Every day it seems something jumps out at me that indicates we have misplaced priorities.
"The $203 million Wilson Station Reconstruction Project will be one of the largest CTA 'L' station projects in the agency's history. The planned reconstruction of the Wilson Red Line station is slated to begin in 2014, and will replace the badly deteriorated facility that was built in 1923"
I trust that you have heard about this "deflategate" scandal with the Patriots?
Brady is alleged to have benefited from footballs that were slightly deflated prior to the AFC championship game last January. The allegation came from a rival team.
The NFL commissioned a "study" to determine if the offense even occurred and paid 5 million dollars on the study. The study found Brady guilty. Very guilty. Outrageously guilty. On the basis of that "study" he has been suspended for 1/4 of the next season and hit with a huge fine.
The study has been dissected by several independent groups (one at MIT) and found to be junk. Really really junk. Results cannot be reproduced, statistics faulty and initial conditions either ignored or misconstrued. Brady has hired a power lawyer and is appealing. Some observers are saying that over 30 million dollars could be spent on this before it's over. Even if 100% guilty the offense is akin to the batter rubbing out that back line of the batters box and standing an inch or two back. Happens all the time.
To me this is just a symptom of "to much time on the hands" and "money burning a hole in pockets."
The NFL is known to be one of the most subsidized businesses in America, 50% of it's infrastructure costs are paid by state and localtaxpayers. The NFL is tax exempt. When businesses entertain clients by buying Patriot tickets it's a tax deductible expense.
Methinks some of these privileges and tax advantages should be taken away. Firstly on principle and second this episode shows a maturity level of 7th grade but with adult wallets connected to public money. The lead author of the study, Ted Wells is reported to have made a cool million on it. One months work. The sports talk shows in Boston are raking in advertising money by keeping this scandal gravy train rolling. No one is apparently looking for the truth, everyone is peddling an agenda and looking to make money. And the issue is miniscule to begin with.
I drove to Michigan last weekend for a camping trip. Construction everywhere. Traffic jammed. Rust on bridges in downtown Chicago. Signs of shoddiness everywhere on the roads. Billboards advertising personal injury lawyers, casinos, drug rehab centers and strip joints line the shoddy roads.
I just read a devastating critique of the Boston olympic bid in Harvard Magazine. In it they mentioned that the city of Chicago had spent over 100 million dollars on their failed bid several years ago. 100 million dollars. How was this 100 million spent? Basically making a bunch of nice looking power point presentations, renting nice hotel conference rooms and on public relations (propaganda). Reportedly the private sector also spent about 100 million (collectively) on pushing the failed Chicago olympic bid. That's 200 million total.
Currently there is a big reconstruction project going on on the CTA. The biggest and most important aspect is total reconstruction of the Wilson stop on the Red Line. Cost? You guessed it: $200 million:
http://www.transitchicago.com/
The image below shows another red line platform (Wilson ave stop). As you can see it's made from wood. Yes WOOD. Often rotting at the edges and wavy/inconsistent when you walk on it as you can see in the picture.
This is 2015 and the majority of the platforms of mass transit stations in America's third largest city are still made of wood.
These are not isolated things. It's all over the place. Ignoring the basics while spending large amounts of money on non-serious (sometimes even trivial) things.
Another great depression would certainly cause people to get more serious with their priorities.
