From Friend of McHenry County Blog Jack K:

INCOME INEQUALITY IN ILLINOIS

Some have become wealthy by providing a better product or service.

Good for them.

Competition and Innovation make life easier for us.

But there are those who become FILTHY RICH simply by robbing the taxpayers.

They make life harder for us.

The IMRF [Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund] pension is for elected officials.

The fund has $44.6 BILLION, of which 95.5% came from us.

SERS [State Employees Retirement System] has $48.8 Billion in pension assets.

Politicians have buried us in debt, while becoming multi-millionaires in retirement.

They have driven out jobs, and increased poverty, and crime.

We are #1 in political corruption and state pensions are the highest form.

Teachers make up 1.2% of the state.

TRS [Teachers Retirement System] has $131 BILLION in pension assets. CTU (Chicago Teachers) has $23 Billion in pension assets.

Though Chicago and CPS are broke, both Lightfoot and Pritzker gave teachers MORE pension benefits, knowing that there is NO MONEY TO PAY FOR THEM. Taxes & user fees will rise.

State University teachers have the mother of all pensions, from $200,000 to $480,000 per year.

They have $22.2 Billion stashed and $26.8 Billion owed.

They have managed to drive out 50% of Illinois college bound students to out-of-state universities.

These 3 teacher unions are among the largest real estate investors
and property owners in Illinois, with @ $20 billion of assets, NONE OF
WHICH ARE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY.

CTU owns downtown properties, but NO AFFORDABLE HOUSING. City property taxes are suppose to cover education costs, but 93% goes to pensions and debt.

We have the second highest property taxes in the country, and they’re
going up.

These taxes drive out jobs, increased home foreclosures, raised rents, and homelessness.

CTU refuses to take any responsibility for the housing problems they cause, insisting the city and taxpayers should fund them.

As of 3/13/19, there was a record 56,976 homes delinquent on property taxes.

If any of their real estate investments lose money, which has happened in Chicago, we taxpayers have to make up the loss.

Many of our children will never be able to afford a home because of high property taxes, and many more will have to find work out of state.

There are only 2 hospitals left in Black Communities, and both are
financially tottering.

Neither Springfield or Chicago had money to buy face masks when Covid-19 hit.

Yet politicians and teachers have a Cadillac health insurance, which is covered 100% in retirement by thoseof us with little or no health coverage.

Springfield owes $73B for their own health insurance, and spends as much on themselves as on us.

Their bills and pensions get paid FIRST! Hospitals and clinics have cut
services or closed because Springfield hasn’t paid them for Medicaid
bills. Quinn closed 2 state mental health hospitals and 7 correctional
institutes.

Emanuel closed 6 mental health clinics.

And YES, crime went up.

Both politicians and teachers got full pay while not working during Covid-19.

Yet Springfield can’t pay its UNEMPLOYMENT benefits.

It received billions from the federal government to do so.

The biggest 2 reasons for increased crime are Absentee Fathers and Poor Education.

Together, they practically guarantee a life of poverty.

Even Obama spoke about this.

Test scores in reading and math were so low in Chicago inner city schools, that CTU had Democratic politicians stop the testing.

The inability to read is linked to unemployment, poverty, and crime.

Every year, @ 5,700 Black male teens drop out of public schools.

You won’t hear CTU speak out about this, or high crime, school violence, or rioting & looting because the idea of better education might come up.

Poor education robs one’s future!

CTU is also high on the idea of Defunding Police.

Yet in 1966, it was the CTU who demanded police prescience in schools.

Of the 71 schools that voted on removing police from schools, only 17 opted to do so, and they were mainly white schools.

The teachers at 54 mostly minority schools voted to retain police.

Removing police might save a few million, (to be put in CTU pensions) but defunding teacher pensions would save BILLIONS.

If CTU really wanted more social workers and nurses, they could have done so years ago.

Just as competition creates better ideas and products at lower prices, the same is true for education. SCHOOL CHOICE is a Civil Rights issue, and opposing better education is RACIST.

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans went 100% Charter Schools. Better education at lower costs.

But not here.

The state spends @ $15,000 per student, and @ HALF of this goes to teacher pensions!

For every student who goes to a better school, their pension fund loses taxpayers money.

In 2010, Sen/Rev. James Meeks proposed vouchers for inner city students at
failing schools.

CTU opposed this and every BLACK DEMOCRAT in Springfield voted it down.

If you want to keep people in poverty, give them a poor education, and NO ONE does this better than Teacher Unions and Democrats.

Defunding the police would surely increase crime.

Recent polls show that 60% of African Americans approve of police presence, and 21% want more.

Only 19% want less, and this group includes gangs, thugs, drug dealers, and CTU.

While police RESPOND to crime, POOR EDUCATION CAUSES poverty and crime.

You can’t get rid of a bad cop or a bad teacher.

You can’t even choose or vote for better education!

In Chicago, you can only vote for a Democrat.

It’s called voter suppression.

Pritzker’s idea to RAISE TAXES is ALL for pension debt.

In order to BORROW more money, he needs to keep the state above JUNK credit rating, and the unsustainable pension debt needs to be addressed.

Chicago and CPS are both at JUNK credit.

But instead of LOWERING pension cost, or ENDING PUBLIC PENSIONS, he wants to suck more money out of the states businesses and economy.

Quinn did this in

1. Unemployment increased, and pension debt grew. In 2017,
   Democrats did it again. All the tax money went to pension debt, which
   still grew, and jobs left. In 1987, pension debt was $9B. It’s now $137B
   and growing! We are #1 in job loss and last in job creation. Both the city and state have CUT, CUT, CUT services for the people, that we are
   keep paying for. State motto should be