I have a rating system. It can be used both for the actions of our politicians and to refer to them specifically. I call it FIMI. In case you’re wondering, FIMI stands for: fool, idiot, moron, and imbecile. You can also change the ending so it can be used as an adjective to refer to their actions as well: foolish, idiotic, moronic and imbecilic.
Normally I only need to use one of those words when discussing something our local politicians have done. However, the recently enacted “sweetened drink tax” has me using my invented four-letter word toward them in every fashion! As you read the names of those who voted for the tax, try calling them one of the names in FIMI and see how well it fits.
Those who voted for the tax (Queen Sugar Toni Preckwrinkle was the tie-breaker) include Luis Arroyo, Jerry Butler, John Daley, Chuy Garcia, Stanley Moore, Edward Moody, Deborah Sims and Larry Suffredin. Every last one of them should lose their upcoming re-election bid as they have proven to be FIMI to the nth degree!
It is estimated that Cook County (CC) has just over five million people living in it. It is “the big dog” when compared to the collar counties of Lake, DuPage, Will, McHenry, Kane and Lake County, Indiana. What CC and the city of Chicago should be doing is cutting taxes so that those folks living in the surrounding areas flock to Chicago to spend money here because our taxes are the lowest around.
There is only so much money that can be wrung from the pockets of CC residents. However, the number of people we should be attracting to come and voluntarily spend money in CC and Chicago is endless. Chicago has always been the lure. The notion of partying in downtown Naperville or Winnetka doesn’t have the same flavor as partying in downtown Chicago, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Hyde Park or taking in a game at Wrigley Field, Sox Park or the United Center. Our lakefront is such a draw that no other place along Lake Michigan can compete with us. There is so much to see and do in this city that we should be overrun with visitors. From the plethora of fine dining restaurants to the endless variety of nighttime and daytime activities, Chicago should be booming with visitors spending money and paying a reasonable tax rate.
But our FIMI politicians, in their greed for self-aggrandizement, have done all they could to discourage people from coming here. This is not the 1950s or ’60s or even the ’70s and ’80s. People can easily leave this county to shop or choose not to come here and shop. Many CC residents are doing the former — myself included! I will not pay a nickel on every bottle of water and I surely won’t pay a penny an ounce so that CC workers can receive raises and fill their pension bucket. Many of us who labored in private industry don’t have a pension and it is time that CC and city workers invest in a 401K like the rest of us poor slobs.
The county allows their workers to retire at age 55 and in today’s world that is like age 40! It is time for a mass restructuring of county government and the election of at least eight new members beginning with the primary election on March 20, 2018. Replacing the current president is a must. The “pop tax” is the final straw!
On Election Day, take a straw and a can or bottle of soda to the voting booth as both a protest and acknowledgement that CC voters will not allow the bloodsucking FIMIs to continue.
If voters don’t revolt, I’m sure the air tax will be next.
