THE SUGGESTION BOX

Using a technologically advanced version of the old-fashioned suggestion box, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched the first-ever citizen interactive website for people to share their budget saving ideas.  Does anybody really think this is anything more than a PR play?  If ordinary citizens knew one iota about how to fashion a mulit-billion dollar budget, the country would not have such deep personal credit card debt.  Most people  cannot even manage to balance their own checkbooks.

The press release issued from City Hall said, “Mayor Emanuel also announced the launch of www.ChicagoBudget.org, a new interactive website where people across Chicago can engage in the budget process by submitting ideas and discussing solutions. Throughout the budget the administration will also hold a series of town-halls so that people in communities across Chicago will have an opportunity to share their ideas.” The whole concept is laughable.  I can imagine the twittering going on at City Hall, these people actually believing that they have succeeded in pulling off the prank of the decade.

Let’s deal with this “suggestion box” idea on a few different levels.

(1)  The average IQ of a citizen of the United States is 98.  (Source: IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland and, and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.) Hong Kong has the highest average IQ at 107.  The lowest is Equatorial Guinea at 59.  Illinois comes in a bit higher than the country with an average IQ of 102.  Mensa (the genius organization) tells us that the range of 90 – 109 is normal or average intelligence. 

Emanuel received his undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Manhattan and his Masters’ Degree from Northwestern University—so we can assume he is smarter than the average citizen of Chicago.  A man of his educational background is going to listen to a suggestion from an average person?  I hope the readers of this blog are smart enough to realize that is not going to happen.

(2)  I love math. I love numbers. I love reading budgets.  Most people react to the thought of math as a process of, as my friend Linda says, “Having their head spin and spitting  pea green soup.”   So who really is going to even read the budget, much less understand it? They cannot “engage in the budget process.” No citizen is going to analyze the budget (unless she/he is being paid) so how can they make cogent    suggestions? I guarantee you that 40 out of the 50 Chicago Alderman have not even read the whole budget and those that have probably cannot comprehend it (with the exception of Alderman Ed Burke, Chairman of the Finance Committee).

(3)  Town Hall meetings to share ideas are just another excuse for the Mayor to get positive media.  He, or his representatives, will show up at school auditoriums and “listen” to the people.  The city will waste money on police security at the meetings and spend whatever else it costs to publicize the events and staff them.  Is there money in the current budget for that?

(4)  I looked at the suggestions, and I have come to the amazing conclusion that people of low intelligence have ideas that reflect their intelligence level.  One person wanted the city to legalize and tax marijuana!  That is not an issue at the city level, you stupid person!  Another person wanted to organize the “unemployed peoples” of Chicago and “have those all work part-time in various departments: streets and sanitation, road repairs, TMA, parks and services, etc.” One word answer to that suggestion—UNIONS!

Everybody has certain strengths, so I am not totally maligning the intelligence level of Chicagoans.  The citizens here know how to drink beer, eat hot dogs (without ketchup) and drive in the snow.  Expecting anything more than that is an insult to those of us who know everything.

NOTES:

IQ LEVELS

·         Over 140 - Genius or near genius

·         120 - 140 - Very superior intelligence

·         110 - 119 - Superior intelligence

·         90 - 109 - Normal or average intelligence

·         80 - 89 - Dullness

·         70 - 79 - Borderline deficiency

·         Under 70 - Definite feeble-mindedness

I appeared on The Geraldo Show in 1989 with Marilyn vos Savant, the woman with the world’s highest recorded IQ (228).  The topic was smart women who intimidate men.

(You can take an IQ test at this link to see where you fit in.) 

Happy learning!