The Better Government Association’s David Greising argued that the political “battle of the billionaires” between hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin and Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been good for our democracy in a recent column (“Believe it or not, billionaires make Illinois politics better,” Nov. 12)
Unfortunately, Greising overlooks the many serious problems with billionaire politics and the extraordinarily corrosive effects it can have on society. The battle between Griffin and Pritzker may lead to more political speech. But it is a conversation dominated by two people and two enormously wealthy people at that.
That’s a big problem.
Research by Benjamin Page and others shows that overall, the very wealthy do not have the same interests and policy preferences as most Americans. Yet they have an extra-large megaphone that can drown out the voices of everyone else. Studies have found that they often use that megaphone to get policies that make them richer, giving them even more power and worsening social and political inequality.
It’s a mistake to celebrate this. Instead, we should be looking for ways to educate people about who is really funding the political speech they see every day, and to amplify the voices of people who don’t have billions in the bank. Great places to start include passing legislation to increase the disclosure of “dark money,” and enacting programs that multiply small campaign donations with public funds so everyday people can have a bigger say in who gets elected to represent them.
A democracy dominated by a few outlandishly rich individuals is not good for Illinois or for America. We should be doing everything we can to change it.
— Alisa Kaplan, executive director, Reform For Illinois, Chicago
Hoping for humor
While I usually look to Rex Huppke’s ironic takedowns for my morning laugh at the news, I did not expect David Greising to provide this morning’s dose of humor. Until I realized that he was serious when he claimed that billionaires are good for Illinois politics! My heart truly broke at Neil Bluhm’s confession that he is “embarrassed” when someone describes him as a “billionaire,” as if he is a criminal. Cue the violins. Remember Enron? Some billionaires have been criminals.
Ken Griffin’s pledge to support anyone opposed to fellow billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker is actually a sign of just how harmful their juiced-up fortunes are for Illinois politics. Note that Griffin did not identify what policies he would support or what values he would seek in a candidate. Nor did he propose any actual solutions as he loftily decried and mansplained Chicago’s gun violence problem.
I doubt very much that the Black and brown communities most affected by that violence valued Griffin’s comments or his backing of Gov. Bruce Rauner and his disastrous failure to fund violence prevention programs in his own ego-soaked feud with then-Speaker Mike Madigan. (In this case, it was a battle of mere millionaires.) The Griffin-Pritzker duel is the opposite of good politics. It is instead of the playground posturing of billionaire-sized egos, far removed from the needs of most Illinois communities, whether their politics are big-city blue or rural red.
This leaves me hoping that Greising was pulling a Huppke and using words to mean the opposite of what they say: Billionaires are bad, terrible really, for Illinois politics.
— Bryan Cones, Chicago
Slow gas production
The Tribune published a letter recently decrying the higher price of gasoline, and blaming President Joe Biden. The price of gas is, of course, primarily influenced by the price of crude oil, which is determined by a worldwide free market responding to supply and demand, and is not controlled by Biden or anyone else.
Over the last several years, the price of gas has been relatively low due to the advent of fracking, which greatly increased the supply. Upon the onset of COVID-19, businesses shut down, people stopped driving and flying, and the demand and the price for gas and oil plummeted. The price was so low, that high-cost producers such as those fracking couldn’t compete. They shut down and many went out of business. Exploration for new wells ceased. As businesses reopened and people began traveling again, demand for oil and gas returned to normal, but the supply had been greatly reduced. Predictably and inevitably, the price has spiked. The high prices now have made it profitable to increase production again, but that will take time.
— David Rosenak, Highland Park
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