Make Illinois Great Again!

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We said this ten years ago, and it still holds true. We'll provide an update to the statistics but for now here is what we shared back in 2012. 

Under the guidance of our currently embedded political leadership, Illinois has:

• the worst debt of any state
• the worst bond rating in the nation
• a business climate ranked 47th in the nation
• the worst rank for disability services (ranked 51st out of the 50 states plus the District of Colombia) 

IN FACT: “the treasurer of Illinois calculated that Illinois politicians have stuck taxpayers with nearly $200 billion in debt. That includes bonded debt, unpaid bills and — the biggest burden by far — unfunded pension and health care benefits for public employees.” Chicago Tribune, October 19, 2011, Aside: The pensions of our state legislators are fully funded.  

The recent 67% state income tax increase, plus another round of real estate tax increases, has failed to stem the economic erosion.  To the contrary, those increases have accelerated that decay.  Those tax increases have simply increased the government payroll…adding to our future indebtedness.  As has been the strategy of our politicians for decades:–little if any of those taxes went to reducing the crushing debt load.  That debt load has grown to such proportions that it can never be satisfied by the current generation of taxpayers.  

If we continue to close our eyes to the “quid pro quo” strategy of buying our votes with our tax dollars, our children, all too soon, will inherit the suffocating political and economic environment we allowed to perpetuate.   If we do not reverse the present economic climate created by our imbedded political leaders, our children will be forced to relocate to other states to pursue meaningful careers.   Support will not be there for many of our friends and family.  

The anti-business environment put in place by our politicians has caused corporations to be reluctant to invest in Illinois…by passing over Illinois completely or threatening to move out of State (CME Group, Caterpillar and Sears). This is further fueling the downward spiraling economic cycle.  The equal and opposite reaction will be the continual increase in our property taxes, our sales taxes and state income taxes.  The threatening  exodus from Illinois by corporations will increase our unemployed population.  Lesser know is the fact that, while unemployment has increased in the private sector, our political leaders have padded their political payrolls to the point that they are virtually equal in numbers to the private sector…many receiving salaries greater than those of their civilian counterparts.  We are rapidly reaching an employment balance that would technically qualify Illinois as a socialistic welfare state…one that is comparable to those disintegrating economies that are making current headlines.