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Post by Ken on Sept 12, 2020 18:31:34 GMT -6
So Illinois is broke. Actually worse, than broke... their debt is $64B. There is a new referendum about milking more money from people who make over $250k per year. There is no real specific reason why they're doing this other than "we need the money and you have the money". Between my wife and I we make over that. We're not criminals or wealthy heirs or anything like that. So I'm watching the Cubs game last night and a commercial comes on about this topic. The voiceover says It's time for a CHANGE! Vote YES for FAIRNESS! and in mid-sip of my beer I yelled FAIRNESS!?!?!?!? Where is the fairness? The corrupt Illinois political machine bankrupts the state and people who work their asses off need to help bail them out? Where is the fairness in that? Sorry. Illinois politics is a sore subject and when my wife and I finally move out of this state I will be dancing in a circle.  |
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Post by chils on Sept 12, 2020 20:47:08 GMT -6
I'm sorry Ken. Best thing you can do is move out of the cesspool. I don't see it ever getting better.
I worked with an early 30 year old guy who gave me some insight on that way of thinking. He was a student intern of mine who I got hired on at my hospital. We kept bowling every Tuesday night after league ended so we hung out together for a couple hours a week.
He told me that he felt like the government should take all of everyone's money and equally distribute it, for the "good of the people"
I asked him he was was kidding and he said he wasn't. I heard his view of it and had to just not discuss it because I knew it would end our friendship if we talked about it too much. Blew my mind. He ended up quitting and moving to Portland, OR.
I feel like the media has done one hell of a job in turning the hippies from untrusting of government control into wanting them to control everything "for the good of the people" Lol at this country.
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Post by Ken on Sept 12, 2020 21:29:38 GMT -6
I don't want people going hungry and I don't want people without medical care. I am generally very middle-of-the-road politics-wise. No one party has all the best answers to all the big issues. But I continue to see political corruption or the mishandling of state or federal funds and it's always the rest of us that have to help fix it. I have mentioned this before but I live on about .4 acres here in the NW burbs of Chicago. I pay over $16k in property taxes a year... $1330 a month. When I own my house outright (and my taxes are $20k a year) I will pay $1600 a month to live in the house that I own. I understand that my property taxes go to schools and infrastructure, etc. but I also know they go into politicians' pockets too. It's a joke and people are leaving the state in records numbers.
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Post by chils on Sept 12, 2020 22:39:09 GMT -6
Holy carp Ken! I live on 24 acres and pay $1200 a year for it and my 1800sf house. Holy carp!
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Post by Ken on Sept 13, 2020 7:34:17 GMT -6
Holy carp. Don't get me started. I know a bud who lived here and bought 40 acres in NW Missouri for retirement. There is no house on his property there but he did build a barn/storage building for some of his equipment. Him and is wife were going to wait but changed their mind and sold their house here and went down there to build their 'retirement home'. They're in a rental house in the meantime. The property taxes on his 40 acres? $150.  |
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Post by zymot on Sept 13, 2020 8:30:27 GMT -6
California and Illinois are in a race to see which can hit the tax vs obligation death spiral first. California has built up an irrational retirement benefit obligation that very few are willing recognize.
With California's huge GDP, if their economy goes into the toilet, I predict it is going impact beyond the state line.
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Post by Ken on Sept 13, 2020 9:05:09 GMT -6
There are a lot of little variables that could impact everyday life if you consider a move. My wife and I live smack-dab in the middle of suburban sprawl, for better or worse. Better: We have lots of stores, restaurants, theaters, museums, aquariums, sports, services, contractors, etc. We're 15 minutes from O'Hare so getting to the airport is easy, generally. Anything you can envision is within easy reach of us. We also have lakes and rivers and bike paths and forest preserves. We went on a 31-mile bike last weekend, mostly on maintained, wooded trails. Worse: There is traffic. There is a high cost of living. The state is corrupt. Prices, tax rates, etc. always go up, never down. There are things here that we would miss if we lived out in the weeds, for sure. Today we're going on another bike and we bike directly from home... we don't put the bikes on the car. Within 6 miles we'll be in one of these cute, quasi-country villages and we'll have our pick of 4-5 places to have lunch and there is a brewery there too with outdoor seating. All of the riding is on asphalt paths, crushed limestone trails and through a small subdivision. We would miss that for sure.
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