We’re All Capitalists Now?

James Banks / November 16, 2010

Probably not permanently, but the economic policy excerpts from Rahm Emanuel’s stump speech last Saturday could lead one to believe that:

. . . we cannot ask taxpayers for more when families are struggling to stay afloat in this economy.  We cannot price Chicagoans out of their homes, their schools and communities. This is no time to even talk about raising taxes.  Our first responsibility is to make the tough choices that have been avoided too long because of politics and inertia.

Whether or not the call for austerity measures will survive the primaries remains to be seen, but the text itself is a definite acknowledgment of a political reality: Not even the largest municipal governments can rely on being too big to fail anymore; if major cities like Chicago continue along a track of gratuitous taxation and burdensome regulation, business will move elsewhere. (more…)