Rauner's winter of woes just beginning—but spring may come

As long as he's mostly running against himself, Bruce Rauner will have problems. Giving him a real-life Democratic foe after the March primaries should help.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/BLOGS02/171139977/rauners-winter-of-woes-just-beginning-x2014-but-spring-may-come?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

GOP tax bill would lose $1 trillion

The plan won't meet the GOP's promise that the measure will pay for itself through faster economic growth, a new Congressional analysis finds.

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GOP tax bill would lose $1 trillion after growth

That's the latest analysis as a vote nears on the Senate measure.

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Anti-abortion groups sue Illinois to halt new abortion law

The best way to roadblock HB40? In a complaint filed Thursday, anti-abortion groups say financially dysfunctional Illinois can't afford it.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/NEWS03/171139981/anti-abortion-groups-sue-illinois-to-halt-new-abortion-law?utm_source=NEWS03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Pro-life groups sue Illinois to halt new abortion law

The best way to roadblock the abortion law HB40? In a complaint filed Thursday, pro-life groups say financially dysfunctional Illinois can't afford it.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/NEWS03/171139981/pro-life-groups-sue-illinois-to-halt-new-abortion-law?utm_source=NEWS03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Is Bobby Rush retiring, too?

As candidates move toward the March primaries, there's talk another congressman may call it quits, and signs grow that Chuy Garcia may have a tougher time than expected succeeding Rep. Gutierrez.

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CVS nearing deal to buy Aetna

Such an acquisition could reshape the pharmacy and health insurance industries.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/NEWS03/171139986/cvs-nearing-deal-to-buy-aetna?utm_source=NEWS03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

American says it has found pilots for most Christmas flights

Only a few hundred of its late December flights remain without pilots scheduled to fly the plane, the airline says.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/NEWS10/171139987/american-says-it-has-found-pilots-for-most-christmas-flights?utm_source=NEWS10&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Why we're striking against Columbia College

Among the reasons part-time faculty members are walking the picket line: job security, continuity of instruction and a fair system of evaluation.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/OPINION/171139991/why-were-striking-against-columbia-college?utm_source=OPINION&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Brennan to sell industrial buildings for $102 million

The pending sale of the 15-building, 3-million-square-foot portfolio caps a busy year for one of the most active industrial investors here lately.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171130/CRED03/171139988/brennan-to-sell-industrial-buildings-for-102-million?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Wacker Drive tower sells for $80 million

The deal gives downtown commercial sales volume a late push after a slowdown this year.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171130/CRED03/171139989/wacker-drive-tower-sells-for-80-million?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Is this $12.9 million Winnetka house a teardown?

If demolition is approved, the buyers would pay one of the highest prices on record for buildable lakefront land on the North Shore.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171130/CRED0701/171139990/is-this-12-9-million-winnetka-house-a-teardown?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

A new chef for Nico Osteria

Bill Montagne, who came aboard in May, is a fine fit. His credentials include stints at Les Nomades and NoMI in Chicago and Le Bernardin in New York.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/ISSUE03/171129892/a-new-chef-for-nico-osteria?utm_source=ISSUE03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Chicago cooking talent? It's in Nashville.

Chicagoans are helping turn the Southern city into one of the fastest-growing foodie destinations in the U.S.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/ISSUE03/171129893/chicago-cooking-talent-its-in-nashville?utm_source=ISSUE03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Elon Musk wants in on O'Hare express train

The tech entrepreneur tweets that he will enter the competition to build a high-speed rail line connecting the Loop and the airport.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/NEWS02/171139994/elon-musk-wants-in-on-ohare-express-train?utm_source=NEWS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Alderman won't back Lincoln Park townhouse plan

Community sentiment was that the site would be too dense with the homes, Ald. Brian Hopkins announced, so he won't back the zoning change needed to build 13 residences that would have been priced at about $1 million each.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171130/CRED0701/171139995/alderman-wont-back-lincoln-park-townhouse-plan?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Not your grandma's bungalow

All across the city's historic bungalow belt, rehabbers are making stylish updates to the interiors of these legendary built-to-last homes.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171130/CRED0701/171139997/not-your-grandmas-bungalow?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

You may be recharging your phone with its technology right now

NuCurrent was founded to recharge implanted medical devices wirelessly. Now it's growing in a bigger market: recharging mobile phones without the hassle of plugging them in.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/ISSUE01/171139998/you-may-be-recharging-your-phone-with-its-technology-right-now?utm_source=ISSUE01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Why community colleges are essential

We have to move beyond criticizing community colleges and devaluing the students and the degrees, and be willing to do something about it, writes the co-founder of One Million Degrees.

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Data startup launched by Groupon co-founder raises $117M from U.K. investor

Weeks after renegotiating a deal with Caterpillar, Brad Keywell raises more money.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171130/BLOGS11/171139996/data-startup-launched-by-groupon-co-founder-raises-117m-from-u-k?utm_source=BLOGS11&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

He spooked Emanuel. Now's he's got his eye on Washington.

Jesus "Chuy" Garcia—a Bernie Sanders ally who forced the mayor into a run-off election two years ago—is looking to shake up Capitol Hill.

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Walgreens' CEO pay jumps to more than $14 million

Stefano Pessina received a 45 percent boost in equity compensation.

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Press release: The Niskanen Center Supports the Lee-Rubio Child Tax Credit Refundability Amendment

Washington DC, November 29, 2017 – Today, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) will introduce an amendment to the Senate tax bill that substantially improves the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for working families. The amendment will make the CTC refundable against the 15.3 percent Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, and index the maximum $2,000 per-child credit level to price inflation.

“The principle effect of this amendment will be to put cash back into the pockets of working-class families,” said Samuel Hammond, the poverty and welfare policy analyst for the Niskanen Center. “For instance, under this amendment a family with two children earning roughly $26,000 would see their entire payroll tax refunded, capturing the full credit per-child. With two-thirds of Americans paying more in payroll taxes than federal income taxes, payroll tax relief is the most direct means of supporting working families, and a necessary step toward addressing the economic and social crises facing families in the parts of the country that have been left behind.”

Hammond also praised the amendment for embracing the recommendation of the Niskanen Center’s coalition statement at www.ExpandTheChildTaxCredit.com to index the credit to inflation, saying: “Indexation ensures the real value of the credit will remain constant over time. In recent years, the lack of indexing allowed the credit to lose nearly a quarter of its value since it was last expanded.”

The amendment proposes paying for these improvements by setting the corporate rate at 22 percent, rather than the 20 percent rate proposed in the base Senate bill. A 22 percent corporate tax rate remains two percentage points below the OECD average, and four percentage points below the G20 average, suggesting the amendment does not sacrifice the future competitiveness of the U.S. business tax code. Instead, as Hammond put it in a forthcoming op-ed in The Atlantic with W. Bradford Wilcox, the amendment sends a strong signal that working-class families ought to come before the interests of the donor-class.

The Niskanen Center is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that works to change public policy through direct engagement in the policymaking process.
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from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/press-release-niskanen-center-supports-lee-rubio-child-tax-credit-refundability-amendment/

City gives hints on route, terminus of O'Hare Express train

Union Station, the Near West Side and, yes, the Block 37 superstation might serve as a home base for the proposed airport express train that the city is pitching to potential developers.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171129/BLOGS02/171129887/city-gives-hints-on-route-terminus-of-ohare-express-train?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

For first time, Bannockburn office complex has one owner

GlenStar is going all in on a rehab project in the struggling north suburban office market.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171129/CRED03/171129889/for-first-time-bannockburn-office-complex-has-one-owner?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

After foreclosure sale, lender courts new developer for Purple Hotel site

The Lincolnwood property has been mired in litigation over the years, which stymied efforts to develop it. "It's an embarrassment," says a village official.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171129/CRED03/171129890/after-foreclosure-sale-lender-courts-new-developer-for-purple-hotel?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

There may be a more eccentric house in the area, but we don't know it

As offbeat inside as out, with loads of angles, this Des Plaines home nonetheless sold after less than six weeks on the market.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171129/CRED0701/171129891/there-may-be-a-more-eccentric-house-in-the-area-but-we-dont-know-it?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

You Don’t Need to Rent as Much Office Space as You Think!

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

When trying to reduce their office space rent costs many companies focus too much on only getting the lowest rental rates possible. What they seem to overlook is the fact that they don’t actually need as much office space as they think. 

If more companies would shift their focus to the actual square footage that they need and how efficiently the space could be built out and used they would be able to generate significant costs savings. 

Depending on the market you are in you may not have as much leverage in rent negotiations, however what you do have complete control over is the amount of space that you rent.

Efficiency is Key When Renting Office Space

Even in a down market where rental rates are low it’s still important to avoid leasing too much space. Before you begin looking for space consider doing a thorough space evaluation and determine your ideal layout, as well as how you will use the space. After being interviewing about your current and future needs and use a good space planner or architect can create a program for you to help you determine the exact size space you need.

Think about the job functions and needs of each employee. If you spend some time in the planning phase you will uncover some ways to reduce your office space size and still maintain productivity in a smaller space. Also if you reduce your size you might find that you can now afford a nicer class A office space.

When you are ready to find and rent office space you absolutely want to find the best location and negotiate the lowest rental rate possible. However don’t forget that you have more control over how much space you rent. Don’t get caught in the moment and lease more space than you really need.

The post You Don’t Need to Rent as Much Office Space as You Think! appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

PRESS RELEASE: Niskanen Center Report Outlines Proposed Changes to Family-Based (Chain) Migration

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 29, 2017 – Today, the Niskanen Center released a report, “Overview of Family-Based Immigration And the Effects of Limiting Chain Migration,” detailing proposed changes limiting the scope of family members that can be sponsored by relatives for an immigrant visa, without reallocating all of those visas to employment-based or skills-based immigrant populations.

The report provides an overview of the complex process of family-based migration, clarifies misinformation about family-based migration, and presents the short-term and long-term overall immigration impacts of proposed legislation like the RAISE Act and SUCCEED Act, as well as two other hypothetical scenarios.

Ultimately, the report concludes that without accompanying increases to numerical limits elsewhere, each scenario limiting family-based migration will lead to significantly lower levels of immigration in the long term. Including the RAISE Act, any legislation lowering immigration levels will have substantial, negative effects on economic growth, leading to a smaller labor force, less entrepreneurship, and less innovation.

“To ensure that negotiations involving a Dreamer legalization and enforcement package are as fully-informed as possible, it is critical for lawmakers to understand the considerable impacts to overall immigration levels that some of the proposals limiting chain migration have in the long term,” said Kristie De Peña, Senior Counsel at the Niskanen Center.

Even the most modest family-based immigration reform proposal discussed creates an “immigration cliff,” whereby immigration stays on its present course for ten years as we work through the backlog of applicants, before substantial and permanent cuts begin to take place.

Read the full report here and the one-page overview here.

The Niskanen Center is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that works to change public policy through direct engagement in the policymaking process.

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from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/press-release-niskanen-center-report-outlines-proposed-changes-family-based-chain-migration/

Niskanen Center Report Outlines Proposed Changes to Family-Based (Chain) Migration

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

“Chain migration” is a disparaging term that refers to the legal, family-based immigration system that is the bedrock of immigration policy in the United States. As a result of our historically conservative principles aimed at reuniting and preserving nuclear families, as well as facilitating quick assimilation, our migration system centers around giving preference to immigrants with family already in the U.S.

There is increasing interest in transitioning our family-based immigration system to a merits-based system that prioritizes accepting immigrants with specific skills, rather than family ties. Within the last year, a number of lawmakers have proposed changes that limit the scope of family members that can be sponsored by relatives for an immigrant visa; these proposals do not, however, reallocate the lost visas to employment-based or skills-based immigrant populations.

The impact to overall immigration levels is compelling. This report presents the short-term and long-term impact of proposed legislation like the RAISE Act and SUCCEED Act on overall immigration levels, as well as two other hypothetical scenarios. Additionally, it provides an introduction to family-based immigration, the petition process and requirements for immigrants entering the country, clarification of common myths about family-based immigration, and our recommendations.

Ultimately, the report concludes that without accompanying increases to numerical limits elsewhere, each scenario limiting family-based migration will lead to significantly lower levels of immigration in the long term, which will negatively affect our economy. Although family-based immigration is the bedrock of our system, it may be ripe for pragmatic, scaled improvement.

The full report is available here and the one-page overview is available here.

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from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/niskanen-center-report-outlines-proposed-changes-family-based-chain-migration/

Rauner finalizes $15 billion Medicaid overhaul

The Rauner administration has inked deals with seven private insurers to participate in​ the state's new Medicaid managed care program, HealthChoice Illinois, which debuts Jan. 1.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171129/NEWS03/171129897/rauner-finalizes-15-billion-medicaid-overhaul?utm_source=NEWS03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Who is Stephen Calk?

Stephen Calk once was the relatively obscure CEO of Federal Savings Bank—until his bank lent $16 million to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171129/NEWS01/171129898/who-is-stephen-calk?utm_source=NEWS01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Is O'Hare express train plan real?

City Hall formally seeks potential bidders to finance, build and operate a train to whisk travelers from the Loop to O'Hare in 20 minutes—and says project skeptics are wrong.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/BLOGS02/171129899/is-ohare-express-train-plan-real?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Uihlein's support for Roy Moore causes headache for Rauner

The Illinois businessman's super PAC contributions are causing problems for Gov. Bruce Rauner, who received $2.6 million from Uihlein during his first election campaign.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/NEWS02/171129903/uihleins-support-for-roy-moore-causes-headache-for-rauner?utm_source=NEWS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Virtual Reality Changing How We View Commercial Real Estate

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

When looking for commercial real estate to lease or purchase how many hours have you spent looking at office space photos or physically touring the spaces? If you have been in the commercial real estate business as long as I have or are a company that has leased a few commercial properties you have probably spent many hours looking at commercial spaces before deciding which one is right for your business. Well Virtual Reality is about to change all that.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual Realty (VR) is a computer generated technology that allows you to see 3 dimensional images or environments that you can seemingly or physically interact with using headsets, glasses with a screen inside, or other electronic equipment. Virtual reality is currently known more for the gaming industry however some companies are testing the new technology in residential and commercial real estate

Virtual Reality Technology and Commercial Real Estate

Current marketing practices for properties of most commercial real estate companies is by posting videos, photos, and flyers on the internet for people to see their commercial spaces that they have available for lease or sale. For the tenant or buyer the only way to get a real feel for the property is to physically see it. With VR the prospect may not even have to be in the same zip code of the property to see it. From their office or home they can put on the VR glasses and feel like they are physically in the space.

If it works out using virtual reality in commercial real estate can be a game changer and make previewing commercial spaces much easier and faster. VR will change the way commercial tenants do their commercial property site selection and planning before having to physically tour commercial spaces. This will also be a great tool for investors looking to buy commercial investment properties in different cities, states, or countries.

There are some major steps to climb however as the VR technology gets better more and more commercial real estate companies will experiment with ways to improve their ability to lease and sell properties. There may not even be a need to visit some commercial properties before leasing or buying them as you will be able to see everything you need to see by just putting on some VR glasses. You can even buy or lease space across the country.

With VR these CRE firms will be able to actually PUT a potential buyer or tenant in the space, enabling them to look around and get an idea of what it would be like to occupy and work in the space. Then within an instant the prospect could be PUT into another property for viewing. VR has the ability to capture the attention of prospects for up to 5 minutes or longer.

Other uses for virtual reality in commercial real estate will be to see raw land, touring to be built properties, looking at building interior mockups, etc. And all this can be done without having to spend money on travel back and forth. 

Seeing Commercial Spaces with VR Can Save Time and Money

Most decision makers have a lot on their plate and having to fly or drive across the country to look at multiple locations is very time consuming. However by being able to virtual tour commercial spaces they will be able to view spaces across different cities all within minutes thus saving valuable time. 

Also when touring spaces it can be hard to envision how it would work for your company once it’s finished out with a different layout, furniture, etc. VR will allow tenants to view sample floor plans so they can see what an unfinished space would look like after the build-out is completed.

I don’t think that physical tours of commercial spaces will go away however virtual reality will cut down on the time needed to physically tour them. VR is still new and the cost cost and expertise is high which will making adopting the use of VR slow. However as the costs go down you will eventually see more commercial property owners using it so that buyers and tenants can more easily view their spaces.

 

The post Virtual Reality Changing How We View Commercial Real Estate appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

GOP tax plan for colleges is a self-inflicted wound

The changes would undermine higher ed, one of the few areas where America still earns top marks.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/OPINION/171129905/gop-tax-plan-for-colleges-is-a-self-inflicted-wound?utm_source=OPINION&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Immigration raid leaves Chicago baker scrambling to staff up

800 workers needed to be replaced after an immigration inspection.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/EMPLOYMENT/171129908/immigration-raid-leaves-chicago-baker-scrambling-to-staff-up?utm_source=EMPLOYMENT&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Here’s where the GOP tax plan stands right now

With Sen. Susan Collins saying she can support the bill, the tax proposal takes a major step forward.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/NEWS02/171129910/here-s-where-the-gop-tax-plan-stands-right-now?utm_source=NEWS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

The Theory of the (Tech) Firm

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the American Enterprise Institute, which asked the question, “Should Washington break up Big Tech?” Antitrust, unsurprisingly, was at the fore of everyone’s mind. But the title of the panel suggests that there’s a fundamental problem associated with “Big Tech”—a problem that antitrust may (or may not) be able to solve. So what is the problem?

In general, the current critiques du jour of American tech firms seem to boil down into one of these categories:

1. Tech firms are too big, too, powerful, and too few;
2. Tech firms are inhibiting competition; and
3. Tech firms are destroying the institutions of liberal democracy.

Unfortunately, none of these criticisms holds up to scrutiny.

To start, concerns over the size of tech firms are entirely overblown. It’s true that the level of industry concentration (the presence of fewer, more dominant firms) across many sectors of the American economy has increased in recent decades, but whether this is problematic and why it is happening remain unclear.

One theory, proposed by James Bessen in a recent paper, suggests that much of the increase in firm size can be attributed to greater effectiveness at implementing proprietary IT systems. Unlike generic computing, such systems are far slower to diffuse to rival firms. As a result, these disparities in effective implementation give rise to heterogeneous firm productivity and access to skilled labor (especially if many of those skills are learned on the job with firm-specific proprietary technology). This, he argues, widens the productivity gap, leading to more efficient and consumer welfare-enhancing outcomes emanating from larger, more concentrated industries.

Part of the concern over firm size also goes to the problem of rent-seeking and the concentration of political power. Large corporations can have an outsized influence on high-level political actors and use that power to maintain their dominance in an industry, often by lobbying for the erection of regulatory entry barriers. However, there is no indication that the dominant tech firms have done anything to diminish the competitiveness of the Internet landscape through such means. In fact, quite to the contrary, many of these same companies regularly lobby against legislation that would undermine the openness and contestability of the market in which they operate (the concerted effort to oppose sweeping changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is just the most recent example of such efforts). Of course, it is certainly true that such opposition invariably benefits the large dominant firms; but it also works against attempts to close-off the Internet to new entrants.

Ultimately, we should be far more concerned about the behavior of firms, not their size or structure. To that end, so long as a market remains contestable, entry barriers are minimal, and the firms enhance consumer welfare, the size and quantity of companies in a given industry don’t matter much.

This leads to my second point: the idea that competition in the technology sector—and the online service provider segment of that market—is stifled by the presence of dominant firms is entirely unfounded. Determining the level of competition in the tech sector can be difficult, in part because services are generally provided at a price of zero in exchange for consumer’s data. So what’s a good means of assessing competitiveness in the absence of clear prices that might allude to symptoms of excessive market power?

I’d argue a good starting point would be examining expenditures on R&D. Investment in R&D is essentially a firm placing a big bet today in the hopes of very uncertain future returns—the type of bet a firm is unlikely to make unless it is concerned about retaining, or expanding, its market position. In its 2017 Global Innovation 1000 study, PricewaterhouseCoopers makes it pretty clear which industry dominates R&D spending: the American technology sector.

The R&D spending of the five biggest tech firms (Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook) ranges from $1.6 billion to $16 billion, with R&D intensity (the ratio of R&D expenditure to total revenue) ranging from 2.16 percent to 27.5 percent (Amazon is the pack leader in absolute spending, while Facebook leads in R&D intensity). In both absolute spending and intensity, American tech firms spend far more on R&D than any other industry. By contrast, the top R&D spending by utilities, which are commonly cited as the quintessential examples of non-competitive monopolies, capped out at $650 million, with an associated R&D intensity of 0.75 percent. It’s also worth pointing out, that of the utility firms that managed to eek their way into the PwC Global Innovation 1000, not a single American utility firm made the cut (the $650 million number was for Électricité de France S.A.).

Another good metric would be looking at barriers to entry relative to other industries. While entry costs to effectively competing with Google or Facebook may include things like access to advanced data analytics and AI, large quantities of consumption pattern data, and scalable network effects, none of those are barriers are any more anti-competitive than the initial capital requirements for building a new factory or investing in inventory stock for a new bodega. What the Internet offers, which other industries simply cannot match, is non-capital intensive access to the market, with bare minimum requirements amounting to little more than a computer and Internet access. In that sense, the Internet, as a broad market, is not marred by the types of stifling barriers to entry that characterize other economic sectors.

If R&D spending is high, and barriers to entry are (and remain) low, it’s fair to conclude that the market is competitive, and doesn’t unnecessarily burden new entrants. The key here is that the contestability of the online service market remains high. So long as the market constantly threatens to unseat incumbent firms, concerns of durable and everlasting monopolies in the tech sector are unjustified.

Third, criticisms over the role that social media played in undermining American democracy in the 2016 election are wildly overstated, and completely ignore more fundamental socio-cultural (and political) problems. Here it’s worth reiterating something that people seem to forget, or miss entirely. The Internet is not divorced from culture and society; it is a reflection of all those things we commonly associate with the “real world.” As I discussed in an old blog post:

The Internet … mirrors society and, by extension, each of us: our preferences, associations, and world views. In a sense, our online tools are just means by which we transpose our lives into the digital realm, and those tools, wonderful though they may be, are just that: tools that we can use to shape our online bubble. Google may be great at allowing us to access information we previously did not know, or refutes our long-held beliefs. But there’s a chasm of a difference between being confronted with evidence suggesting our perspectives are ill-informed, and internalizing that information and readjusting our beliefs accordingly. Simply having access to more information doesn’t necessarily make us better informed.

Criticisms of Facebook in the wake of the Russian election interference are pretty easy to come by. But charging the company with contributing to the degradation of American political institutions by providing a platform from which people can express themselves is a wildly incongruent perspective. It’s odd to make the claim that our democracy is undermined by a service that is premised on vibrant and robust expression and interconnectivity, when those are the very values that characterize the open and inclusive society America has always billed itself as. The tech sector may make for a tempting target of scorn in the current political climate, but leaving the blame for dwindling institutional trust at “Big Tech’s” doorstep is a woefully unsatisfying answer to the question of, “how did America get to now?”

Last summer, Jonathan Rauch’s appropriately-titled Atlantic article, How American Politics Went Insane, argued that part of the reason for declining trust is in part a symptom of the breakdown in party machines and political networks—the American people abandoned the establishment, not the other way around. “The biggest obstacle,” he argues, “is the general public’s reflexive, unreasoning hostility to politicians and the process of politics. Neurotic hatred of the political class is the country’s last universally acceptable form of bigotry. Because that problem is mental, not mechanical, it really is hard to remedy.” I think this is broadly correct. The point, however, is that claims of “Big Tech” undermining American democracy are overly-simplistic and incomplete answers to larger and far more complex issues.

I discussed these and a lot of other issues with my fellow panelists at AEI. If you’re interested, feel free to check out the entire event below.

The post The Theory of the (Tech) Firm appeared first on Niskanen Center.

from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/theory-tech-firm/

Suburban investor lands big loan on office building turnaround

The 12-story property in Rolling Meadows was appraised for more than twice as much as the investor paid for it just two years ago.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171128/CRED03/171129915/suburban-investor-lands-big-loan-on-office-building-turnaround?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

New owner of Johnson Publishing building eyes nearby property

3L Real Estate, which plans to convert the Johnson Publishing building into apartments, has agreed to buy a nearby student housing complex from Columbia College.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171128/CRED03/171129916/new-owner-of-johnson-publishing-building-eyes-nearby-property?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

As it moves into Bitcoin, CME outlines its safeguards

The world's largest exchange owner, which aims to introduce futures in the digital currency by yearend, has plans to manage customer exposure.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/NEWS01/171129917/as-it-moves-into-bitcoin-cme-outlines-its-safeguards?utm_source=NEWS01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

City's top-selling broker team jumps to new-in-town firm

Jeff Lowe's group, involved in a quarter-billion dollars in sales in 2016, has joined Compass, a New York-based real estate firm heavy on technology.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171128/CRED0701/171129920/citys-top-selling-broker-team-jumps-to-new-in-town-firm?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Home values up in September, but growth among nation's weakest

Chicago-area home values continued rising in September, but the growth rate remained among the weakest in the country, according to a highly regarded national index.

The region's single-family home values were up 3.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171128/CRED0701/171129921/home-values-up-in-september-but-growth-among-nations-weakest?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Some nonprofits opt out of Giving Tuesday

Smaller organizations say it's tough to staff up for and to stand out on what's become the national day of donating.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/NEWS07/171129923/some-nonprofits-opt-out-of-giving-tuesday?utm_source=NEWS07&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Get ready for a new tax code

As the Senate prepares to vote on a tax bill, two questions come to mind, write two top Deloitte executives: Will the bill pass and what can companies do to be prepared?

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171128/OPINION/171129924/get-ready-for-a-new-tax-code?utm_source=OPINION&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Chicago's Byline Bank buys leading Evanston community bank

The $169 million for First Bank & Trust of Evanston, the North Shore city's only community bank, includes $7.5 million in planned cost cuts.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/NEWS01/171129922/chicagos-byline-bank-buys-leading-evanston-community-bank?utm_source=NEWS01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Pritzker, Kennedy lift veil on their tax returns

The two wealthiest Democratic candidates for governor release their returns, but some key questions remain unanswered.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/BLOGS02/171129925/pritzker-kennedy-lift-veil-on-their-tax-returns?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Centennial Towers Office Space – 505 E Huntland Dr Austin Tx 78752

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

Centennial Towers office building is located in North Central Austin at 505 E Huntland Drive. If you are looking for a Class A building with value oriented rates this is the place. 

If you are interested in leasing Austin office space at Centennial Towers give us a call at 512-861-0525

Building Size – 156,293 RSF

Building Height – 6 stories

Typical Floor Plate – 26,048 RSF

Parking – Parking ratio 4/1,000 sf. Garage parking available

Amenities – Building conference room, fitness Center with showers, steam room, and lockers

Walking Distance To – Several restaurants, ACC Highland Mall Campus, commuter rail, and public transportation

Transportation – Easy Access to IH-35, Hwy 290, and US Hwy 183. 10 minutes to downtown Austin. 

For rates and info on available spaces give us a call and we will help you find the perfect office space at Centennial Towers in North Central Austin

The post Centennial Towers Office Space – 505 E Huntland Dr Austin Tx 78752 appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

What the internet got wrong about those Amazon incentives

A Seattle Times report said Chicago has offered to let Amazon pocket $1.32 billion in income taxes paid by its own workers. The Twitterverse, predictably, erupted. But there's more to the story.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/NEWS07/171129927/what-the-internet-got-wrong-about-those-amazon-incentives?utm_source=NEWS07&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

James Hotel closing Primehouse

The steakhouse, which for most of its 11-year run was associated with David Burke and which introduced salt-aging to the city, is to shut Dec. 9.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/BLOGS09/171129930/james-hotel-closing-primehouse?utm_source=BLOGS09&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Up to the Senate to block GOP tax bill: Rep. Schneider

The north suburban Democrat says the pending measure is bad for his district and House Dems are doing all they can to stop it.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/BLOGS02/171129931/up-to-the-senate-to-block-gop-tax-bill-rep-schneider?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Richard Uihlein funding pro-Roy Moore super PAC: report

Lake Forest businessman Richard Uihlein is the "chief financier" of a leading pro-Roy Moore super PAC, according to the Daily Beast, which cited a new filing with the FEC.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/NEWS02/171129933/richard-uihlein-funding-pro-roy-moore-super-pac-report?utm_source=NEWS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

What is a HUBZone and How Do I Find Out Where They Are?

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

HUBZones (Historically Underutilized Business Zones) are programs created by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to help companies expand and grow in economically distressed communities by promoting job growth, economic development, and capital investment. They do this by providing small businesses that operate and employ people in these  economically challenged communities contracting opportunities that they would not otherwise have access to. The federal government’s goal is to award 3% of federal contracts to companies that operate in HUBZone map locations. 

If you need to buy or lease Austin commercial real estate in a HUBZone give us a call at 512-861-0525 and we can help you find the right space for your business.

Criteria to Qualify For HUBZone Designation

1. Must be a Small business based on NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)
2. U.S. Citizens must own at least 51% of the business
3. The main head quarters must be located in a HUBZone
4. 35% of the businesses employees must live in the HUBZone

Where are Hubzones in Austin Texas Located?

In Austin you will find most of the Hubzones in Central Austin, East Austin, Northeast Austin, and Southeast Austin. If you are a business that is looking to take advantage of the Austin HUBZones then you will want to make sure you focus on the areas outline in the photo or if you enter your city or specific address you will be able to see if your ideal location falls within the HUBZone in Austin, Texas

If you need help finding Austin commercial office spaces for lease or purchase in a HUBZone feel free to contact us for help.

The post What is a HUBZone and How Do I Find Out Where They Are? appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

Park District chairman raps agency for budget timing

In an unusual public put-down, Jesse Ruiz says he's "disappointed" that management released the $462 million budget, with a $10 million property-tax hike, when few Chicagoans would notice.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/BLOGS02/171129934/park-district-chairman-raps-agency-for-budget-timing?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Will a $12.7 million mansion get a $2.1 million front yard?

The owners of one of Winnetka's highest-priced homes bought the smaller house in front of theirs. It's been approved for demolition in August but as of last week was still standing.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171127/CRED0701/171129935/will-a-12-7-million-mansion-get-a-2-1-million-front-yard?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

The Limits of Legalism

Robert Mueller and the FBI can’t save us.

The special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election, possible Trump campaign collusion with it, and possible obstruction of justice related to those are vitally important. I am, of course, in complete agreement with the public letter to the Congressional Republican leadership organized by the Niskanen Center calling for them to protect the integrity of the investigation. In light of the widespread nondisclosure of and outright lies about contacts, meetings, and financial and political connections between Russian interests and members of the Trump campaign and administration, it’s very hard to know what we don’t yet know. There might well turn out to be substantial criminal activity behind all this obfuscation, and certainly members of Trump’s circle shouldn’t be above the law. The investigation moreover seems likely to help ongoing counterintelligence investigations and planning for future elections. The Putin regime is not going to stop disrupting and interfering in elections in western democracies, and understanding how domestic political actors were manipulated, corrupted, or persuaded into acting out Russia’s script can help the US and other western democracies mount defenses in the future.

And, frankly, what’s already on the public record—not only involving Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulous, but also Carter Page, Michael Flynn, and members of the Trump family, from the meeting last summer in Trump Tower to the president’s firing of James Comey—already amounts to an unprecedented scandal. Yes, members of the Trump campaign were in private communication with Russian interests as well as being entangled in unreported financial relationships with them. Yes, members of the Trump campaign knew that Russia had access to hacked information from the Democratic Party. Yes, members of the Trump campaign knew that Russia was interested in putting a thumb on the scale and helping them; they were happy to hear it and didn’t report it. Yes, members of the Trump campaign and future administration sought out back-channel communications with the Putin government during the transition. And, yes, when the FBI investigation of Michael Flynn pushed too hard, Trump fired Comey, concocting a false justification for it before acknowledging, then bragging, that he did so because of Russia.

But the Mueller investigation is, and will continue to be, vulnerable to political interference. Most obviously, Trump could still fire Jeff Sessions and then appoint a successor who hadn’t recused himself from the Russia investigation and who would fire Mueller or order the investigation to conclude. Or Sessions might resign, though that seems less likely; he keeps signalling that he’s not interested in a voluntary change of job (most recently, that he is not interested in returning to his old Alabama Senate seat by write-in), and he seems to have weathered Trump’s season of trying to humiliate him into quitting. Moreover, a series of presidential pardons could wipe out Mueller’s investigative leverage, which relies on indictments and threats of indictments against lower-level or more marginal figures to get them to reveal information on more important figures.

The problem of the connections between Russian interference on one hand and the Trump campaign, administration, and family on the other is a genuinely political problem. Suppose that the Mueller investigation turns up evidence of widespread lying to Congress and the FBI, widespread nondisclosure of Russian contacts, financial crimes by Manafort in 2016, and financial crimes related to Russian money by Trump and his family before 2016, but nothing more than the winks and nods already on the public record between the Trump family and Russian interference in 2016. There’s nothing in the criminal law that can dictate what happens next. If he issues a few (or a few dozen) pardons at that stage to tie up loose ends, while some cases might still be viable in state courts, there’s really nothing left in the criminal law to prevent Trump from tweeting his “NO COLLUSION!” triumphalism and trying to barrel on through his term.

The courts can’t save us.

Consider the ongoing legal fights about Trump’s various executive orders on immigration. In response to the highly unusual circumstances of those orders, the federal judiciary has shown itself unusually willing to intervene and limit executive discretion on immigration questions. The headline-grabbing aspects of the first two versions of bans on migration from several mostly-Muslim countries spent longer being blocked by injunctions than they did actually in effect; and the version of the ban that was eventually allowed to go into effect by the Supreme Court was much whittled down from the original attempt. Courts have stretched traditional boundaries in taking into account Trump’s statements (on the campaign trail and on Twitter since his inauguration) about the order’s purpose and intent. It is still possible that the Supreme Court will rule on the merits of the challenges to those first two executive orders; it has not yet decided whether those cases are moot in light of the second order’s expiration and its replacement by a third.

But I would bet against it. The courts have good reason for reticence. They are institutionally reluctant to pick fights they can’t win with either Congress or the presidency. Only deciding live cases and controversies is a fundamental norm of the American judiciary. And the executive branch has constant opportunities to play shell games with its policies in response to judicial challenges. The addition of North Korea (from which the United States gets essentially no immigration) and Venezuela (in an asymmetric way that makes its inclusion misleading) to the Muslim-majority countries on the original list is a good example. If the courts look likely to restrict executive discretion to engage in religious discrimination in immigration, the executive can lightly disguise it.  In the time it takes slow, deliberate courts to reach a final decision about that policy, the policy can change again. The executive’s built-in speed advantage over the judiciary, and its freedom to opportunistically alter particulars while the judiciary struggles to find general principles, make it extremely difficult if not impossible for the courts to keep up.

And even courts stretching their traditional constraints and boundaries can’t substitute for decency in policymaking. No court has interfered with the Trump administration’s slashing of the number of refugees admitted, and the Supreme Court allowed the temporary complete ban on refugee admissions to go into effect. This is almost certainly right. There unavoidably is a substantial domain for discretionary policymaking in the executive, and the judiciary lacks the expertise, institutional capacity, or legitimacy to substitute its own policy judgments. That it’s a moral horror to confine people to war zones or tyrannies, and appalling shirking to shift ever more of the obligation to protect refugees onto the overtaxed countries that immediately adjoin conflict zones, doesn’t mean that it’s illegal as a matter of US domestic law.

Even the Constitution can’t save us.

If we didn’t properly appreciate the weakness of what Madison described as “parchment barriers” before 2017, the example of the Emoluments Clause under Trump means we surely must now. Trump has defied, ignored, or shredded the whole previous system of norms about avoiding financial conflicts of interest and the use of public office for private enrichment. He has kept his own finances secret, most conspicuously by not releasing his tax returns. He has not put his personal fortune into a blind trust, has not separated his family from his business, and despite an pro forma gesture toward doing so, has not even sharply distinguished between the members of his family working in politics and those running the business. He routinely relocates to properties owned by his companies, especially the Mar-a-Lago resort whose membership fee was doubled (to $200,000) after his election. And he does not release information about the identities of the paying guests at those properties while he relocates to them. He has, in short, drawn a very clear map to foreign interests about how to enrich him and his family and how to gain direct access to him in the process. His administration is mounting an all-fronts resistance to any attempt to apply conflict of interest norms in general or the Emoluments Clause in particular to him. The defiance is impressively forthright, amounting to saying “those rules are for little cases, and cannot be applied to huge cases.” There is no way to separate Trump from his family or his family from their family business; there is no way to separate his family business from foreign money or from personal access to Trump; the rules are impotent in the face of this complete mixture of man, brand, business, and office, and so don’t apply. This is all false, but it has become clear that the ethics rules on the books and the Emoluments Clause in particular are powerless in the face of this level of defiance.

Liberals—and here I do not only mean classical or market liberals, but we are very much included—have a deep-rooted attraction to law and worry about politics. The rule of law is a defining liberal institutional value; procedural regularity, formal equality, and the enforcement of rights all draw the liberal mind to legalism. Indeed, justice and rights are both legalistic concepts in their etymology and history, and they’re central to liberal thinking about governance.

Law aims at certainty, the definitive and correct protection of those who hold rights against those who would violate or undermine them. Politics offers no such certainties. Even at its best it is a domain of contestable judgments that never stop being contested. There is no final settlement; there is always another election. Liberals worry about majoritarianism, and think law can, as politics cannot, protect individuals and minorities from it. We imagine that constitutional settlements can tame politics, confining it within the boundaries of law, ensuring that it complies with justice and respects rights. But they can’t.

The critique of “liberal legalism” has been a major theme in political and constitutional theory in the past two decades. The NYU philosopher Jeremy Waldron has been one of the most prominent voices here. He has argued for many years that we can believe in justice and rights while still also recognizing permanent good-faith disagreement about their precise content. Once we see that clearly, he maintains, we will see the need for those disagreements to be debated politically—in democratically-elected legislatures, for example—rather than short-circuited by recourse to law.

I’ve slowly become persuaded by some of this, and also by some related worries about the political implications of legalism. The American willingness to subordinate everything else in politics to the fight for control of judicial appointments is extraordinarily unhealthy. The most conspicuous examples right now are the ongoing opportunistic rewriting of the procedural rules of the Senate and the idea that Alabamians should elect as Senator a child molester who was twice removed from the bench for disregarding the law, in order to ensure a Republican vote for judicial confirmations. But I’m also tremendously troubled by the classical liberal legalists who seem willing to tolerate any amount of substantive authoritarianism in politics for the sake of friendly judicial appointments.

The current administration shows why the defense of freedom and of the liberal society can’t be an exclusively legal concern. Rules can be manipulated and danced around by the powerful. Legal proceedings are much slower than changes in political circumstances. And executive power is in its nature somewhat lawless. John Locke described executive prerogative as necessary in any system that separated the executive and legislative powers, and defined it as the “power to act according to discretion, for the public good, without the prescription of the law, and sometimes even against it.” (Emphasis added.)

If it’s true that the contemporaneous legislature can’t legally plan for every eventuality, it is of course even more true of a generations-ago constitutional convention. And so the U.S. Constitution does not try to constrain all possible executive misconduct by law, but gives Congress the authority to review executive conduct and to judge officials for “those offences which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself,” in the words of Hamilton in The Federalist. The pardon power is arbitrary and lawless; so is the veto. Neither requires justification as a matter of law. For their abuse, and more broadly for the abuse of executive prerogative, the Constitution envisions a political, not a judicial, response: impeachment.

Only politics can save us.

If the independent executive cannot be successfully bound by law, then there is nothing else for it but politics. I’ve argued several times in this space that we need to understand the defense of the liberal society as a political project, one that is dependent on political resources from motivations for popular mobilization to organizational capacity to institutional counterbalances. (See also Michelle Schwarze’s fine essay.) The liberal order of free and open commerce, of religious liberty and freedom of speech and the press, and of rule-of-law constraints on state arbitrariness and violence requires strong political foundations; while law is a crucial part of that order, it can’t pull itself up by its own bootstraps. The liberal society needs an electorate, and elected officials, who are willing and able to stand up for it.

Executive authoritarianism and lawlessness can be hemmed in and checked but not fully constrained by courts, the criminal law, or the written Constitution.

They ultimately have to be confronted by elected officials: co-partisans willing to exercise serious restraint, or if not, an opposition voted into office who will do so instead.

—

Jacob T. Levy is Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory and Director of the Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds at McGill University; author of Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom and scholarly articles including, most recently,”Contra Politanism”; a blogger at Bleeding Heart Libertarians; and a Niskanen Center Senior Fellow and Advisory Board Member.

The post The Limits of Legalism appeared first on Niskanen Center.

from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/the-limits-of-legalism/

Ken Griffin on bitcoin, tax reform

Today's frenzy over the digital currency resembles Holland's tulip mania centuries ago, the Citadel founder says.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171127/NEWS01/171129936/ken-griffin-on-bitcoin-tax-reform?utm_source=NEWS01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

How climate change challenges Illinois agriculture

Scorching heat, spring flooding and summer droughts threaten crop yields if global warming is ignored. Farmers are confident they can adapt, but a time may come when they can't keep up.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/section/climate-ag?utm_source=ISSUE01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

You can live on the farm that inspired the 'Great Gatsby'

A developer in Lake Forest believes the homes, on property that includes a Howard van Doren Shaw mansion, home to a socialite who once spurned F. Scott Fitzgerald, will appeal to downsizers and snowbirds.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171127/CRED0701/171129938/you-can-live-on-the-farm-that-inspired-the-great-gatsby?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

You can live on a farm with a 'Great Gatsby' connection

A developer in Lake Forest believes the homes, on property that includes a Howard van Doren Shaw mansion, home to a socialite who once spurned F. Scott Fitzgerald, will appeal to downsizers and snowbirds.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171127/CRED0701/171129938/you-can-live-on-a-farm-with-a-great-gatsby-connection?utm_source=CRED0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Itasca office buildings sell for $78 million

A Canadian real estate investor is trying its luck in the northwest suburban office market, whose post-recession recovery has lagged that of other suburbs.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171127/CRED03/171129939/itasca-office-buildings-sell-for-78-million?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Thank You Readers! HUGE 2017 Giveaway!

I've never done this before, but I'm really excited about it! Since 2012, I've poured my heart and soul into this blog, and to say it has been “life changing” would be the understatement of the century. For everyone who has followed, liked, subscribed, shared, purchased, signed up, bookmarked, or in any way supported this […]

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from nicholemhearn digest https://retipster.com/2017giveaway/

The Power to Drive Global Change – A Message from Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Businesses are becoming engines for sustainable growth, driving infrastructure and job expansion, environmental and community improvement. Learn how you can support a responsible growth strategy and succeed in a transforming world.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.comhttps://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk/321847294;148573408;p?utm_source=SPONSORED&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Infographic: Why Congress Needs to Fix DACA Before March 5, 2018

The post Infographic: Why Congress Needs to Fix DACA Before March 5, 2018 appeared first on Niskanen Center.

from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/infographic-congress-needs-fix-daca-march-5-2018/

GOP tax bill is one turkey that shouldn't be pardoned

If it looks like a turkey, walks like a turkey and sounds like a turkey, guess what? You've got the Republican tax measure.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171124/ISSUE05/171129949/gop-tax-bill-is-one-turkey-that-shouldnt-be-pardoned?utm_source=ISSUE05&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

GOP tax bill one turkey that shouldn't be pardoned

If it looks like a turkey, walks like a turkey and sounds like a turkey, guess what? You've got the GOP tax bills.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171124/ISSUE05/171129949/gop-tax-bill-one-turkey-that-shouldnt-be-pardoned?utm_source=ISSUE05&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Judge swears in new U.S. attorney for northern Illinois

Trump nominee John Lausch replaces Zachary Fardon, who held the job for more than three years before the Justice Department asked him to resign.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/NEWS02/171129941/judge-swears-in-new-u-s-attorney-for-northern-illinois?utm_source=NEWS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Get ready to pay more to keep the lights on . . .

In the up-is-down world of today's electricity markets, get ready to begin paying power plants not to turn on.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/ISSUE01/171129942/get-ready-to-pay-more-to-keep-the-lights-on?utm_source=ISSUE01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Episode 4: How the House Freedom Caucus Gains Power in Congress

In its first few years, the House Freedom Caucus has helped take down a Speaker, choose another, and set the course of the health care debate in Congress. Matt Grossmann talks to Ruth Bloch Rubin about new research comparing them to other intra-party factions over a century of Congressional history, finding that they combine the strategies of their predecessors. He also talks to Andrew Clarke about a new study showing that the Freedom Caucus is more electorally dependent on Trump and gains more face time with him. The new research may explain why centrist and liberal groups have not been as effective.

The Niskanen Center’s Political Research Digest features up-and-coming researchers delivering fresh insights on the big trends driving American politics today. Get beyond punditry to data-driven understanding of today’s Washington with host and political scientist Matt Grossmann. Each 15-minute episode covers two new cutting-edge studies and interviews two researchers.

You can subscribe to the Political Research Digest on iTunes here.

The post Episode 4: How the House Freedom Caucus Gains Power in Congress appeared first on Niskanen Center.

from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/episode-4-house-freedom-caucus-gains-power-congress/

Time to give 'em the bird

In a year in which Trump is president and lobbyists are running much of his government, there aren't enough turkeys in the barnyard to go around. And that's before we get to our mayor and guv.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/BLOGS02/171129951/time-to-give-em-the-bird?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

CTA to hike fares 25 cents a ride

Your daily commute is about to get more expensive. The good news: No service cuts.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/BLOGS02/171129952/cta-to-hike-fares-25-cents-a-ride?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

The Senate tax bill's chances just got better

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski's decision to agree to smash Obamacare's individual mandate removes a major obstacle to passing the Senate Republican tax bill next week.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/NEWS01/171129953/the-senate-tax-bills-chances-just-got-better?utm_source=NEWS01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Inside Tesla's new Gold Coast showroom

The electric-car maker's new "gallery" on the Rush Street side of the 900 Shops opens Friday. We got a look inside.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/NEWS07/171129954/inside-teslas-new-gold-coast-showroom?utm_source=NEWS07&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Pharma firm sold to CVS unit

An insider at Pharmore Drugs says the company was sold to competitor Omnicare. The move will cost Skokie 232 jobs.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/NEWS07/171129960/pharma-firm-sold-to-cvs-unit?utm_source=NEWS07&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Pharma firm sold months after moving

An insider at Pharmore Drugs says the company was sold to a CVS unit. The move will cost Skokie 232 jobs.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/NEWS07/171129960/pharma-firm-sold-months-after-moving?utm_source=NEWS07&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

JPMorgan weighing offering clients CME bitcoin futures

Bitcoin's surge in value this year is forcing Wall Street banks to balance clients' interest in speculating on the cryptocurrency with executives' skepticism about its future.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/NEWS01/171129961/jpmorgan-weighing-offering-clients-cme-bitcoin-futures?utm_source=NEWS01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Apartment landlords' new pitch: Let's make a deal!

In an overbuilt downtown apartment market, landlords are trying to lure tenants to their properties with free rent, gift cards, TVs and other goodies.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20171122/CRED03/171129964/apartment-landlords-new-pitch-lets-make-a-deal?utm_source=CRED03&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Outcome Health: The sure bet that wasn't

I can't help but think the frenzied atmosphere surrounding private investments in rising tech stars undermines rigorous due diligence and cold-blooded analysis.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/ISSUE10/171129965/outcome-health-the-sure-bet-that-wasnt?utm_source=ISSUE10&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Openings: Graham Elliot's Gideon Sweet, Boka's Bellemore and more

Here's what's happening on the Chicago restaurant scene: the new bars and restaurants you need to know about.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171122/BLOGS09/171129966/openings-graham-elliots-gideon-sweet-bokas-bellemore-and-more?utm_source=BLOGS09&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Cityline at MLK Station East Austin Office Space For Rent – 2900 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

Cityline at MLK Station is a creative office building located in East Austin at 2900 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. If you are interested in leasing office space in East Austin at Cityline give us a call at 512-861-0525

Building Size – 181,000 RSF

Creative Office Space – 134,000 RSF

Ground Floor Retail – 11,000 RSF

Residential – 36,000

Typical Floor Plate – 3,530 to 35,000 RSF

Parking – Parking ratio 3.5/1,000 sf. 

Amenities – Dog friendly office space, MLK Jr MetroRail Stop, Bike storage, outdoor space with free wifi, rooftop terrace, showers, 

Transportation – Minutes to downtown, UT, and Dell Med Center and tenants can use the onsite MetroRail stop

Ckityline at MLK was designed for tenants who seek creative office space with designs such as  open ceilings and stained concrete floors. This amazing location will make it easy for your employees to take advantage of Austin’s public transportation whether you want to go to visit office tenants at Domain 11 or in Downtown Austin.

For rates and info on available spaces give us a call and we will help you find the perfect creative office space in East Austin at Cityline. 

The post Cityline at MLK Station East Austin Office Space For Rent – 2900 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

Domain 11 Office Space for Rent – 3110 Esperanza Crossing Austin Tx 78758

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

Domain 11 Office Building is located in North Austin at 3110 Esperanza Crossing. If you are interested in leasing Austin office space at Domain 11 give us a call at 512-861-0525

Building Size – 315,862 RSF

Building Height – 15 stories

Typical Floor Plate – 33,396 RSF

Parking – Parking ratio 4/1,000 sf. Garage parking on levels 1-6

Amenities – Fitness Center with showers, Bike storage, jogging trails, 18,000 sf of outdoor park space, floor to ceiling windows

Walking Distance To – Whole Foods, Archer Austin hotel, Rock Rose Blvd

For rates and info on available spaces give us a call and we will help you find the perfect office space at the Domain in Austin, Tx.

The post Domain 11 Office Space for Rent – 3110 Esperanza Crossing Austin Tx 78758 appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

Domain 12 Office Space For Rent – 3110 Esperanza Xing

The following post is copyrighted by Austin Tenant Advisors - .

Domain 12 Office Building is located in North Austin at 3110 Esperanza Xing. At 17 stories It will be the tallest office building at the Domain. If you are interested in leasing office space at Domain 12 give us a call at 512-861-0525

Building Size – 320,102 RSF

Building Height – 17 stories

Typical Floor Plate – 33,405 RSF

Parking – Parking ratio 3.8/1,000 sf. Garage parking on levels 1-8

Amenities – Bike storage, Showers, jogging trails, 35,000 sf of outdoor park space

Walking Distance To – Whole Foods, Archer Austin hotel, Rock Rose Blvd

For rates and availabilities give us a call and we will help you find the perfect Domain office space.

 

The post Domain 12 Office Space For Rent – 3110 Esperanza Xing appeared first on Austin Tenant Advisors.

Uber concealed cyberattack that exposed 57 million people's data

The company paid hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171121/NEWS08/171129968/uber-concealed-cyberattack-that-exposed-57-million-peoples-data?utm_source=NEWS08&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

How Cook County finally got a new budget

It wasn't easy.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171121/BLOGS02/171129969/how-cook-county-finally-got-a-new-budget?utm_source=BLOGS02&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

Two Simple Ways for Congress to Improve the Child Tax Credit

The Senate tax reform bill, which passed through committee last Thursday, makes significant improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) but still falls short of providing working families with genuine tax relief. Fortunately, the Senate bill contains sufficient resources to enable a restructuring of the CTC without crowding out other priorities, like business tax reform.

As it stands now, the Senate bill doubles the CTC to $2,000 — a notable improvement over the earlier proposal of $1650. However, this is roughly the increase that will be needed to fully offset the loss of the personal exemption for middle income families and to reverse credit erosion from past inflation. The refundable portion remains capped at $1,000, phased-in at a rate of 15 percent on income over $2,500. This means the reform provides limited benefits for lower income working families, and actively harms some larger middle income families. Meanwhile, the thresholds for when the credit begins to phase-out are proposed to increase from $110,000 and $75,000 for joint and single filers, to $500,000 for both.

Below are some two simple suggestions for how the current Senate bill can be improved.

1) Reduce the phase-out thresholds

Extending the CTC to upper-income households is expensive. According to the latest JCT score, the full reform to the CTC costs an average of $62 billion per year over the first five years. The score doesn’t break down how each change to the CTC contributes to the total cost, but it’s possible to approximate. Under current law, the CTC is fully phased-out for all households at incomes of $150,000. The Current Population Survey indicates there are roughly 6 million households with children under the age of 18 and with incomes between $150,000 and $500,000. Virtually all of those households would be able to claim the full $2,000 per-child credit. Assuming these households average 1.5 children, extending the CTC phase-out thresholds to $500,000 likely accounts for over $18 billion per year, or roughly 30 percent of the reform’s total cost. This estimate is conservative given that many households beyond $500,000 would receive a partial per-child credit along the 5 percent phase-out range as well.

For comparison, there are roughly 4 million households with children under the age of 18 and with incomes below $20,000. If the Senate tax bill is amended to reset the CTC phase-out thresholds closer to current law, up to $18 billion could therefore be recycled back into credit size increases and improvements to refundability. A floor amendment to reduce the thresholds is likely necessary, anyway, as the Senate’s decision to set the phase-out threshold to $500,000 for both married and single filers inexplicably introduces a severe marriage penalty.

There is a constant tension between the desire to extend a program up the income scale in order to strengthen its political constituency, and to target expenditures more narrowly on lower income households in order to get the greatest bang for the buck. Nonetheless, the existing thresholds for the CTC are already more than twice median household income, delivering benefits to 80 percent of all households with children. Extending the phase-out thresholds higher will simply make future credit size increases more costly. If lawmakers have a specific reason for targeting a benefit to the $150,000 – $500,000 income group, it is best addressed by adjusting rates directly.

2) Improve per-child variability

The CTC is often referred to colloquially as the “per-child” tax credit; however, for many lower income families, this is a misnomer. Indeed, without changes to refundability, increases in credit size alone make the term even more misleading. For example, under current law, a household with $15,000 in family income is eligible for the full $1,000 credit for its first child, an additional $800 for the second child, and zero dollars for the third child and beyond. Doubling the size of the refundable credit makes the same family eligible for a $1,800 credit on the first child, with zero additional benefits for the second or third child, thus eliminating the credit’s already limited per-child variability.

Under the Senate bill, however, the refundable portion of the CTC remains capped at $1,000, meaning families at this income level would see no change in their credit, anyway. Yet limited per-child variability remains an issue for many middle income households, as well. This is why analyses of the Senate tax bill have tended to find the biggest losers are middle income households with large families. This is a major source of consternation for pro-family conservatives and anti-poverty advocates alike, as well as for constituents of states with large families on average, like Nevada and Utah.

The only way to ensure the CTC remains a true “per-child” tax credit is to enhance refundability. This means increasing the maximum refundable credit to the full $2,000, eliminating the minimum earning requirement, and adjusting the phase-in rate with the number of children. For example, the CTC could be reformed to phase-in starting at the first dollar, and a rate of 15 percent for the first child, 30 percent for the second child, and 45 percent for the third child. With this structure, a household with $15,000 in family income would receive the full $2,000 credit per-child for the first three children. Per-child variability for middle income households would also be preserved.

Structuring a refundable credit along these lines has a strong precedent in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which already varies both its maximum credit and phase-in rates with the number of children. However, it would make a great deal of sense from a simplification perspective to give the two credits a more explicit division of labor. The CTC would capture all per-child variation, thereby allowing the EITC to function as a child-neutral wage subsidy, while simultaneously making the CTC more pro-work. A reform along these lines is probably a necessary prerequisite for more ambitious EITC reform proposals.

Conclusion

The tax bill produced by the Senate dedicates roughly $64 billion per year toward expanding the CTC. However, more than 30 percent of the total cost goes to expanding the CTC to upper-income households who have never before received the credit. By keeping phase-out thresholds closer to current law, more dollars could be recycled into greater refundability. By increasing the refundable portion of the CTC to $2,000, starting the phase-in at the first dollar, and varying the phase-in rate with the number of children, working families will become unambiguous net-winners from tax reform.

The post Two Simple Ways for Congress to Improve the Child Tax Credit appeared first on Niskanen Center.

from nicholemhearn digest https://niskanencenter.org/blog/two-simple-ways-congress-improve-child-tax-credit/

Would you pay $20 for a nap?

The founder of Chicago's first "sleep studio" hopes so.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171121/NEWS07/171129970/would-you-pay-20-for-a-nap?utm_source=NEWS07&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

The best events to kick off the holidays

Zoo lights, turkey trots, a Thanksgiving Parade, John Waters, Kurt Elling, Vienna Boys Choir and a chill fest in Wicker Park.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171121/NEWS0701/171129981/the-best-events-to-kick-off-the-holidays?utm_source=NEWS0701&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness

How Much Does it Cost to Use a Tenant Representation Broker?

House tax bill is littered with loopholes for Wall Street's wealthiest

Lawmakers who sped a bill through the U.S. House last week may have handed a few more goodies to Wall Street's wealthiest than they realize.

from nicholemhearn digest http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20171121/NEWS01/171129972/house-tax-bill-is-littered-with-loopholes-for-wall-streets-wealthiest?utm_source=NEWS01&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicagobusiness