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QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Dec 18, 2017 -> 03:59 PM) Yikes, want to feel old? Chris Farley died 20 years ago today... That does make me feel old. I remember drinking with him in college 32 years ago.

QUOTE (South Sider @ Dec 24, 2017 -> 03:19 PM) Jimenez Kopech Collins Hansen Wouldn't be worth it. You are decimating potential for the team for a single player. Although that's probably what it would take to get him.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 06:09 PM) This just seems like a very oversimplistic way of evaluating a trade. The best prospect in the trade profiles as a reliever to most experts. That’s really not going to move the needle much even if he’s dominant. I personally think it was a pretty bad package due to the lack of a higher end centerpiece. I don't agree. In general pitching is herder to get and cost more with a greater risk due to injury rate. I don't know where you get the Alcantara is rated as a reliever. Most experts I've read rate him as a #2 starter at worst a high end reliever. He just came up as a reliever for experience this past year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 01:34 PM) People have been leaving northern states since the invention of this thing called "air conditioning". Not at the rate Illinois has seen in recent years. It's pretty well documented that Illinois, Cook county specifically, has seen a trend with people leaving moreso that any other time. Cook county had the greatest decrease in population than any other county is the US.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 12:27 PM) I didn’t think ozuna trade was bad. I agree. Anytime you get 3 pitching prospects (1 really good, 1 good and 1 flyer) in a deal, for one player it's a pretty good deal. They are cutting payroll to rebuild and acquiring young pitching is the way to go.

One of the best investments we found, if you have kids going to college is the College Illinois plan. we signed them up when they were in kindergarten and you pay over 10 years. It's an easy way to save as they give you a coupon book so you are "forced" to do it. It was good for us as we are terrible "savers." We paid 49,000 into my daughter's account and she got 8,000 this semester from it. That's 72,000 (more as tuition rises) for a 49,000 investment in 12 years.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 01:18 PM) That's what I don't get, if all these things are actually designed for the middle clas, why not give it to them directly? Because giving something for nothing is not a good idea. The whole tax structure is to generate revenue for the government. If you give something from one, you need to take it from another. The premise should be to create more full time jobs for everyone. i like the idea someone put out about linking tax cuts to businesses having certain numbers of 40hrs/week jobs, not the "new" full time of 30hrs/week many are doing. These need to be done in a way to encourage businesses to stay in the US and thrive here. Look at Illinois for example. So many people are leaving the state that Illinois dropped down from 5th to 6th. We need to find a way to keep people and businesses to stay to build the tax base not decreases it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 01:02 PM) So then why not just give every American household $12,000 back? Wouldn’t that be fairer? It would cost exactly the same as this tax cut. Wouldn’t that at least give all those in the middle class more of an opportunity to pay down debt, invest in education or start a small business? All studies would back up empirically that the middle class and poor are much more likely to inject cash directly back into the economy. They could have repaired every deficient bridge in America, for example. Continued to stabilize the health care market instead of allowing those costs to pass down to everyone who was old or sick (the expected 10% increased will negate most or all of the tax cut benefits for the majority of Americans). Treated the opioid crisis. All of these would have led to greater than 0.8% GDP growth over the next decade. Scholarships for junior colleges. Research money for AI, AR and VR, as well as alternative energy vehicles. They chose instead to go with their corporate overlords...who have spent $1.63 billion on lobbying so far this year. I never said that the tax cut was a good idea. In fact if it increases the debt as much as they say, it's probably not a good idea. My whole point has been that adding more tax to a given group is a bad idea as well.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:32 AM) http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Iss...s/Marlins1.aspx? He knew This is not the white sox/Cubs/Houston model of rebuilding. They aren’t acquiring can’t miss prospects, I don’t even think they have gotten a top 50 prospect yet and have traded two of the best players available this offseason There is no such thing as a can't miss prospect. Some of the ones the sox acquired will fail at the MLB, some will get injured and not meet expectations. They are following a similar path of trading what they can get for there current players, the return has been less due to the bad contracts the previous ownership left them as opposed to the good contracts Hahn had. But the idea is the same. they have a fan base that doesn't show up unless they win just like the Sox. The big contracts were crippling the team from fielding a team that can really win. So they need to start over. Just like the Sox. The sox are on a faster trajectory due to the quality of prospects they acquired, at least some should pan out. they are just starting closer to rock bottom.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 01:28 AM) He's under control for 5 years. If he doesn't fit the timeline, the Sox are f***ed. Absolutely. The sox should look but the price will probably be too high right now. A team closer to winning will outbid them.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:54 AM) Is it fair in your eyes that over the last 30 years the share of income and the share of wealth for the top 0.1% has gone up while both have gone down for the remaining 90% of the population? How the people came about their income is not an aspect of how they are taxed. This is a separate issue and a complex one. They way people make the most money is to invest or start businesses. You obviously need money to do these. So the system is set up for that people with money can make the most. This is more of the issue. How do you get capital available for people to do these things. But you also need the desire to to do it. I personally have had many opportunities to manage or start businesses in the physical therapy field. However, I've always just wanted to treat patients and be there for my family whenever I wanted to. A guy who wanted me to start a business with him in the 80's sold Athletico for 400 million a year or 2 ago. Think where I would be if I did work with him. So is it fair? Probably not. But i don't think the answer is to tax that group so the 1% group pays even more for everyone else because they already pay most of everything.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:48 AM) So you really don't care if it separates the haves and have nots in society and if people aren't rich enough to be sick, well, sorry, you're screwed. And if you aren't rich enough to pay a real lawyer to get you off when you commit crimes, too bad, you pay for a bad one who can't get you off when you didn't. This has nothing to do with their % of income and paying taxes. It sounds like you don't want them to have money because they have money. The things you stated here are problems with the individual systems, We know the medical system is unfair. There just needs to be a compromise on a way to improve it.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:01 PM) I've started doing this too. Before my dad passed he got me started on Vanguard's target funds. In about two years I become vested in the IPERS plan here in the state but I have also been contributing monthly to the Target 2050 from Vanguard. Hopefully I get to enjoy more than the five months of retirement that he did. I do the same except for Illinois state employees they'll do a deferred income into the Vanguard type fund. Ours is T Rowe Price I believe. I'm old though. I'm in the 2025.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 05:12 PM) This is incredible. Since Theo took over in 2012, the Cubs have only had 38 1/3 IP from pitchers Theo drafted or signed internationally. Deep pockets can go a long way. He definitely knows hitting though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:38 AM) and far, far less than they should be paying. again, this is where we disagree. Maybe there isn't a purely fair system to do it.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:40 AM) That's because gross is a bad way to measure it. I disagree. i think it's the proper way, philosophically anyway, in the current system.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:36 AM) How about as a percentage of their income? This has been my point all along. This is where we disagree. I really don't care about the % of their income. They already pay so much more than everyone else. The tax brackets already try to do that by bringing in more taxes as the income goes up. It's obviously not a great system and needed to change.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:31 AM) They also hold approaching 25% of all wealth in this country (comparable to the bottom 90% as of 2013 and probably greater than them by now). no doubt, which is why they pay the most taxes.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:20 AM) Depends on how much its brought down. Many top earners can end up paying almost zero taxes. It's all in where you put the money. No it doesn't. The gross amount is still there. I guess everyone else discussing here is stuck on the % and who it actually is. I'm just stating the facts. The top 1% of everyone had actually paid taxes, pay 25% of all tax revenue. If the people you claim don't pay they aren't included in the group.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:26 AM) We have a President who brags about how he is worth over $10 billion yet hasn't paid taxes in 15 years. Why should some stiff making $50k pay taxes? Donald Trump and his ilk, use taxpayer paid roads and lots of other things, yet they have no problem not paying for them, and cry if someone unable to pay is given a service to survive. I've never claimed any of it is fair or it's a good system. It needed to change. I'm only saying who paid what taxes.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:20 AM) Depends on how much its brought down. Many top earners can end up paying almost zero taxes. It's all in where you put the money. Doesn't matter. That top group, whomever they consist of, still pay that revenue. Maybe some of them aren't paying, so the group could be larger. But the top 1% of tax payers, this excludes the more than 1/3 of all people who filed but did not have "taxable income" so didn't pay taxes, pay 25% of all tax revenues.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 01:22 AM) Absolutely stunned by this news. Apparently whatever took his life happened quickly. He was found in his home with his bags packed ready to fly to Boston today. He was 82. The voice of a generation...the Angels, the Rams, UCLA basketball, "The Sports Challenge" TV show, Tennis, the Olympics, the NFL, the Padres, College Basketball. His like will never be seen again. Absolutely. RIP.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 06:24 AM) Absolutely true. But also usually have the most ways to bring that percentage way down. They do. But they still pay by far more than everyone else regardless of how much they bring the % down.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 08:24 AM) The top 0.1% also earn >12% of total national income, and their share is doing this: Good for them. They earn 12% of the total income and pay 25% of all tax revenue.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 12:28 AM) In a short letter to the local Telegraph Herald, Rank said, "Congressman Rod Blum in a Dubuque town hall (Monday) night asked, 'Why should a 62-year-old man have to pay for maternity care?' I ask, why should I pay for a bridge I don’t cross, a sidewalk I don’t walk on, a library book I don’t read?" She continued, "Why should I pay for a flower I won’t smell, a park I don’t visit, or art I can’t appreciate? Why should I pay the salaries of politicians I didn’t vote for, a tax cut that doesn’t affect me, or a loophole I can’t take advantage of?" "It’s called democracy, a civil society, the greater good. That’s what we pay for," she quipped. http://www.refinery29.com/2017/05/154527/a...rnity-insurance Why shouldn't the richest Americans and corporations pay the most? If it was not for all of the benefits they've received from the American system (Constitutional democracy), the American military and the American government/public services system (schools/firefighters/police, etc.) WHERE WOULD ANYONE BE? What would the "American Dream" be then? And what developed countries in the world don't have progressive tax systems? Here's a list if you want to investigate further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates They do.