Sears Holdings may be leaving Chicago for good. (Elgin, Hoffman Estates: real estate, credit)

[aragx6]

My brother works as a low-level sales guy at a Sears while going to school in a small market and he's been talking about the writing on the wall for years -- he truly believes Sears will go the way of Circuit City -- and soon.

They'll likely have to go if they're offered those kinds of incentives as it might just be the only way to stave off massive store closings. Their business model bleeds money right now and, like Borders, they were obscenely late to the internet shopping game. I wouldn't be surprised if it's too late to save them, and those 6,000 jobs wouldn't likely be around much longer anyway.

[gomexico]

Yes, let Ohio give-up $400 millioin for Sears. As Chi-town Native says, "good effin' riddance." That's my sentiment, exactly. What's the difference between extorsion and what Sears and CME is doing? None that I can see. Illinois/Chicagoland offers skilled/experienced workers and other positives and if the companies don't think it's enough, then they should leave. Sears isn't likely to be in existence in a decade, so why fight so hard to give away the store to a failing business enterprise?

[Diws]

It's more than just Sears and KMart:

Sears Holdings Brands

And anyone who shrugs off the loss of 6000 jobs needs to think twice, rather than cutting off their nose to spite their face.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by gomexico

Yes, let Ohio give-up $400 millioin for Sears. As Chi-town Native says, "good effin' riddance." That's my sentiment, exactly. What's the difference between extorsion and what Sears and CME is doing? None that I can see. Illinois/Chicagoland offers skilled/experienced workers and other positives and if the companies don't think it's enough, then they should leave. Sears isn't likely to be in existence in a decade, so why fight so hard to give away the store to a failing business enterprise?

I believe the operating quote here would be "The US Government does not negotiate with terrorists".

And that is EXACTLY what these companies are doing, trying to scare the hell out of people in order to take our tax money.

We provide these companies with infrastructure out the wazoo, we need to stop allowing them to pit one state against another. It's not like the suits are going to move their HQ to some 3rd world country.

[Vlajos]

While I'm not a fan of all these tax breaks, losing 6000 jobs will not be pretty. It appears Sears wants to stay, they just want an extension of the previous tax breaks. I can't believe Ohio would offer $400M though.

[Chicago60614]

$400 million to a floundering company? I mean....let them go. No one wants to lose jobs, but Sears isn't exactly going gangbusters, and the state doesn't have HUNDREDS of millions of dollars to throw at them.

[cubssoxfan]

Would these incentives have been necessary if Gov. Jello didn't raise the corporate (along with personal) income tax rates to stem the bleeding in the public pension plan? The same guys who promise the moon to theses unions to get re-elected? The same guys who make John Q. Public fund the "moon shot"? Where is the pension reform?
If Democratic Rhode Island (a state with a connected/favors history like IL) can implement pension reform in a FAIR manner, why can't IL.? Interesting article about their pension reform in the latest Time magazine.
Now before some of you castrate me as anti-union; don't. I am not. I just feel the pendulum has swung too far as far as benefits go and needs to swing back to a moderate middle ground that is both fair and affordable.
And why am I "picking on" pensions and benefits? Because they eat up the largest part of our budget deficit and the clowns (too inept to be called politicians)keep making promises they can't fill; they're being disingenuous to both the public worker and the tax payer.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

Would these incentives have been necessary if Gov. Jello didn't raise the corporate (along with personal) income tax rates to stem the bleeding in the public pension plan?

For Sears - yes. Their 10 year deal expired this year and a new one needed to be negotiated. They claimed they needed the incentives in order to stay long before any tax hike.

Hopefully the Sears and the CME deals will be broken out into separate deals, they're both completely different in nature. CME should be addressed by looking at how out of state transactions between two parties are taxed, and it would be fairly easy to craft a bill that addresses that issue.

Sears is more of a traditional tax break. I'm not sure they could leave even if Ohio offered them a $1 billion package, they may not have the money on hand to pay for a move of any sort. They'd also need to sell their campus, which would be hard to do even in a good real estate market. If they do leave Hoffman Estates would be hit hard, but not the state. The state already pays Sears property taxes to Hoffman Estates and was offering to let Sears keep their employees state taxes.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Attrill

For Sears - yes. Their 10 year deal expired this year and a new one needed to be negotiated. They claimed they needed the incentives in order to stay long before any tax hike.

Hopefully the Sears and the CME deals will be broken out into separate deals, they're both completely different in nature. CME should be addressed by looking at how out of state transactions between two parties are taxed, and it would be fairly easy to craft a bill that addresses that issue.

Sears is more of a traditional tax break. I'm not sure they could leave even if Ohio offered them a $1 billion package, they may not have the money on hand to pay for a move of any sort. They'd also need to sell their campus, which would be hard to do even in a good real estate market. If they do leave Hoffman Estates would be hit hard, but not the state. The state already pays Sears property taxes to Hoffman Estates and was offering to let Sears keep their employees state taxes.

Exactly. The Sears issue is different from CME and CBOE.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

While I'm not a fan of all these tax breaks, losing 6000 jobs will not be pretty. It appears Sears wants to stay, they just want an extension of the previous tax breaks. I can't believe Ohio would offer $400M though.

My understanding is this is just their corporate HQ at stake, where is the 6,000 jobs figure coming from?

And of course they want to stay, moving is a colossal expense, both for the company and for the individuals (which the company probably offsets to some degree).