It’s been a long week so with your permission, I’d like to rant for a bit. Can you tell me how in god’s name an entire city goes bankrupt? What is this, Robocop? An entire city, the city of Detroit to be exact, went bankrupt ladies and gentlemen. Think about that for a minute. I’ve heard of mismanagement but this takes the proverbial cake. Being a resident of the land of Lincoln, I wonder if my great state isn’t too far from filing for bankruptcy itself. The current leadership has borrowed itself into oblivion and has managed to drive the state’s credit rating right into the toilet. But inept leadership and financial ineptitude is one thing. But Detroit, a major American city, is about to go through the process of protecting itself from its creditors. I wonder though, what exactly does Detroit have to sell to try and satisfy its obligations? Does an organization like OCP (I know another Robocop reference) come in and privatize an entire city? Can you imagine it? An entire North American City being owned outright by a corporate entity of some sort. I want to laugh but it just sounds too damn Orwellian in a way.
And while Detroit is bankrupt and the state of Illinois is struggling to fund its pensions…… guess what Governor Closeau….. Er…. Quinn….. Found money for? Drum roll…….. A new airport near Peotone. (Clap clap.) So let me get this straight Mister Quinn. There’s no money in the till to keep the mentally ill under a protective flag or operate schools but there IS, miraculously, a tidy sum in the Abe Lincoln rainy day fund to bankroll a new airport. What is it with this city and this state and Airports? The former Mayor of The City Chicago, Rich Daley, went through heaven and earth to get an airport built near O’Hare. Hell, he even had a cemetery uprooted to make sure nothing stood in the way of his baby. How many airports do we need in this city anyway? Isn’t the Airline industry struggling for profitability these days? Yet there’s Pat Quinn, Illinois court jester, babbling about jobs and financial panaceas. I’d be angry if I didn’t have a finally turned fertilizer detector. With Daley it was solar power. Solar power was going to be a financial panacea. Nope. Then it was the airport expansion at O’Hare. Last time I checked, the new runways being constructed out there were being profiled on some local news station as poor constructed death traps I’m in favor of a casino in Illinois but now I’m picturing some Bugsyesque saga unfolding. Imagine it…. A big glittering palace in the middle of nowhere that’s all dressed up with nowhere to go. And I imagine the press conferences as Governor Quinn tries to explain, as only he can, why yet another so called panacea has ultimately become an expensive tax write off for the people of Illinois. Think I’m being cynical? Remember what state the state of Illinois is. It’s the land of promises and panaceas and miscalculations. It’s the land of opposite thinking. That is to say, if your elected officials in the land of Lincoln say that some project or plan or scheme will benefit the taxpayers, you can be sure that it won’t. When an elected official in Illinois tells you, the taxpayer, that the sky isn’t falling, your best instincts are to find shelter as quickly as possible.
And finally… a word for Alderman Tom Tunney. Tom? Mister Tunney? OK. Look, Mister Tunney. Let me give you a line from one of my favorite David Mamet films. Mister Tunney…. I think it’s about time you went to your room. Good night America. Resist Tyranny!!! Toot!!! Toot!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment