The past few weeks have been bittersweet for friends. After weeks of searching for a job since graduating from college, one friend finally got one, but it’s located in New Hampshire. Her boyfriend also got a job, but it is in San Francisco. Although they love our city, they will not be able to stay here due to the lack of entry-level jobs.
Although I am sad they are leaving, they are faring better than my other friends, who have yet to get a job in their field since graduating or who are entering their senior year already writing Chicago off, because their summer internship gave the impression there is no future in this city.
I am no economist, but I know United cut 4% of its white-collar workforce in 2025, citing AI-related restructuring, and it plans more cuts this year. United has simply been more candid than peers that fear the backlash of admitting the same.
So when I heard Mayor Brandon Johnson talk about how the 2026 budget fiasco was caused by misguided aldermen and how they need to change their views as we come into the next budget, fear strikes my heart because I think that something very dangerous is coming around again: the head tax.
The head tax is not new to Chicago; it was phased out in 2014. Since then, that decision seems to have had no major impact on jobs in Chicago and not worth the cuts made to schools. But since 2014, outsourcing has gotten easier, work-from-home has gone from a joke to corporate policy, and AI has made white-collar tasks automatable.
So why is everyone discussing the head tax like it’s still 2014?
Would $20 or even $50 per employee per month push a large, profitable corporation to restructure? Probably not. Would it give one the excuse to restructure here rather than elsewhere? Absolutely.
We tax cigarettes, liquor and gambling to reduce them. Tax jobs, and expect fewer jobs. When a corporation with offices nationwide needs to cut headcount, does it spread the pain and absorb the backlash, or concentrate the cuts in the one city that is asking it to shed “heads”?
During the next budget session, don’t let City Hall call the head tax a tax on corporations. Make City Hall call it what it is: an AI-replacement incentive.
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Sincerely, from the emerging adults with no future.
— Connor Blandford, Chicago
Offer stance on candidate
The two major candidates for Illinois governor are incumbent JB Pritzker and Darren Bailey. Given that I don’t want to vote for either of them, the only alternatives I have are to not vote at all (a choice I would rather avoid) or vote for an independent candidate simply to register a “none of the above” vote. The independent candidate, Collin Corbett, whom I only found via web search, got my attention because he appears to be a centrist politically and neither a hard-right Republican zealot nor a borderline tax-and-spend progressive.
Although Corbett’s chances of winning may be slim, I wish the Tribune Editorial Board would at least offer an opinion of his political views versus the other two candidates.
— King Embry, Winnetka
Credit status of Illinois, Chicago
Irony of ironies. Illinois gets another credit upgrade while Chicago continues to founder heading likely for another credit downgrade. But, of course, the people downstate who benefit from this will not be voting for Gov. JB Pritzker, while the people in Chicago who continue to get the short end of the stick from Springfield will be voting for Pritzker.
Go figure.
— Neil Gaffney, Chicago
Get speeding under control
Attention, mayoral candidates! DuSable Lake Shore Drive has turned into a race track. The current speed limit may be low, but most drivers go so far over it, and nonexistent enforcement makes it meaningless.
Please make this a top issue. Amend the relevant law, increase the limit to 50 mph and include strict enforcement.
— Phil Dorman, Chicago
Unbearable noise on the drive
Blessed are the days this summer when we can open the windows for fresh air. Living on DuSable Lake Shore Drive, one gets accustomed to the hum of the cars passing by. The trade-off for the splendid view.
However, in the evening, the noise generated by all sorts of modified vehicles is simply getting unbearable. I have a question for ward representatives: What is the status of the Vehicle Noise Reduction Pilot Program?
— Lise Haberman, Chicago
Politics and immunizations
As physicians caring for children across Illinois, we share a fundamental responsibility: to give families medical guidance grounded in the best available evidence. Vaccines remain one of the safest and most effective tools we have to prevent serious illness, disability and death. Decades of research and experience caring for millions of children support the recommendations on vaccine timing. These recommendations are based on how kids’ immune systems develop and learn. There is no new scientific evidence that warrants abandoning that foundation.
At a time when routine immunization rates are declining and measles and other preventable diseases are re-emerging, introducing doubt about proven vaccines has real consequences. Concern and confusion fueled by rumors, not science, can lead to delayed or missed vaccinations, leaving individual children and entire communities more vulnerable.
Parents deserve clear, reliable information. They also deserve the opportunity to ask questions and make decisions with physicians who know their children, their families and their health histories. Parents should know that thankfully, at this time, nothing has changed around access to or insurance coverage of vaccines in Illinois.
As leaders of Illinois’ primary care communities, we stand together in support of evidence-based immunization recommendations and the physicians who put that evidence into practice every day. One child becoming ill or dying from a preventable disease is too many in our eyes.
Politics should not determine medical care. Science, evidence and the physician-patient relationship should.
— Dr. Anita Chandra-Puri, president, Illinois chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Dr. Corinne Kohler, president, Illinois Academy of Family Physicians
Medicine for a monthly fee
Thank you for publishing the op-ed by Marj Halperin discussing the many ways that our medical system is failing us (“Healthcare is more badly broken than political leaders admit,” Aug. 28).
One topic she does not touch upon but that is contributing to the lack of access to doctors is the growth of concierge medicine. I recently noticed a new medical office in my neighborhood. Out of curiosity, I Googled the name and called the office to find out what kinds of services were offered. Not surprisingly, the office is a pay-per-month service that guarantees you same-day appointments and return telephone calls from the doctors in the practice. I was told the office does not use insurance and thus the payments it receives are not encumbered by the incessant paperwork and approvals needed by the insurance companies. The doctors on staff would refer out any complex medical issues, and thus patients are free to use any doctor in their insurance network.
Sounds great — but only for people who can afford the almost $100 per month fee and one-time registration charge. It does nothing to address the issue of the uninsured. Also important, this system removes doctors who might otherwise practice elsewhere.
It’s no wonder we have to wait months for appointments.
— Elsa Miller, Evanston
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