Wasting Money

Poor management of inventory leads to this:

• Once meant for public trains and buses, the untouched heaters, rod ends and spools of copper wire have instead collected dust for years at the Chicago Transit Authority's main warehouse.
  
  But a cleanup is under way.
  
  As part of the initiative to cut costs and increase efficiency, the CTA plans to auction off about one-third of its total inventory of unused parts and supplies in late spring, officials said. It will also hire a qualified company to manage inventory, they said.

The qualified company being Vanecko Widget Counters Incorporated.

Poor management of a city leads to this:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel is mounting a challenge to 2010 U.S. Census estimates that Chicago lost about 200,000 residents.
  
  Big city mayors regularly contest the once-a-decade census results, which determine how much federal funding flows to different parts of the country. Chicago would gain about $1,200 annually for the next decade for each person added to the official population, according to Emanuel’s office.
  
  Emanuel’s predecessor, Mayor Richard Daley, launched an unsuccessful bid to get Chicago’s 2000 population numbers increased. In 1990, Daley and other mayors tried futilely to get Congress to give them additional time to fight the census results.

Money being spent that Chicago doesn't have, to get more money from Washington that Obama doesn't have either.