Wimp city

Dennis Byrne finds much to complain about in Illinois and Chicago corruption:

Chicago is wimp city. A city full of obsequious voters, businesses and civic groups that have been repeatedly swindled, scammed and hosed by local politicians. Yet, with each betrayal, the serfs continue to grovel before such liege lords as Mayor Richard M. Daley and House Speaker Michael Madigan and beg for more of the same. Nothing is egregious enough to inspire insurrection by the city and state’s vassals.

Overstated?  Take plastics, into which The Graduate was urged to go on his big day:

Daley now is fighting to keep a huge national plastics industry convention from fleeing Chicago, its 40-year home. The show brought in $95.3 million last June, but it appears the exhibitors are fed up with the extravagant costs they must pay to riggers, tradesmen and other organized workers at McCormick Place. As the trade publication Plastics News reported, Daley met Wednesday in his office with convention officials to plead with them to stay.

Won’t you stay here, Bill Plastics, won’t you stay here?

As trade show exhibitor Tim Hanrahan explained in the publication, it cost $345 to get four cases of Pepsi to his booth. “The invoice breaks down to $254 for the four cases of Pepsi, a 21 percent service charge, and a 10.25 percent Illinois state sales tax, a 3 percent Chicago soft drink tax, a tax on the service charge and a food and beverage tax. Government taxes totaled $38.06, which is more than the legitimate retail price of the soft drinks,” he said. “I could go on. A $640 TV stand rental is another good example,” he said. “But you get the point.”

Taxes, we got taxes.  Like California:

In America’s federal system, some states, such as California, offer residents a “package deal” that bundles numerous and ambitious public benefits with the high taxes needed to pay for them. Other states, such as Texas, offer packages combining modest benefits and low taxes. These alternatives, of course, define the basic argument between liberals and conservatives over what it means to get the size and scope of government right.

Thus spake William Voegeli in LA Times, in a shortened version of a City Journal article.

[T]here’s an intense debate over which model is more admirable and sustainable. What is surprising is the growing evidence that the low-benefit/low-tax package not only succeeds on its own terms but also according to the criteria used to defend its opposite. In other words, the superior public goods that supposedly justify the high taxes just aren’t being delivered.

Take California, where taxes are high and things aren’t working, vs. Texas, where they are low and things are.  Take Chicago, where a $95.3 million convention is considering saying adieu, my friends, adieu, can no longer stay with you, and the big news is budget crunch and threatened services.  Please?