Illinois Screaming
No secret here..... the state of the State of Illinois is dismal right now.
Screaming loudly!
Out for now.......
Disfunctional government.
No budget.
Huge deficit and backlog of bills.
Ugly, ugly credit rating.
As the editorial below advocates, we should be screaming.
Our state (in so many ways) is being ruined. Reputationally, it will take us years and years to repair this.
In fact, the piece below was published on October 20...... almost half a month ago. We should all be hoarse by now.
Out for now.......
Matt
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7 Reasons Why It's Time We All Start Screaming About the Paralyzed State of our State
(Madeleine Doubek)
Why aren’t all of us up in arms and screaming about our state?
I think about this a lot lately. I thought about it last week as I visited some of my family members who live in Colorado.
While I was there, I met an expert fly fisherman in Breckinridge who told me that at one point in the past few years, 134 people moved into Colorado every day. Every day.
My sister moved there decades ago. She and some of her children asked what the latest was in Illinois. When I told them about our budget and political stalemate, they shook their heads and asked why people here aren’t doing something about it. They couldn’t believe there wasn’t more uproar. I can’t either. Why isn’t there?
I point, in part, to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich sitting in that federal prison in Colorado. And to his predecessor, George Ryan. And to Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandi. And former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert. And now, in what seems like the shortest tenure ever, Barbara Byrd Bennett’s taking financial advantage of her position at the helm of Chicago Public Schools.
The corruption is killing our spirit.
I returned home to a postcard from a friend who wrote that she thought of me when she saw it. (See the image with this rant.) It sums up our state and our nation.
What are we doing? Why do we allow it? Former governors Jim Edgar and Jim Thompson are beside themselves. One asks new Gov. Bruce Rauner to stop holding the budget hostage. The other spreads the blame and declines to name names.
In actuality, Edgar, Thompson, House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate Democratic chiefs including John Cullerton and predecessors, along with former governors Pat Quinn, Blagojevich and Ryan all share the blame for our gargantuan pension debt and fiscal mess built up over decades of dealmaking, borrowing and pushing debt down the road and into our path. Oh and dear Speaker Madigan, those deals rarely had anything mostly or purely to do with the budget.
And so, because of all of this, we are beaten down. Numb. Tuned out. Unless or until it hits a loved one or friend, we just don’t care. But it is hitting each of us. We just can’t seem to shake off our lethargy to see it, so allow me to try to help us all wipe our eyes:
1.Our taxes are going way up. State Comptroller Leslie Munger told WROK-AM 1440 radio hosts Scot Bertram and Riley O’Neil a month ago that going back up to a 5 percent income tax rate won’t cut it. “Honestly, it won’ t really even make a dent in it now,” she said.
2.If you live in Chicago and/or Cook County, your property, sales and amusement taxes are on track to go up even more if Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle win passage of their plans. Preckwinkle just unveiled plans to tax cable TV, bowling and golf.
3.Our loved ones, friends and neighbors who need extra care — whether it be child or elderly care or other help for those who are disabled by physical or mental illness — already have been suffering from cutbacks. Those who work in those service professions trying to help those vulnerable Illinoisans have seen their hours or pay or entire jobs melt away.
4.Service providers are starting to refuse to do business with the state of Illinois. Thomson Reuters reporter Dave McKinney reported that garbage pickup at the state Capitol, lights in state offices and armored truck services could be cut off because of the budget gridlock.
5.Most recently, Fitch Ratings downgraded Illinois’ credit rating on $26.8 billion in outstanding state bonds. Moody’s Investors Service issued a report the same day that indicated it also will downgrade Illinois if something isn’t done soon to address spending that far outpaces incoming revenue in Illinois.
6.Munger also said she can’t make the required pension payment in November, again launching the same scenario that got us into this mess and perhaps eventually threatening payments to retirees.
7.You want to talk nitty and gritty? Secretary of State Jesse White’s office no longer is sending out notices reminding us to renew our vehicle stickers. Anyone who wins a lottery jackpot greater than $600 isn’t being paid. This now has resulted in Illinoisans going across the border to gamble, thereby contributing to a reduction in revenue to the state of Illinois. Isn’t that a marvelous self-fulfilling prophesy?
Business representatives in Illinois, and especially in Chicago, are not making plans to create jobs. They’re decrying the move to put more of the property tax burden in Chicago on them and on renters, who will have less disposable income to spend.
To paraphrase liberally from the Fitch report, someone please come save us if we slip into another recession.
So why aren’t you up in arms, raising a stink and demanding better? You are being hurt whether you actually feel it now or not. So are your children and their children. It’s your government. The politicians are supposed to work for you. If enough of us start to rebel and demand better, well, we might just get it.
Aren’t you worth taking that shot?
7 Reasons Why It's Time We All Start Screaming About the Paralyzed State of our State
(Madeleine Doubek)
Why aren’t all of us up in arms and screaming about our state?
I think about this a lot lately. I thought about it last week as I visited some of my family members who live in Colorado.
While I was there, I met an expert fly fisherman in Breckinridge who told me that at one point in the past few years, 134 people moved into Colorado every day. Every day.
My sister moved there decades ago. She and some of her children asked what the latest was in Illinois. When I told them about our budget and political stalemate, they shook their heads and asked why people here aren’t doing something about it. They couldn’t believe there wasn’t more uproar. I can’t either. Why isn’t there?
I point, in part, to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich sitting in that federal prison in Colorado. And to his predecessor, George Ryan. And to Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandi. And former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert. And now, in what seems like the shortest tenure ever, Barbara Byrd Bennett’s taking financial advantage of her position at the helm of Chicago Public Schools.
The corruption is killing our spirit.
I returned home to a postcard from a friend who wrote that she thought of me when she saw it. (See the image with this rant.) It sums up our state and our nation.
What are we doing? Why do we allow it? Former governors Jim Edgar and Jim Thompson are beside themselves. One asks new Gov. Bruce Rauner to stop holding the budget hostage. The other spreads the blame and declines to name names.
In actuality, Edgar, Thompson, House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate Democratic chiefs including John Cullerton and predecessors, along with former governors Pat Quinn, Blagojevich and Ryan all share the blame for our gargantuan pension debt and fiscal mess built up over decades of dealmaking, borrowing and pushing debt down the road and into our path. Oh and dear Speaker Madigan, those deals rarely had anything mostly or purely to do with the budget.
And so, because of all of this, we are beaten down. Numb. Tuned out. Unless or until it hits a loved one or friend, we just don’t care. But it is hitting each of us. We just can’t seem to shake off our lethargy to see it, so allow me to try to help us all wipe our eyes:
1.Our taxes are going way up. State Comptroller Leslie Munger told WROK-AM 1440 radio hosts Scot Bertram and Riley O’Neil a month ago that going back up to a 5 percent income tax rate won’t cut it. “Honestly, it won’ t really even make a dent in it now,” she said.
2.If you live in Chicago and/or Cook County, your property, sales and amusement taxes are on track to go up even more if Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle win passage of their plans. Preckwinkle just unveiled plans to tax cable TV, bowling and golf.
3.Our loved ones, friends and neighbors who need extra care — whether it be child or elderly care or other help for those who are disabled by physical or mental illness — already have been suffering from cutbacks. Those who work in those service professions trying to help those vulnerable Illinoisans have seen their hours or pay or entire jobs melt away.
4.Service providers are starting to refuse to do business with the state of Illinois. Thomson Reuters reporter Dave McKinney reported that garbage pickup at the state Capitol, lights in state offices and armored truck services could be cut off because of the budget gridlock.
5.Most recently, Fitch Ratings downgraded Illinois’ credit rating on $26.8 billion in outstanding state bonds. Moody’s Investors Service issued a report the same day that indicated it also will downgrade Illinois if something isn’t done soon to address spending that far outpaces incoming revenue in Illinois.
6.Munger also said she can’t make the required pension payment in November, again launching the same scenario that got us into this mess and perhaps eventually threatening payments to retirees.
7.You want to talk nitty and gritty? Secretary of State Jesse White’s office no longer is sending out notices reminding us to renew our vehicle stickers. Anyone who wins a lottery jackpot greater than $600 isn’t being paid. This now has resulted in Illinoisans going across the border to gamble, thereby contributing to a reduction in revenue to the state of Illinois. Isn’t that a marvelous self-fulfilling prophesy?
Business representatives in Illinois, and especially in Chicago, are not making plans to create jobs. They’re decrying the move to put more of the property tax burden in Chicago on them and on renters, who will have less disposable income to spend.
To paraphrase liberally from the Fitch report, someone please come save us if we slip into another recession.
So why aren’t you up in arms, raising a stink and demanding better? You are being hurt whether you actually feel it now or not. So are your children and their children. It’s your government. The politicians are supposed to work for you. If enough of us start to rebel and demand better, well, we might just get it.
Aren’t you worth taking that shot?
