The Evil Empire

Here we go again. So soon? Cook County shortfall seen despite big hike in sales tax

And bring in the usual suspect, the STRUCTURAL DEFICIT:

County costs are expected to rise 5 percent a year and the sales tax increase, over time, will not close the resulting gap, said Donna Dunnings, the county's chief financial officer. She called the situation a "structural deficit" in which revenue can't keep up with costs.

"In fact, that structural deficit is living and breathing, and the sales tax is by no means the answer to that," Dunnings said at a luncheon meeting of the City Club of Chicago. "So, we have to look at other revenues, as well as cost containment."

Cost containment tossed in as an afterthought. Dunnings makes $160,000 a year having just received a 12% pay raise. But that of course is a distraction from the real story:

"To use the fact that I am the [County Board] president's cousin as a distraction from the true problems the county is facing is the type of tactic George Bush and Karl Rove would admire," she said.

"Confuse the facts. Scare the public. Tap into their angers and their fears—all in an effort to distract them from the real problems we face and to avoid going out on a limb to propose a real solution," Dunnings said.

A half a billion dollar tax increase is chump change for these thugs. And so we challenge the Evil Empire--Mr. Stroger--tear down this structural deficit! Or we will vote with our feet.