By the Numbers
- Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed the books on 2012 with $33.4 million in unallocated cash on hand — down from $167 million the year before — while adding to the mountain of debt piled on Chicago taxpayers, year-end audits show.
Last week, Moody’s Investors ordered an unprecedented triple-drop in the city’s bond rating, citing Chicago’s “very large and growing” pension liabilities, “significant” debt service payments, “unrelenting public safety demands” and historic reluctance to raise local taxes that has continued under Emanuel.
The 2012 city audits explain why. They show that an unallocated balance that was $167 million a year ago because of Emanuel’s aggressive cost-cutting efforts has dropped to $33.4 million.
Budget Director Alex Holt blamed the $133.6 million drop on “honest” budgeting and ending the long-standing practice of carrying “ghost” vacancies.
And here's part of the "crime is down" argument:
- The number of “physical arrests” by Chicago Police officers declined again — from 152,740 in 2011 to 145,390 in 2012. That continues a six-year trend that coincides with the hiring slowdown that caused a dramatic decline in the number of police officers. Police made 227,576 arrests in 2006. The number of arrests has been dropping like a rock ever since.
Less cops = less crime? Not really....just "less reported crime."
posted by SCC at 12:05 AM
38 Comments:
"The new round of borrowing brings Chicago’s total long-term debt to nearly $29 billion. That’s $10,780 for every one of the city’s nearly 2.69 million residents. More than a decade ago, the debt load was $9.6 billion or $3,338 per resident."
Good Lord, Rahm DOES think he's Obama Junior. How tall can this Jenga tower grow?
Hahaha...
"Budget Director Alex Holt blamed the $133.6 million drop on “honest” budgeting and ending the long-standing practice of carrying “ghost” vacancies.?
PAY ATTENTION!!!
All those jobs that Rahm told Chicagoan's about -- like the welding jobs at AAR Corp. whereas the company just couldn't find qualified applicants... Ya think that they may also be "ghost vacancies"?
Every time a politician or corporate CEO tells you that there's a skills mismatch and they can't find people to do the work when real unemployment is running +18% -- and they tell you that they have job vacancies that they can't fill - Yep. "Ghost vacancies" BULLSHIT!
Well why would you advertise for a job that you really didn't have, right?
The answer is to depress wages. You don't want the college kids to shy away from the type of work that your company does.
You need to keep the incoming job applicants lining up so that you can rotate you employees out the door and ratchet down their wages and ben-nee's
CEO's need to create an illusion that there is a great future and money to be made at their business.
If the kids start choosing other professions that might just create a real shortage and if you're the CEO you don't want that now do you?
Also, middle management at corporation use ghost vacancies as a tool to obtain bonuses!. See, look we came in under budget we deserve a bonus. We held these positions open all year because we thought we needed them. However I am so great that we didn't need them.
So ghost vacancies have a multipurpose.
A "don't let a crisis go to waste" tool. Create the crisis first tho. that's all you have to do.
In response to liberal claims that too many minorities are being arrested and sentenced to prison, Obama's claims that racial profiling is occurring, CPD officers, without official backing, have conspired to reduce the numbers of minorities being arrested, just to see if less minorities being arrested will result in less crimes being committed. . . . Let the results speak for themselves.
As far as racial profiling goes, how does that occur in a community like englewood where 98 percent of the population is minority?
Do you want to see examples of racial profiling? but let's call it "reverse racial profiling", when members of one race target people of another race to commit crimes against them. Go to the Magnificent Mile!!
Wouldn't it be great if Sharpton, Obama, and all the race baiters would stand up against reverse racial profiling?
Chicago's bond rating has typically been Triple-A for decades, not because we're loaded or have a think-tank of Harvard and Yale wizards doing our financial dealings but because we're on the banks of a virtually inexhaustible supply of fresh water (true.....look it up.)
Rahm wants to portray Chicago as teetering on bankruptcy and insolvency, much like Detroit, so he can back out of fulfilling pension obligations and healthcare costs. The last time there was a quantum shift in our bond rating was when Jayne Byrne, in an effort to disgrace the 11th Warders (who refused to slate her for re-election) told anyone who would listen that the Daley's had left the City broke and destitute. Well, we weren't broke then and we ain't broke now. It's all smoke and mirrors to get what they want.
Does ANYONE think that the City of Chicago should be allowed to run or manage a CASINO???? That's why they're making this big pitch so when the vote comes up for casino licenses Rahm will be the Knight in shining armor who will come in and fix it all.
It's all on the up-and-up. Take those promotional tests.
Remember the days of disorderly conduct arrests? Wasn't it around 2006 when they told us to stop doing it? That's where your arrest numbers went down.
That is one of the arguments about Detroit, no social services because of the pension costs. Cannot have it both ways.
I think a big help to those drop in numbers has to come from 015. Nobody does shit there anymore. Anybody that could have gotten out did. And the rest that are stuck there are looking at all options to get out of that dump.
There are a couple of misconceptions here - No. 1: Ghost vacancies in government are positions allocated by the budget that are unfilled; businesses, who operate on a 'for profit' basis, don't do that, and they can be fined per federal law if they advertise positions that aren't real - No. 2: Cash on hand is not extra money, just cash that hasn't been paid out yet, just like when you balance your own checkbook. Hopefully, you will always have cash on hand, and not be in deficit, or you will have bouncing checks. Also, the comment that Rahm is lying about the city's financial position to save him from pension obligations - the reason the bond rating was lowered was because of the pension obligations, which are unfunded (see comment about "cash on hand" above).
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
Anonymous said...
Chicago's bond rating has typically been Triple-A for decades, not because we're loaded or have a think-tank of Harvard and Yale wizards doing our financial dealings but because we're on the banks of a virtually inexhaustible supply of fresh water (true.....look it up.)
Rahm wants to portray Chicago as teetering on bankruptcy and insolvency, much like Detroit, so he can back out of fulfilling pension obligations and healthcare costs. The last time there was a quantum shift in our bond rating was when Jayne Byrne, in an effort to disgrace the 11th Warders (who refused to slate her for re-election) told anyone who would listen that the Daley's had left the City broke and destitute. Well, we weren't broke then and we ain't broke now. It's all smoke and mirrors to get what they want.
Does ANYONE think that the City of Chicago should be allowed to run or manage a CASINO???? That's why they're making this big pitch so when the vote comes up for casino licenses Rahm will be the Knight in shining armor who will come in and fix it all.
...
7/27/2013 01:46:00 AM
ABSOLUTELY TRUE.
Less arrests due to less cops?
Used to be that small percent did the work for the majority.
Now many sit on their hands due to fear that aggressive proactive police work will jam them up.
So unless we see some sort of change to indemnify or grant peace officers nationally a percentage of immunity to protect their jobs and financial future, then the response will be reactive and citizens you get what you get.
How do you change this era of video and audio technology? You can't.
How do you bring back morale and that respected citywide and nationwide attitude on the streets of the police? You could!
How do we approach congress or the entity necessary to be heard and create some sort of peace of mind to do this job rather than to worry about response and fear repercussion? Think about this....
We all get this National FOP newsletter and what their agenda should be besides our pensions and informational issues on line of duty deaths or what have you should be seeking IMMUNITY for officers actions.
Not to say give police carte Blanche to "Rodney King" folks or execute people but to work harder and be more comfortable doing this job to become proactive again.
Creating state and federal review panels maybe and capping out law suits that are allowed to be .
Just some thoughts....
3 bars
Mayor really does not care. He has millions under his bed. Several years from now he will not be calling chicago nor Illinois his home. He could care less!
Ha, $1.5 billion in uncommitted TIF funds and $1.5 billion needed to fully fund the pensions!
But it's the pensions, the pensions.
No-no-no That money if for Rahm to pick and choose the winners with -- his corporate friends
Go figure!
"In last week’s report, Moody’s noted that the city’s total fund balance at the close of 2012 was $231.3 million and that Chicago has just $625 million in “leased asset reserves.” Had the city fully funded its $1.5 billion “actuarially required contribution” to its four under-funded city employee pension funds in 2012 alone, “these two reserves would have been entirely depleted,” Moody’s said. "
***
Chicago’s 165 tax-increment-financing districts had a collective balance of $1.5 billion. Most of that money is uncommitted, fueling an aldermanic demand Emanuel has rejected: to declare a TIF surplus and use the money to reduce some of the 3,000 layoffs at Chicago Public Schools.
THAT"S WHY EMERGENCY SERVICE CALLS ARE UP OVER 50%. Crime is down
"Emergency responses continued their steady rise — to 472,752. That’s up from 300,971 in 2006. "
Arrest are down because the "snitches get stitches" imitative by the gangs are working.
The Broken Windows crime fighting is not working as we can see by the increase in Emergency response numbers!
So much for stopping the little crimes before they become bigger.
The violence is the great money generator for Chicago! Do the city leaders really want to stop the violence?
Don't mess with the free markets.
When Obama's Affordable Health Care Act kicks in there are hundreds of thousands of dollars of Federal welfare money at steak for each GSW victim -- as each gun shot wound victim is wheeled into the hospitals ER rooms the city's cash registers ring from the trickle down.
Why do you think the plan is to concentrate on public urination calls and not the violence? Why?
Yeah, yeah it's a quality of life issue. Don't mess with the money flow to the doc's, hospitals and especially the drug companies as they make campaign contributions don't ya know? It will effect the elite's quality of life if the shooting numbers go down.
Anonymous said...
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
7/27/2013 10:02:00 AM
That's a valid argument,especially on drug enforcement. If you lockup a black kid for weed or minor drinking you should have no issue locking a white kid up for the same things.
The draw down of $131 million dollar had nothing to do with giving out corporate tax breaks with some of the tax break money coming back to build Maggie Daley park, river walks, and bike paths for the clouted ones.
The corporations are so generous to do that for us. HA.
Nope, that money is different from this money in the other pocket.
/sarcasm
Meanwhile
"The “unassigned” balance is $33.4 million. Experts recommend a cash cushion of at least $200 million for a budget the size of Chicago’s, according to the Civic Federation. The city ended 2009 with an unallocated checkbook balance of just $2.7 million"
YES BUT THEY HAD $1.5 BILLION IN UNALLOCATED TIF FUNDS!
And...The Civic Federation? What about the Civic Committee!
Ty Fahner and unnamed members of his corporate-backed committee have shown their true colors. Fahner bragged openly about joining members of the business-backed group, behind closed doors, in lobbying credit rating agencies to lower Illinois’ bond ratings in an irresponsible and unethical attempt to put the state in an even more difficult position. They show total contempt for the taxpaying public, total disregard for the difficult fiscal challenges the state faces, and total hypocrisy over their alleged care for the working families of Illinois.”
In addition, a serious conflict of interest may exist if either these unnamed CEOs or the big corporations they control profited in any way from lobbying to make Illinois pay more interest on its bonds — bonds which they or their corporations may hold.
Governor Pat Quinn should coordinate with the appropriate state and federal authorities to launch a full investigation into this matter. The public has a right to know whether any laws were violated and how much financial injury the Illinois taxpayers suffered at the hands of the corporate elite.”
On Tuesday, Capitol Fax shared a video of Fahner speaking before the Union League Club, where he said, “Me and some of the people that make up the Civic Committee…did meet with and call…Moody’s and Fitch [Ratings] and Standard and Poor’s…and say, ‘How in the hell can you guys do this [maintain the state's credit rating]? You know, you are an enabler to let the state continue. You keep threatening more and more and more.’”
Fahner then took credit for the subsequent downgrades to Illinois’ credit ratings, stating, “But if you watch what happened in the last few years, it’s been steadily down. Before that, it’s been the blind eye.”
The video is available at the following link with relevant remarks beginning around the 47-minute mark: http://capitolfax.com/2013/07/23/fahner-civic-committee-helped-jaw-down-states-bond-rating/
http://www.ieanea.org/2013/07/25/we-are-one-illinois-calls-for-investigation-of-civic-committee/
Let's face it..
Why are doctors and healthcare so expensive?
Because insurance is so expensive.
Because lawsuits and malpractice is so expensive.
The 'problem' in a single word...
LAWYERS
Shakespeare had the right idea.
SHHHHH. STOP TALKING ABOUT A CHICAGO CASINO!!
Stick to the script. We don't want anyone talking about things that will generate income for the city and reduce their debts.
If we do that now the workers will want their promised pension money and health care benefits.
You have to wait. Wait until the city wins the hearts and minds of the people by terrorizing them into talking pension cuts, wage cuts, health care cuts.
Wait. Because then the casino money can be spent as the political elite picks and chooses. Family and friends of the clouted ones that money is being reserved for.
As the political elite we must drag our feet and push any talk of revenue generation off of the front pages of the main stream media. Failure to do so fuck's up our fear and crisis campaign and wastes an opportunity.
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
Yea, thats why you see the white kids sliding into the black ghetto areas to buy drugs from the black drug dealers. Maybe that is why more black drug dealers are arrested.
If there were that many white drug dealers, the white kids wouldnt have to go to the ghetto's to get their drugs
Crime is not down, the police just don't want to risk it all when this Mayor and Superintendent of police, do not care about the police. They can patrol the city and catch the criminals themselves. They suck in their support to the police.
He is a carpet bagger mayor. He does not care. Everyone can post about Illinois Constitution ( totally meaningless as the feds will do what they want in bankruptcy) -- tif money ( pols will never quit giving money to their friends) and everything else. Pension will be broke 2018-2022 if nothing is done. The goal of the pols is re-election and they will not get that if they take away the welfare nonsense and put the money in the pension funds-- if you think otherwise, you are very naive.
Anonymous said...
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
7/27/2013 10:02:00 AM
Okay, I disagree with the basic premise because, when you have a job you have to be at every day, you tend NOT to use drugs all the time. When you don't have a job or school, you are free to drink or dope the day away.
But, for the sake of argument, wouldn't it make sense, then, for the black community to make a concerted effort NOT to use drugs at all, and thereby "show" everyone else just how great they really can be?
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
7/27/2013 10:02:00 AM
---
Whites smoke dope in the house, blacks smoke dope on the street or in the car, therefore they get arrested.
Chicago, thanks to crime, corruption, liberal politics and total mismanagement is history. Crook county and Chicago are a disgrace. Sad but factual. Beyond repair.
MS
"...the cops 'overly police' the black areas, arrest far more blacks..."
Blacks call the police more often than whites do, so the police spend more time in black neighborhoods, resulting in greater exposure to blacks, resulting in an increased number of arrests (of blacks).
Everyone is issuing anovs!
Are they still counting movers as arrests...............
That could be why the drop......
But Rahm has a 1.5 billion dollar uncommitted TIF slush fund for uno, walsh const. ect
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Anonymous said...
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
7/27/2013 10:02:00 AM
That's a valid argument,especially on drug enforcement. If you lockup a black kid for weed or minor drinking you should have no issue locking a white kid up for the same things
It is not a valid argument It is a self-fulfilling prophecy and the liberal element loves this kind of nonsense. Obviously there are no hard statistics on how many people of any race use dope in the privacy of their homes, so one cannot prove what portion of any race is arrested for dope crime. It is specious reasoning and is in fact absurd.
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
7/27/2013 10:02:00
Agreed. Please tell our so called superiors to put the police in the white neighborhoods. We would love to overly police them.
That's a valid argument,especially on drug enforcement. If you lockup a black kid for weed or minor drinking you should have no issue locking a white kid up for the same things.
7/27/2013 04:42:00 PM
You could not possibly be the police. If you are, you haven't learned a thing.
Drug enforcement in the ghetto is a means to keep them from killing each other. It is also more prevalent in the ghetto. Had you made some economic argument, you would have looked ignorant. Your argument just made you look stupid, or you "acted stupidly".
Anonymous said...
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
7/27/2013 10:02:00 AM
---
Whites smoke dope in the house, blacks smoke dope on the street or in the car, therefore they get arrested.
7/27/2013 11:04:00 PM
Whites drive to the dope spot. White drivers are stopped and counseled by police and then sent on their way.
We note with some amusement that the scum-times online article about the retirees suing the city has been shoved aside...
Not only that, but the scum-times kept the story hidden behind it's pay wall so whatever comments could not be seen...
Slick... Real slick...
What's Rahm so afraid of?
That's a valid argument,especially on drug enforcement. If you lockup a black kid for weed or minor drinking you should have no issue locking a white kid up for the same things.
---------
Should you conduct more stops in an area where there were 5 murders, 25 shootings, and 120 shots fired calls in the past week, or in an area where there were no shootings or murders in the past two years?
If you are stopping the white kid you are not a cop, you are a Chicago Obama White Armed Race Detective (COWARD).
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I have a few " liberal white friends" who born in privilege and who claim that the white CPD are causing all of the crime in the black community. Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
Yea, thats why you see the white kids sliding into the black ghetto areas to buy drugs from the black drug dealers. Maybe that is why more black drug dealers are arrested.
If there were that many white drug dealers, the white kids wouldnt have to go to the ghetto's to get their drugs
7/27/2013 07:22:00 PM
You must be referring to low level, street corner drug dealers. The big time distributors with grow operations and transport fleets aren't usually black. Their clients are black. They're drug dealers too right?
Anonymous said...
That's a valid argument,especially on drug enforcement. If you lockup a black kid for weed or minor drinking you should have no issue locking a white kid up for the same things.
---------
Should you conduct more stops in an area where there were 5 murders, 25 shootings, and 120 shots fired calls in the past week, or in an area where there were no shootings or murders in the past two years?
If you are stopping the white kid you are not a cop, you are a Chicago Obama White Armed Race Detective (COWARD).
7/28/2013 11:37:00 AM
This guys says lock up a white kid for THE SAME THINGS and your response if "if you are stopping the white kid you are not a cop." You are a moron. We can complain about Sharpton and Jackson but idiots like you will keep them in business.
Whites drive to the dope spot. White drivers are stopped and counseled by police and then sent on their way.
7/28/2013 09:44:00 AM
If you really think we spend all night watching a dope house to stop white people and counsel them, then you are an idiot.
I'll give you the benefit of a doubt and assume you are just "trolling".
Their argument rests on their assumption that whites and blacks use drugs at the same percentage, but the cops " overly police" the black areas, arrest far more blacks which causes blacks to be socially disadvantaged when trying to fine employment. So their position is black poverty and black crime is caused by the white cops. Some argument , right?
7/27/2013 10:02:00 AM
That's a valid argument,especially on drug enforcement. If you lockup a black kid for weed or minor drinking you should have no issue locking a white kid up for the same things.
************
Like someone else said, hang around on the corner doing the drugs, get locked up. Do it in the privacy of your own home, don't get locked up. I see little baggies on the ground in my neighborhood too, but guess what, I never see the user standing in front of my house. The ghetto sidewalks are full of 'drones' walking around, going nowhere, doing nothing.
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