Supposedly, the Chicago Bears will be moving out of their Chicago Park District lakefront home to a franchise-owned stadium in Hammond, Indiana. Above is a map of the geography. I know people who ride their bikes down the lake from Soldier Field to that part of Indiana and back.

Here is one announcement on X.

The Bears were going to move to Arlington Heights, IL. From my perspective, Arlington Heights would have been better for the bulk of Bears fans. It’s close to O’Hare airport. Plenty of highways. A train line to take fans from downtown to the game and back. The L could have shuttled fans from the train to a bus, which is then a shortish ride away.

But, Illinois politicians blew it again.

There are a lot of reasons we fled Illinois for Nevada, and the politicians were front and center. I know what it is like to live under the cudgel of corrupt career politicians. They have their hand in your pocket all day, every day.

We never want Nevada to turn into Illinois. Ever. You can also include California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Virginia, and New York.

If you run a business and you don’t toe the line, a bureaucrat shows up at your door and finds something wrong. It could be that you didn’t put a sign for a candidate in your window. It could be that you bought your business insurance from the wrong person. The transgression doesn’t have to be large. The response is always swift, painful, and costly to businesspeople.

Here is a stat for you. I bought a place in Chicago. It was a 1100-square-foot walk-up. One bedroom, one bath. It was a perfect pied-à-terre. I paid $305,000 for it. The property taxes were $8000 per year! Don’t forget, sales taxes are 10.25%. There are bag taxes at the grocery store. They tax streaming services and anything else you might imagine.

When I moved to Nevada, I bought a 3800 square foot house for over $1MM. The property taxes are under $9000. Friends of mine who own expensive homes in Illinois pay $36k+ in property taxes per year.

It’s paying rent to the government.

My friend Dick Duchossois owned the piece of land the Bears bought. It was where Arlington Racetrack was. He told me how Illinois pols were always in his pocket and instead of trying to promote horse racing, did everything they could to extract money from Arlington. He finally shut the horse business down and sold the land.

Illinois politicians immediately turned their guns on the Chicago Bears. They figured they had them cornered. Turns out, they didn’t. Indiana is a red state, and open for business.

The 326 acres the Bears purchased in Arlington will be relatively easy to sell. I don’t even think the Bears will lose money on it. They will plow that back into the development of the stadium.

It’s notable to see how NFL teams are moving around. The Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Kansas City, Missouri for Topeka, Kansas. KCMO is being run into the ground by the incompetent Democratic mayor Quinton Lucas. Now the Bears are leaving Chicago because of the incompetence and corruption of Democratic Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson. Serves them right. DEI and corruption destroy everything they touch.

If you haven’t driven your car in this part of the world, it has been abandoned. Indiana has tried to figure out ways to develop the northwest corner of the state that borders Illinois for years. They tried casinos, minor league baseball, and other efforts. Nothing took. They even tried to expand the Gary Airport.

In years past, steel mills created thousands of jobs, but those have mostly been shuttered for quite some time. It’s kind of a desolate place, but there still is Lake Michigan and the lakeshore. Gary, Indiana, is nearby, and it is a ghost town now. The rot that was Chicago and Illinois spilled over into Gary back in the 1960s and destroyed it. Indiana pols were unable to stop it.

There is a train that runs from downtown Chicago to Hammond. Ironically, people on the western side of Michigan are just as likely to be Bears fans as Lions fans, and they will travel down to the games. The casinos they built aren’t far away.

If you put your Indiana politician hat on, grabbing an anchor like the Bears could jumpstart some economic development. After all they tried, it’s worth the risk to them.

I am running for State Treasurer in Nevada. I hope you will support the campaign and vote for me. I am running so Nevada doesn’t turn into a cesspool like Illinois. Follow me on X here and here.

Supposedly, the Chicago Bears will be moving out of their Chicago Park District lakefront home to a franchise-owned stadium in Hammond, Indiana. Above is a map of the geography. I know people who ride their bikes down the lake from Soldier Field to that part of Indiana and back.

Here is one announcement on X.

The Bears were going to move to Arlington Heights, IL. From my perspective, Arlington Heights would have been better for the bulk of Bears fans. It’s close to O’Hare airport. Plenty of highways. A train line to take fans from downtown to the game and back. The L could have shuttled fans from the train to a bus, which is then a shortish ride away.

But, Illinois politicians blew it again.

There are a lot of reasons we fled Illinois for Nevada, and the politicians were front and center. I know what it is like to live under the cudgel of corrupt career politicians. They have their hand in your pocket all day, every day.

We never want Nevada to turn into Illinois. Ever. You can also include California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Virginia, and New York.

If you run a business and you don’t toe the line, a bureaucrat shows up at your door and finds something wrong. It could be that you didn’t put a sign for a candidate in your window. It could be that you bought your business insurance from the wrong person. The transgression doesn’t have to be large. The response is always swift, painful, and costly to businesspeople.

Here is a stat for you. I bought a place in Chicago. It was a 1100-square-foot walk-up. One bedroom, one bath. It was a perfect pied-à-terre. I paid $305,000 for it. The property taxes were $8000 per year! Don’t forget, sales taxes are 10.25%. There are bag taxes at the grocery store. They tax streaming services and anything else you might imagine.

When I moved to Nevada, I bought a 3800 square foot house for over $1MM. The property taxes are under $9000. Friends of mine who own expensive homes in Illinois pay $36k+ in property taxes per year.

It’s paying rent to the government.

My friend Dick Duchossois owned the piece of land the Bears bought. It was where Arlington Racetrack was. He told me how Illinois pols were always in his pocket and instead of trying to promote horse racing, did everything they could to extract money from Arlington. He finally shut the horse business down and sold the land.

Illinois politicians immediately turned their guns on the Chicago Bears. They figured they had them cornered. Turns out, they didn’t. Indiana is a red state, and open for business.

The 326 acres the Bears purchased in Arlington will be relatively easy to sell. I don’t even think the Bears will lose money on it. They will plow that back into the development of the stadium.

It’s notable to see how NFL teams are moving around. The Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Kansas City, Missouri for Topeka, Kansas. KCMO is being run into the ground by the incompetent Democratic mayor Quinton Lucas. Now the Bears are leaving Chicago because of the incompetence and corruption of Democratic Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson. Serves them right. DEI and corruption destroy everything they touch.

If you haven’t driven your car in this part of the world, it has been abandoned. Indiana has tried to figure out ways to develop the northwest corner of the state that borders Illinois for years. They tried casinos, minor league baseball, and other efforts. Nothing took. They even tried to expand the Gary Airport.

In years past, steel mills created thousands of jobs, but those have mostly been shuttered for quite some time. It’s kind of a desolate place, but there still is Lake Michigan and the lakeshore. Gary, Indiana, is nearby, and it is a ghost town now. The rot that was Chicago and Illinois spilled over into Gary back in the 1960s and destroyed it. Indiana pols were unable to stop it.

There is a train that runs from downtown Chicago to Hammond. Ironically, people on the western side of Michigan are just as likely to be Bears fans as Lions fans, and they will travel down to the games. The casinos they built aren’t far away.

If you put your Indiana politician hat on, grabbing an anchor like the Bears could jumpstart some economic development. After all they tried, it’s worth the risk to them.

I am running for State Treasurer in Nevada. I hope you will support the campaign and vote for me. I am running so Nevada doesn’t turn into a cesspool like Illinois. Follow me on X here and here.