Monday, April 8, 2013

As the Illinois House prepares to cut retired teacher pensions, remember the $100 M give-away to the CME? | Fred Klonsky

As the Illinois House prepares to cut retired teacher pensions, remember the $100 M give-away to the CME? | Fred Klonsky:


As the Illinois House prepares to cut retired teacher pensions, remember the $100 M give-away to the CME?

The odds makers are placing money on the Illinois House voting to cut retired teacher pension benefits this coming week.
But remember when they voted to give the Chicago Mercantile Exchange a one hundred million dollar tax break?
Don’t you think it is rubbing our faces in it to announce today that the former CEO of that same CME paid its CEO $6 million for four months work.
Chicago Tribune:

CME Group Inc paid its former CEO Craig Donohue $6.1 million last year, making him its highest-paid executive even though he held the post for only the first four months of 2012, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.

Donohue’s total compensation, including salary, bonus and stock and option awards, exceeded his previous year’s take of $6 million, the company’s 2013 proxy statement showed.
That was more than Phupinder Gill, who succeeded Donohue as CEO on May 1, 2012. Gill 


Ten minute drawing. Margaret Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher

Click on drawing to enlarge.


The Chicago Tribune’s Eric Zorn writes: “You are contemptible. You want to be taken seriously?”

A week ago I criticized a recent post by Chicago Tribune writer Eric Zorn. He had written a pretty ugly piece mocking the suggestion that the Mayor’s school closings were racist.
More than 90% of the students affected are African-American in a school district where 42% of the enrollment is African-American.
Zorn responds instead to a post I wrote about his reporting, or lack of it, on the Persepolis book banning issue.
Fred,
Didn’t we straighten this out before, Fred? My daughter told me about this on Thursday night. I thought it sounded like a student rumor but thought I’d check it out the next morning. By that time it was on the blog and local newssites. For you to try– again — to turn this into an example of laziness on my part is simply contemptible. I really had no idea you were so free in