More discouraging news for our state.
This one stunned me. But, it didn't shock me considering the state of the State of Illinois.
Every state has at least some residents who are looking for greener pastures, but nowhere is the desire to move more prevalent than in Illinois and Connecticut. In both of these states, about half of residents say that if given the chance to move to a different state, they would like to do so.
Thirty-three percent of residents want to move to another state, according to the average of the 50 state responses. Seventeen states come close to that 50-state average. Another 16 are above the average range, including three showing an especially high desire to move. In fact, in these three -- Illinois, Connecticut, and Maryland -- roughly as many residents want to leave as want to stay.
Read more about the survey here:
Interestingly enough, our beloved governor Patty Quinn issued a press release today stating:
Now, maybe he and his team are too dense to put 2 and 2 together, but I see these 2 stories as very interrelated.
As stated above in Gallup's poll, people are sick and tired of how things are going in Illinois.
Government is broke.... both functionally and financially.
Good jobs are very hard to come by.
Many, many folks have already left the state. Some voluntarily. Many job-related.
There's definitely not a welcome mat at the Illinois state border right now.
So of course the tourism rate is going to jump! If people aren't living here, they are going to visit. After all, they still want to see our "stuff" -- historical attractions, museums, sporting events, concerts, etc.
If you're not a resident, you're a tourist.
And yes, we get a lot of tourists.
Unfortunately, people wanna see Illinois.... they just don't want to live the reality of Illinois.
We gotta fix our woes.
We keep on the current track, and Illinois goes bankrupt. Period.
Maybe someday soon we're gonna be looking at a consolidation thing. You know.... like schools do. When 1 is so small and/or mismanaged, it joins in with a second school district. Together (in most cases), they thrive.
So, who's it going to be?
Illinois consolidates with Indiana?
Iowa?
Missouri?
I'd prefer Wisconsin.
Wisconsinois has a great ring to it.
Out for now.....
Matt