Daley Disagrees With the President on Economy

By Kevin Robinson in News on May 8, 2009 3:20PM

Mayor Daley took issue with President Barack Obama's assessment of the economy yesterday, saying that he didn't see the "glimmers of hope" for an economic recovery that Obama does. "When you talk about a glimmer of hope, I don't know what that meant," Daley said. "I don't know where you see it. Maybe you see it in Washington, D.C., but I don't think you're seeing it across the country," he added. "I don't want to do it [layoffs]. But if next year, everything falls apart and the economy gets worse, what do we do? ... That's the problem," Mayor Grouchypants said. "I'm not trying to be a doomsday person. I'm just telling you the facts. ... Someone said, 'There's a glimmer of hope' [for the economy]. What is the glimmer of hope? Where is it? We don't see it. ... The recession could last for a few more years."

Besides dismissing $1 billion in federal funds for social service and infrastructure improvements as "better than nothing", the mayor has been remarkably glum about the economy of late. He's been pushing city employee unions for deep concessions in the face of layoffs. Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor says that city unions would be consider concessions in exchange for guarantees that there won't be layoffs in the future. Daley, however, won't take that off the table. "If next year gets worse, what do you do?" he said. "I don't think people realize how serious the financial situation is in America." 29th Ward Alderman Isaac Carrothers, however, put the blame back on the mismanagement of city resources. "It's an awful lot to ask people to take off. One has to wonder, are we managing properly if we put ourselves in this situation? ... It's certainly not the workers' fault. ... They had nothing to do with management of the money," Carothers said.

Gene Saffold, the mayor's chief financial officer, told the Tribune that even with substantial give backs from city workers, there would still be a "significant hole" in the city's budget.