Rahmbo Goes Walker. And Middle-Aged Interns

From the Dem hack organ the Chicago Sun Times:

Eager to avoid job cuts but more determined to solve a budget crisis, Mayor Rahm Emanuel posed a painful choice for organized labor: face 625 layoffs or sign off on $20 million in work-rule changes by midnight Thursday.

Emanuel said he has identified the 625 employees “as a precautionary measure,” but he refused to identify them, nor would he reveal what city services might be reduced, eliminated or privatized.

The mayor stressed that he does not want to pull the trigger on the layoffs. He insisted that job cuts will not be necessary if organized labor will “be my partner” on $20 million in work rule changes outlined for labor leaders this week that, Emanuel claimed, are already in place in union shops in the private sector.

The Sun Times cranks out the sob stories:

Thousands of job cuts and a two-year hiring freeze during the Daley years have already had a dramatic impact on city housekeeping services. The cuts have forced the Department of Streets and Sanitation to choose between street sweeping, tree trimming and rodent control, among other services.

Clearly critical stuff. Rodent control? I thought we had that crack coyote team for that.

The picture is bigger than public unions would like us to believe. Wisconsin's Gov. Walker--"They defined it as a rights issue," Walker said. "It's not a rights issue. It's an expensive entitlement."--faced unsustainable levels of public employee salaries and benefits, unworkable work rules. How bout that Dem Detroit which closed half its public schools since the teachers' union demands swallowed up all their diminishing tax dollars. Do the union bosses really care about their members who may lose their jobs or just about their own power? At some point if this isn't solved the government might just stop paying:

As the bills mounted, the cost of insuring $10 million worth of Illinois bonds against default for 10 years has risen 28 percent since May 20, almost triple the increase in the Markit MCDX Index of 50 municipal issuers.

You know, like the state (latest--robbing charities) of Illinois.

The Chicago Tribune gets more in-depth:

With prospects for an economic recovery muted, the freshman mayor is turning to his biggest-ticket item for savings. Payroll makes up 83 percent of the city’s day-to-day spending, so clashes with public employees unions could become the new normal in Chicago.

The short-term problem for Emanuel is figuring out how to trim $30 million from former Mayor Richard Daley’s final spending plan, but in the coming months the new administration must find more than $650 million to balance the books in 2012.

Other news:

Cop accused of posing as elderly father in attempt to steal pension

Greece's debt crisis impacts Chicago:

Chicago is 5,400 miles from Athens but the financial chaos in Greece is stinging City Hall.

City leaders haven't sent out any press releases, but Chicago currently has more than $320 million in foreign loans that are underwritten in Greece. Those bonds pay for city projects including airport development. Now what's happening overseas has the city scrambling for solutions.

Cut, Cap and Balance

Jobs Picture Remains Ugly as Weekly Claims Still High

Older Interns Signal Gloomy US Labor Market Displacing young workers

Caterpillar to create 200 jobs in Georgia Georgia is a right to work state. And has a very good climate for job creation.

More. CBOE moving stock exchange to East Coast

Related posts: Crony Capitalism in Chicago. Duh Daley, It's always been taxpayer robbery but we can't afford this any more