Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Aug 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

It was hard to imagine a mayor WORSE than Lori Lightfoot, but Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson managed to surpass her in corruption and crime as Chicago crumbles. Johnson’s first three months on the job, compared to Lightfoot’s, saw 4,321 more car thefts, 41 more murders, and 38 more deadly shootings. Crime in Chicago is up 82% since 2021, according to the Chicago Police Department. Let me explain why the rise in crime is a deliberate attempt by the government to expand its power.

For starters, no one even wants to be a police officer in Chicago as the mayor forbids them from arresting blatant criminals. There are stories of murderers getting a slap on the wrist. Over 1,000 officers have handed in their badges and left the force. The city spent $126 million in overtime pay for the dwindling police force, and they expect to surpass an additional $210 million in 2022. Crime is up, but there has been a 50% drop in arrests in 2019.

“The Democratic Party as a whole definitely can model its work off of what we’re doing in Chicago,” Johnson told Politico, as he believes all blue cities should look to Chicago for advice on enticing chaos and empowering criminals. Unlike other Democratic mayors, Johnson is not backing down on Chicago’s “sanctuary city” status. He has no plans for funding the influx of migrant, or Chicago’s already growing homeless population. Johnson believes he has done such a incredible job paving the way for rapidly demolishing cities that he created a blueprint for other Dems. Chaos is needed for the Great Reset.

As for helping the city economically:“The Economic Vitality and Equity subcommittee uplifts the importance of addressing wealth inequality as manifest in Mayor Johnson’s references to the ‘tale of two cities.’ They suggest both conventional and innovative community-centered strategies to generate revenue, allocate resources, build community wealth, and combat poverty and all its attendant ills. Economic vitality and equity are essential to realize the goals of all the other subcommittees. Greater economic vitality will require revitalizing commercial corridors and galvanizing development and infrastructure improvements throughout our neighborhoods, with local advisory panels to make sure development projects meet community needs. A thriving downtown hub continues to be important, but one that feeds into neighborhood development and is accessible to all.”

This sounds like the suggestion of a pageant queen requesting world peace despite never having left her small town. The report later states:“The 2022 Global Cities Index ranks the Chicago metro as 7th in the world, just behind Los Angeles and Beijing. We have conflicting narratives about our city’s economic reality. On one hand, we have a thriving economy with the 2nd most Fortune 500 companies of any U.S. city; over the last 2 years we saw over 100 corporate relocations and over 200 significant corporate expansions; in 2021 & 2022 we received record level of investment influx into Chicago based startups (close to $20B in Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments in each year). On the other hand, we continue to see a significant gap in wealth, employment, and opportunities between decades-long underinvested neighborhoods on the South & West sides and the rest of the city, resulting in inequitable access to housing, education, justice, and healthcare along racial and ethnic lines.”

Not for long! Companies are fleeing Chicago as crime grows rampant. The rich are always the first to flee when a city or nation crumbles as dictated by the annals of history. The section about public safety focuses on police accountability, not the responsibility of the people not to commit crimes. How can Chicago dream of competing against Beijing when people are afraid to travel there due to the crime? Los Angeles is already in ruin – who compiled this list of the 2022 Global Cities Index? Upon further digging, it was none other than the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM! Kearney, the company that compiled the report, lists the WEF as their top partnership.

Chicago is following the plan of strategic chaos, as discussed in the Cloward-Piven Strategy. They are allowing chaos to ensue so that the government can take control over that chaos in time. Allowing mass immigration when resources are null ensures that the state’s welfare system will become overburdened.  Cloward and Piven noted that civil unrest was necessary to create change and encouraged the government to antagonize the masses. “The poor are most visible and proximate in the local community; antagonism toward them (and toward the agencies which are implicated with them) has always, therefore, been more intense locally than at the federal level.”

The media has successfully created a generation of entitled victims who believe their crimes are justified. The family unit has been demolished if not demonized, and the schools cannot raise the youth, who are the main perpetrators. The government has permitted the crime to occur and punishes anyone who dares to interfere. The strategy also involves class and racial warfare to conquer and divide the people so that they do not see the real enemy – government.

“Once eligibility for basic food and rent grants is established, the drain on local resources persists indefinitely,” the Cloward-Piven Strategy states. Soon, they will claim that the housing crisis and poverty leave cities like Chicago with no choice but to adopt 15-minute cities where people are housed in ADUs, abandon the need for cars, and receive free public transportation. Everyone will be dependent on government and, therefore, will be under its thumb.