'Peasants' at mercy of leaders at all levels

Will the various levels of government never tire of screwing the peasants into the ground? Do they comprehend something as simple as survival economics?

The peasants certainly do: cut spending, reduce costs, prioritize, delay and live within your means. The state of Illinois cannot balance its budget without a wave of the pinkie from Le Seigneur Dour and Le Seigneur Mute.

Cook County could try to economize instead of sticking it to families with the "sugar tax." If the county cares so much about citizens' health, why are SNAP participants exempt? Do we not care whether or not they're healthy too?

Couldn't the city of Chicago tax the corporations they lured from the suburbs and all the good-lifers moving into Mag Mile condominiums for CPS pensions? It boggles the mind.

How can School District 59 sell prime commercial property, own a parcel of land, and still need $20 million dollars? The district's insistence on an administrative center and commissary in a residential neighborhood is folly. It will be difficult for trucks to negotiate the curve on Wellington.

If district officials gazed one block east, they would find an all-but-abandoned strip mall that cries out for lease with intent to buy. A commissary and truck bays would fit the vacant property well. There would be ample room for teacher training and meetings. The owners of Jewel Foods would be competition free forever.

Something could be worked out with current tenants. It wouldn't take $18 million dollars to rethink and reuse that property, even if the district wanted its administrators on district property.

Or, will officials continue to work their will while the peasants eat cake? That, at least, is not yet taxed.

Sheila M. Barrett

Elk Grove Village