Pritzker, wealth can't save you from yourself (Running for Illinois governor)

The Chicago Tribune ^ | 5/31/2017 | John Kass

[Beave Meister]

The beauty of being a billionaire in politics is that you can say you're not beholden to anyone.

And J.B. Pritzker, Democrat and billionaire, is running for governor of Illinois.

When you're a billionaire in politics, nobody can buy you. So you don't have to fall to your knees and beg the political money men, then bounce up like a medieval jester to tell voters you're an independent who'll speak truth to power.

So being a billionaire isn't all that bad a thing in politics.

But wealth can't save you from moronic self-inflicted wounds.

If you're a Pritzker, you can stupidly spend millions to buy the house next door to your mansion, have plumbers take out all the toilets to make it technically "uninhabitable," and then hire lawyers to get you a fat property tax break, which will anger voters when you run for governor.

Pritzker's tax break was $230,000. And he didn't even have the decency to get his hands dirty and take the toilets out himself.

That one was in the Sun-Times.

[Beave Meister]

We have only ourselves to blame for the predicament our state is in. Whether it's Pritzker or some other Democratic/Republican stroke we elect, Madigan still has a vice grip on the purse strings. They've gerrymandered the election. They have no budget. Net loss of 90,000 people in the state last year alone. Huge tax increase for the suckers stuck here. $180,000,000,000 (Man that's a lot of zeros) in unfunded pension/debt. Chicago school system with zero credibility.

[steve8714]

Wait, the Chicago school system has been compared, favorably, to Baltimore’s.

[Kozy]

And Baltimore’s to Memphis.

[doosee]

A friend of mine had rental properties in Manchester England. He found after renting to a Pakistan family that they had moved in several other families and removed the toilets. Back home they only had a hole to do their business and wanted all the comforts of home. True story....

[Beave Meister]

Many years ago I lived in Forest Park, IL and there was a fire in an apartment across the street from my apartment. I spoke to one of the firemen and he told me it was a Pakistani family who had no idea what the over was for and just cut a hole in the carpet in the middle of the living room and built a fire pit and used that for cooking. They almost burned down the entire building. True story.

[Rockingham]

I am surprised that it rarely gets mentioned that the basis for the Pritzker fortune was investing the Mafia’s cash in legitimate businesses.

[T-Bone Texan]

Didn’t the Donald do battle with this family in the 70s or 80s, and come out victorious against them, and thus earning their eternal hatred?

[Rockingham]

I have not heard that before, but I sure hope that it is true. If the Pritzker fortune were made in the same manner today, it would be forfeited as proceeds of criminal activity and the primary family members involved would face charges for money-laundering and RICO violations.

[T-Bone Texan]

I am rereading The Art of the Deal. I thought it was in there somewhere.

[Rockingham]

I like Trump better and better by the day.