MAV, I do not share in your "Wanting" to support a tax hike. Hence, my move to Texas. Pretty much 100% of my clients also do not share in the support of a "Tax Hike" in their state, county, or property. Altruism is a nobel move, when you donate your own money. Tax's are nothing but redistribution of wealth. Cut social services, Cut education for those Schools who are not performing well, break the unions, and cut out the Pork Barrel spending. Raising taxes is just a motion to continue to spend beyond the State's Means. More and more capital will continue to flow outside the US as long as the TAX HIKE theory is alive and kicking. Of course, this is very good for my Private Equity Business, so I say..Raise Taxes and continue that philosophy. But nevertheless, the Middle Class are the ones who truly feel the "Taxation".
I'll bet Obama is wishing he could still vote in the Illinois assembly just so he could vote for that! Like all good Democrats, he LOOVVEESS tax increases.
This will simply accelerate business leaving Illinois, and more importantly that nexus of corruption Chicago. I'd put decent odds on Chicago becoming 'the next Detroit" within a generation. Plenty of ghetto areas that could spill over and increase white flight out of Chicago, and eventually out of state. The irony is that the money raised by this tax increase still wont crack a big enough dent in the state's fiscal woes. The legacy costs are astronomical and the state is just waiting for a Christie type of politician to bankrupt the pension system.
social security payments by law go up about 40%: NEWS FLASH SON..... Social Security is FROZEN! No more living cost adjustment. SS is over as we know it. You may not see an increase in your Payments for a decade.
Chicago becoming 'the next Detroit" : I have two big clients, one is the largest "Broker" on the CBOT. The other is one of the top dogs at ABN AMBRO. They both are moving their cash out of IL and one is looking to open up shop in Singapore. The rumblings I hear are that the City of Chicago is hanging on by a thread. Muni's are close to defalut in many of the surrounding areas as well as the city itself. Not sure if Chicago will go the way of Detroit as Detroit was hit by Structual Unemployment. Chicago has a lot of solid companies and a lot of "Floor" exchanges and Investment Houses. So, I do not think Chicago will be the new Detroit but it could be the Chicago of the early 60s and 70s. Crime, empty buildings and high unemployment but not imploded like Detroit. Chicago will have a huge class divide.
Every day this week on my way home from work there have been 4 city workers directing traffic at a single intersection that already has a light! Agreed on needing a fiscal conservative in office ⦠to bad it will never happen when we need it most
uptick..... The name of the money game going forwarded is that very last sentance...."Things are not going to change". It is simple. It is obvious and it is Human Nature. Thus, in such a short time, from 99 till 2011 we have lived through some serious bubbles, moves, and crazy history. Thus, sit back and watch for the same patterns .........I see them now in bonds. I see them in Hard Asset plays overseas. I'm not talking Qchart Patterns as I hardly trade anymore. I'm talking Patterns in "Human" nature and where the smart money will flow. There will be pleny of ways to make money because the risk/reward is to bet against "Change". The odds are, we will not change and neither will the world. And history will repeat.....hence 80s. The question is, to see things like inflation trump the double digits in the 80s or meet the same numbers. Do we see the market move sideways for a decade after a serious correction? Do we see the Money flow return to the US? Do we see China, Brazil, Latin America, Vietnam, emerging markets become stronger? Do we see Muni's default in a small % or in a massive %. IMHO, things are not going to change and history will repeat.
Detroit was destroyed by "white flight" and African leadership. So far as I can see Chicago is not suffering "White flight". As they have shut down the downtown the "projects" and distributed the African population throughout the suburbs (creating a new crime blight in once peaceful areas) we might just see "white fight" back to the city. It is true the public sector is bleeding the city dry.. however there is still much wealth and "level heads" in Chicago, it has not gone completely, "native".