Carlini's Comments

ILLINOIS INTERNET SALES TAX: COLOR ME STUPID

This is in response to an article in Crain’s Chicago Business about Illinois’ failed attempt to collect sales tax for internet sales (http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110910/ISSUE01/309109981?plckCurrentPage=1&sid=sitelife.chicagobusiness.com ). The idea is bad in itself, but it is overshadowed by some of the dumb comments by readers who have a warped idea about taxes and how to grow a regional economy.

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POOR INFRASTRUCTURE STIFLES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The need to improve the infrastructure in the United States is critical to regional sustainability. Infrastructure is the platform for global commerce. If the platform is weak or unstable, it does not provide a good foundation to conduct business from.

More focus has to be given to all the layers of our infrastructure, especially those of communication networks and electrical power.

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CHEVY VOLT: THE ELECTRONIC EDSEL

The Chevy Volt is the highly marketed product of the GM bailout. The reality is that hardly anyone is buying it for $41,000. The new name for it should be the Electronic Edsel.

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WHERE IS THE NEXT BIG JOB SURGE?

America has always been on the cutting-edge of new technology. This has kept it in the forefront for high-paying jobs as well as expensive exports. Have we passed that leadership position on to other countries? If not, where is the next big job surge?

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CHICAGO MEDIA: SLANTED PERSPECTIVE

If you’re going to report the news, report the news. Don’t crop a picture of “the poor 13 year-old who got shot by police”, who in the full picture is “throwing down” (making) gang signs.

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SHOULD ILLINOIS RETIREES GET AN AUTOMATIC 3% RAISE?

Someone is running scared. I just got one of those phone surveys asking about how I felt about the pay and benefits as well as the pension plan for Illinois government workers.

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WILDING ON CHICAGO MAG MILE: NO MYTH

Unarmed is undesirable and unfashionable on today’s North Michigan Avenue.

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WISCONSIN POLITICS: Cowardice Under Fire

Wake up Wisconsin. The Tsunami of job cuts and benefit reductions that have hit across all other industries across America is now coming home to the government worker.

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CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT IS UNDER SIEGE

Earlier this year, I wrote about a Chicago Police officer getting killed (http://wistechnology.com/articles/7572 ). Because the Chicago media did not cover it the way it should have been covered, I thought it would be appropriate to comment on it. There was no outrage.

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WISCONSIN HALTS HIGH-SPEED RAIL, ILLINOIS TAKE A HINT

High-speed rail projects are expensive. Too often, all they create are great monuments to government bureaucracy which provide little public benefit, but require big continuous funding.

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TEA PARTY OR BOURBON PARTY? THE REAL AMERICANS

Many people have questioned the Tea Party and who comprises its ranks. The Tea Party movement is growing and has made its impact in last week’s election. That scares career politicians on both sides because the proverbial pie of patronage jobs, project funding and other spoils of political victory has to be divided by more than two parties when the Tea Party takes hold. Based on the focus of the Tea Party, the pie is going to be severely reduced both in size and calories (dollars) if they get to help with the recipe (federal budget).

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CHICAGO TOURISM PROBLEM: LAND SHARKS

The Magnificent Mile sometimes called the Mag Mile is Chicago’s premier shopping and tourism center. With stores rivaling Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and Fifth Avenue in New York City, it is the destination for world shoppers. It’s a place where if you are from out-of-town, you go for the premium stores, the highly-acclaimed restaurants and the first-class hotels that provide the full impact and ambience of Chicago, a world-class city.

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OFFICER DOWN, NO BIG THING

Thor Soderberg was a Chicago Police officer who was just finishing his day of doing his job in the afternoon of July 7th. He got jumped and shot just outside a police facility on the Southside of Chicago by a man who some now say is mentally unstable. They struggled. The man grabbed his gun, shot him in the head and ran away. (Later, he got shot and was captured by police. He turns out to have a lengthy criminal record.)

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RROC SPRING TOUR - MAY 2010

Toured Racine and Kenosha Museums on the weekend.

Saturday dinner was catered by Wells Brothers.

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DOW DROPS 1,000 POINTS. CYBER WARFARE?

Listening to the “experts” explain it off as a trading error yesterday – basically a “typo” – doesn’t wash. If you know anything about compliance, approving trades, and computer systems, blaming it on a single computer glitch is a stretch. A REAL stretch.

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