By joining the picket lines of the Chicago Teachers Union, presumably trolling for a union endorsement, Elizabeth Warren has declared war against the people of Chicago, particularly Chicago’s poor.
The interest rate that the City of Chicago pays to borrow is the highest of any major city; the interest rate that the Chicago Public Schools pays to borrow is the highest of any major school district. One more downgrade and they will be unable to borrow at all. Borrowing is not really an option.
That means that any additional spending must be matched by additional taxes. The only taxes within the city’s power to enact are regressive, i.e. they fall most heavily on the poor. They pay for higher sales tax which means they are able to buy less food and clothing and higher property taxes in the form of higher rents which may threaten their ability to remain in Chicago at all.
There is a fantasy that is widely believed, the “roomful of money theory”. Adherents to this belief hold that somewhere there is a roomful of money and whenever you want to spend more you only need to find that room and take it. Refusal to spend more, consequently, is always motivated by selfishness or malice.
The members of the CTU clearly hold this belief and Elizabeth Warren is telling us that she does, too. So far Mayor Lori Lightfoot has handled the teachers’ strike with considerable grace. In her shoes I would have handled things differently. I would have said “This is the CPS budget. That’s it. The cupboard is bare. We’ll allocate that budget according to your priorities. Want more nurses and school librarians? Fine. We’ll hire them and reduce teacher salaries to pay them.” The CTU supported a different candidate, another adherent of the “roomful of money theory”.
“In her shoes I would have handled things differently. I would have said “This is the CPS budget. That’s it. The cupboard is bare. We’ll allocate that budget according to your priorities. Want more nurses and school librarians? Fine. We’ll hire them and reduce teacher salaries to pay them.”
But, but, but….the children (!), you heartless toad.
What you are advocating is, well, let’s just say it: a real budget, giving due consideration to the actual revenue and expense realities of the Chicago economic environment.
But silly me. What about the political environment? Over time the overlap between politics and economics has become the null set.
However, I’ve never seen a rubber band that didn’t ultimately break. So the only relevant questions are 1) how long until it breaks and 2) whether the voters can depart from the historical practice of pure slavishness to party or candidate, and actually deal with reality.
The Chicago/IL exodus tells us the rubber band is fraying. Will it have a Detroit-style catastrophic break? I don’t see #2 happening until Chicago becomes Detroit.
We would simply be establishing relative priorities. If the teachers are convinced that the good of the students is best served by school nurses and librarians, that’s the higher priority. If they’re convinced that the good of the students is best served by higher paychecks for themselves, then that’s the higher priority. If everything has the same priority then nothing is a priority.