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Cook County Soda Tax: Dear Lord, It's Not Dead Yet  

by meep

Oh lordie. This thing. Still lives.

PRECKWINKLE DEFENDS THE TAX

Well, of course she does.

Why the soda pop tax is essential: Preckwinkle

On Aug. 11, Crain’s shared its “two cents” about the sweetened beverage tax and questioned not only the necessity of raising more revenue for essential...

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Cook County Soda Tax: Somebody Please Make It Stop  

by meep

There may be hope…

COOK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS CONSIDER NIXING THE TAX

COOK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FILE ORDINANCE TO REPEAL SODA TAX:

Commissioners from both parties are supporting a repeal effort of the sweetened beverage tax following widespread public...

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Sunday Dumpery: Cook County Soda Tax, Chicago Pension Funding, and More  

by meep

During my asset-focused week, I pushed Illinois and Chicago out of my mind.

Well, here’s what’s accumulated since last I posted on this mess.

COOK COUNTY SODA TAX: IT’S BAAAAAAAACK

The last time I did a dump, I mentioned the Cook County Soda Tax had a stay...

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Illinois and Chicago Round-Up: Soda Taxes, Holding Legislation Hostage, Tiffs over TIFs and More!  

by meep

Let us call this the “meep is swamped” link dump. I was working on four separate blog posts, and frankly, what I can do is provide a short summary of each issue, and provide you links to the various stories and/or commentary.

Because I’m really sick of commenting on how...

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Social Security: The Annual Trustee Report - Cash Flows, Tardiness, and Other Views  

by meep

The 2017 Social Security and Medicare Trustee Reports are out. I’m going to ignore Medicare and DI for now (because retirement income is enough for me to focus on — it’s so much simpler than health care.) Here’s the full report in PDF.

I will excerpt...

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Here Comes the Junk: Hartford Downgraded, State Says Get It Together  

by meep

Hartford Debt Dropped To Junk Bond Status By Standard & Poor’s:

Standard & Poor’s downgraded Hartford debt to junk bond status late Tuesday, less than a week after the financially troubled capital city hired a New York law firm with expertise in restructuring municipal finances.

The Wall Street ratings agency downgraded...

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Illinois Quick Take: Gas Taxes  

by meep

As Mark Glennon notes, now that the Illinois budget has been passed over the veto of Gov. Rauner, we’re finding all sorts of poisonous goodies inside.

The latest discovery in the IL budget nobody read: New gas tax. https://t.co/8cSnYx5Vgl

— Wirepoints IL News (@WirePoints) July 12,...

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Illinois Financial Disaster: Even More Reactions to the Budget  

by meep

That last post by no means exhausts all the reactions to the Illinois budget deal that I’ve seen.

But, perhaps, after today’s post, I will be exhausted for this subject. For a little bit.

SELL THE BUDGET YOU VETOED, GOV

Let’s start off with a laugh,...

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Illinois Financial Disaster: Reactions to Budget Passed over Veto  

by meep

There will be various people crowing about the financial disaster is over, it’s all Rauner’s fault, yadda yadda.

There will be people saying “Illinois Financial Disaster? What about Connecticut?” [yeah, I’ll be getting back to CT… later today for work.]

Not so fast. Let’s get the news.

GOVERNOR VETOES BUDGET,...

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Illinois Financial Disaster: Clean Up Your Own Damn Mess  

by meep

I mentioned this in the prior Illinois post, but the blog title came from my reaction to this tweet:

Congress, please give us IL an oversight board like this and authorize bankruptcy. https://t.co/qE7fuOpEtk

— Wirepoints IL News (@WirePoints) June 30, 2017

Look, I...

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