuelsâ $100,000 Club: ■ The Chicago Mercantile Exchange: $200,000. ■ Haim & Cheryl Saban of Beverly Hills, Calif. Saban Entertainment. Heâs the CEO of the Fox Family Network and creator of the Power Rangers movies. Combined they gave more than half-a million dollars. The campaign refunded $300,000, because, Emanuel said, âI set a cap [of $200,000 per couple] and so Haim Saban [is] somebody I will be calling upon to invest in Chicago so I can get schools to the quality the people here want.â ■ David and Diane Heller of Chicago. Heâs the investment manager of Advisory Research: $200,000. The following donors gave $100,000 each: ■ Blue Media LLC, a Chicago-based private equity and consulting firm. Eric Lefkofsky, president. ■ Netscape founder James Clark, Palm Beach, Fla. ■ Donald Edwards, Edwards, Enterprises LLC, Chicago. ■ Newsweb Executive Fred Eychaner, of Chicago, a longtime donor to Democrats on the national and local level. ■ John Fogelman of Los Angeles, Calif., a Hollywood agent and partner of Emanuelâs brother, Ari. ■ Hollywood mogul David Geffen of Beverly Hills, Calif. ■ Retired hedge fund manager Howard Gottlieb of Evanston ■ Anne Dias Griffin, managing partner of Aragon Global Management of Chicago. ■ Kenneth Griffin, president, Citadel Investment Group of Chicago ■ Kristen Hayler Hertel, a Winnetka homemaker. ■ Matthew Hulsizer of Winnetka, Hedge fund manager, CEO of Peak6 Investments; aspiring owner of the Phoenix Coyotes. ■ Shahid R. Kahn of Champaign, Ill. Executive of Flex-n-gate. ■ David Kronfeld, president of JK&B Capital of Chicago ■ Howard Labkon, recycler, General Iron Industries of Chicago. ■ John Morgan, of Minneapolis, CEO of Winmark Corp. ■ Timothy Mullen of Chicago, self-employed private investor ■ Sean Parker, of Berkeley, Calif., a co-founder of Napster and Facebook portrayed by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network. ■ Michael Sacks, Managing partner of Grosvenor Capital Management of Chicago. ■ Sterling Fund Management LLC, of Northbrook. Contributing: Chris Fusco, Tim Novak
Yeah I saw that list. They left out Donald Trump as well. I don't understand why Ken Griffin and the CME and several other big hedge fund guys are supporting Rham. There must be a lot of fear in the financial community that if an african american gets elected (Braun) that she will go after the financial industry. I just can't get over the fact that the 3rd largest city in the country has such a shitpile list of candidates to choose from for mayor. I mean f*ck. I should run.
jew fest http://www.campaignmoney.com/ceo.asp did anyone tried to find out,if there is any strong correlation between companies,that contribute large amount of money to certain politician and their stock performance over let say S&P?
to me its more about the trend where you have to have large dollars to compete, tv ads etc. He is being supported by some wealthy people, if you look closely at donations the truly wealthy support both sides, with maybe more going to the side they like. I think this trend will continue with the person with the most tv ads winning, doesn't say much about the iq of the average person in the US. I am sceptical that anyone these days can bring real change given the mired bureaucracy our govt has become. business plan: run for office raise 5 million, spend 3 create and fund charity with remaining 2 million called hookers and blow charity foundation..