Affordability
There seems to be some consistency in the thinking of many in the Democratic party. There is this idea that to make life more affordable you the government create expensive regulations, raise taxes and fees on just about everything and then some, then come up with a variety of subsidies, reimbursements and government programs to a minority of people and call it increasing affordability. There is also the mind set in the democratic party to create a situation that makes people have a valuation of property that during a particular snapshot in time makes then look very rich, but it is not necessarily liquid.
Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois, born in California, who as an heir to the Hyatt hotel chain does not seem like he has ever had to worry about his next dollar. Prior to his being governor he had his hand in various Chicago based technology investments, some with state funding connections and later some without. From what I can see on Pritzker’s living radar his vision must not be further than Naperville to the west and Tinley Park to the south.
Looking at the 2026 Illinois state legislative session, the results point to Chicago. With the help of search.brave.com we get this summary of the road funds:
“The 2026 Illinois legislative session resulted in the passage of Senate Bill 2111, which redirects approximately $860 million in motor fuel sales tax revenue from the Illinois Road Fund to public transportation. This funding shift, signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker in December 2025 and effective in June 2026, distributes 85% of diverted funds to Chicago-area transit and 15% to downstate agencies.
Critics, including downstate legislators and local officials, argue this diversion harms outstate road infrastructure by reducing resources for highway maintenance and construction. However, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) maintains that its multi-year construction program for fiscal years 2026 through 2031 remains fully funded and unaltered by this change.”
The road taxes in out state Illinois get raised and are kept artificially high to subsidize public transportation in Chicago. In other words, make high taxes then target the public transportation riders for a subsidy. As usual in Chicago they cannot make their product affordable so they look for a bailout. How many oversized and mostly empty busses run? How about the light rail that cannot fund itself once the initial costs are removed? How many overpriced workers are there in the Chicago Transit scheme?
Targeted subsidies. Create expensive products and dangle a financial carrot back to the consumer? Is there anyone in Chicago that can right size public transportation and use something other than 1800’s technology? Why are we putting all these rails on the ground to take you to very selective approved chosen spots and not using the vastness of the open infrastructure, existing roads and air space to keep modernizing transportation? Even Minnesota shut down a money losing heavy rail route and reverted back to busses.
Speaking of investment, how many people are invested in even busses for general purpose transit? Then ask, why does Uber and Lyft exist? There are even car sharing services available like Zipcar and Turo. How many private investments are there in bus systems (Don’t laugh, in the TV series “The Honeymooners” Ralph Kramden was a private company as many were before city takeovers in the 1960’s) and private rail services. (Yes Virginia, there was the Hooppole, Tampico, Yourktown line in Illinois was private as was the Binghampton to Amboy Illinois line. There were many private rail lines in the 1700 and 1800’s. Some of these railroads were subsidized by city and state governments but this was done at a time when other transportation sources were limited, mainly waterways if nearby and animal drawn carriages.
Trains are a limited location source. There must be rails. Rails only allow one train traffic at a time. In the history of transportation when the alternative such as roads and machine powered vehicles started becoming prevalent is was easier to build most roads and those roads were designed to have two traffic directions and not limit to one at a time. The transportation of people and goods is now less limited by travelable routes. Off road vehicles can go through many adverse areas.
Go by air and a helicopter can land easily. There was and still is a push to have medical helicopters as they can go more places than road or train ambulances. We are seeing the beginning of the Jetsons with drone delivery of packages. It should not be that much longer until we see a residential concept of air travel.
Going back to the question. Should not Chicago and the suburbs reevaluate the needs of transportation? Do they keep running the bus lines they do? Is there not a better way to move people. Do they use transportation methods and routes to control people? Both Pritzker and Brandon Johnson are proposing rules and money flow to control how people movements.
The newer forms of transportation continue breaking of the hold on where people can go. This puts fear into micromanagers like Pritzker and Johnson.
Back to the point. Is affordability defined by creating subsidy and reimbursements on top of increased taxes fees and regulations? Or should affordability be defined by analyzing needs, creating solutions and doing it at the lowest cost possible? Are things really needed?
Illinois is not affordable. It is becoming even less affordable. Democrat politicians need to wake up or hey will be closing the door behind them.
About 45 minutes after this article was published, I saw this news report: https://app.parler.com/post/01kz9ks3hwt52xrpatk5zhrq38