Attracting business is a lost cause
While I have nothing but contempt for the architects of Illinois current financial mess, Mike Madigan and John Cullerton, and an equal amount of disdain for do-nothing legislators such as Napoleon Harris (D-Flossmoor) who blindly support them, I am wondering if anyone is considering the possibility that Bruce Rauner is, as the old saying goes, two sandwiches short of a picnic?
Case in point: Rauner says he won’t agree to a new budget unless Democrats agree to his proposals to make Illinois more receptive to business. Is this man residing in a mansion or a very deep cave? People are leaving (perhaps fleeing is the more appropriate verb?) this state by the thousands. No one in his right mind would actually move here, much less move here to open any kind of business. Unless of course, there’s money to be made by examining the heads of those of us who still live here.
Sean Nettle, Homewood
Image is everything in politics
The current presidential campaign clearly proves that image and emotion are more important to the voters than facts and policy positions. I’ve heard from several folks that their first two choices for president would be either Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders, two guys on the opposite sides of the political and economic spectrum. Their appeal with a lot of voters rests with them as symbols of the anti-establishment and honest truth-talkers.
As Joe McGinniss wrote about in “The Selling of the President 1968,” image often trumps (no pun intended) facts and policy in our presidential electoral process once again.
Dennis Gorecki, Orland Park
Be wary of charity requests
How many of you have your mailbox constantly filled with donation requests from the different military factions?
I support our military and give when I can, but no more. Google “Wounded Warrior scandal.” Evidently, it raised over $200 million in a year. In 2013, costs other than to the cause were $1.7 million, but in 2014, it rose to an astounding $26 million so the administrators could live better and “party-hearty.”
I get between 15 to almost 30 requests a month from all the different factions. From now on, if I don’t see exactly what percentage goes to the cause it’s meant for, they don’t get a dime from me. That goes for all charities. I’m not about to subsidize the ones that run them and enrich their lifestyles.
Bob Schaack, Oak Forest
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