My Blog

Category: Politics

  • IL, 3rd Worst for Business …again

    Let’s first get some background on the winners:

    In Chief Executive’s eighth annual survey of CEO opinion of Best and Worst States in which to do business, Texas easily clinched the No. 1 rank, the eighth successive time it has done so. California earns the dubious honor of being ranked dead last for the eighth consecutive year.  …

    Florida moved up from number three last year to number two. Last year, Florida Gov. Rick Scott penned a tongue-in-cheek letter to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, warning him that Florida is coming after the Lone Star State’s top ranking. Since Scott took office, his administration has enacted business tax and regulatory reforms that have contributed to the creation of more than 140,000 private sector jobs and an unemployment drop of 2.1 percentage points last year—one of the biggest decreases in the nation.It is perhaps no coincidence that Texas and Florida have the highest net migration of people to their states from 2001 to 2009. (By contrast, New York and California lost over 1.6 million and 1.5 million in net migration out of the states, respectively, over the same period.) People migrate in search of employment, but this can cut both ways. Texas is justly proud of adding to its employment numbers, something Gov. Perry cited numerous times during his brief campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. Between June 2009—which marked the official end of the recession—and July 2011, the number of jobs increased in the state by 328,000. Nationally, the job growth in that time period was 697,000 according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This translates to Texas jobs making up 47 percent of the national net job creation. However, neither Texas, nor the nation, is adding jobs at a pace fast enough to bring down unemployment to historically normal levels. And Texas’ unemployment rate—while still below the national average—is now higher than that of 26 states

    via Chief Executive Magazine.

    Wow!!  Congratulations to Florida and Texas for being massive job creators.

    Illinois?  You rank 47th.

    One CEO commented that “Illinois is in a race to the bottom.”

    Congrats Gov. Quinn, Michael Madigan, Mayor Daley, and the rest of the cabal for driving businesses and job out of Illinois.  We’re shrinking while other states are growing.  You’ve forced millions of people to suffer while you’ve enriched yourselves.

    Pathetic.

  • Derrick Smith ‘I intend to fight these charges’

    State Rep. Derrick Smith on Monday spoke publicly for the first time about his bribery case, saying he would not “cower” and vowing to fight the charge against him.Holding a prepared statement in front of him and talking in a shaky voice minutes after he pleaded not guilty to a federal court indictment, the West Side Democrat referenced “shenanigans” he said the FBI pulled on him. Smith’s lawyer later castigated the government’s confidential informant.

    “I intend to fight these charges. I look forward to having the opportunity to clear my name,” Smith said in a press availability at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Smith said he was troubled by “the shenanigans being played by the FBI to lean on people around me.”

    “I will not cower,” Smith vowed. “I intend to stand tall with my wife, family, friends, House colleagues and lawyers.”

    via Chicago Sun-Times.

    Seems to me like he’s going to be headed to prison but there’s no doubt that he’s entitled to plea not guilty and get a fair trial complete with a jury of his peers.

  • CPS Director Accepted Gifts from Top Vendors

    Now, [CPS Chief of Food Services Louise Esaian] and two members of her staff are accused in a report by CPS inspector general James Sullivan of accepting perhaps thousands of dollars in gifts from Chartwells and another vendor, Preferred Meals Systems, that have combined food contracts at CPS in excess of $75 million.

    Esaian told the inspector general that the gifts didn’t influence her decisions at CPS, according to the report, which came out last week. But the appearance of conflict in such situations is inescapable, said Laurence Msall, president of the government watchdog Civic Federation.

    “Even if it only affects the appearance of the procurement, it has a corrosive impact on the public’s trust and the perception of how government decisions are made,” Msall said. “These ethics codes exist because too often governmental officials are confused about what is in the public’s interest and what is in their private interests.”

    The inspector general report does not make note of the expansion of Chartwells’ breakfast program. But at the same time the school board was considering, and ultimately approving, lucrative contract extensions for Chartwells and Preferred, the report says Esaian was being wined and dined at upscale Chicago restaurants, lavished with birthday gifts and NFL tickets for her friends and family.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    This is what happens when you hire politically connected people to run these programs.  They are not “called to service” or have any feelings whatsoever of acting in the best interests of the taxpayer.  They are all filled with a sense of entitlement that corrupts them into believing they some earned they things.

  • How Retirement Benefits May Sink Illinois

    We’re national news again.

    …  Indiana’s debt for unfunded retiree health-care benefits, for example, amounts to just $81 per person. Neighboring Illinois’s accumulated obligations for the same benefit average $3,399 per person.

    Illinois is an object lesson in why firms are starting to pay more attention to the long-term fiscal prospects of communities. Early last year, the state imposed $7 billion in new taxes on residents and business, pledging to use the money to eliminate its deficit and pay down a backlog of unpaid bills (to Medicaid providers, state vendors and delayed tax refunds to businesses). But more than a year later, the state is in worse fiscal shape, with its total deficit expected to increase to $5 billion from $4.6 billion, according to an estimate by the Civic Federation of Chicago.

    Rising pension costs will eat up much of the tax increase. Illinois borrowed money in the last two years to make contributions to its public pension funds. This year, under pressure to stop adding to its debt, the legislature must make its pension contributions out of tax money. That will cost $4.1 billion plus an additional $1.6 billion in interest payments on previous pension borrowings.

    Business leaders are now speaking openly about Illinois’ fiscal failures. Jim Farrell, the former CEO of Illinois Toolworks who is heading a budget reform effort called Illinois Is Broke, said last year that the state is squandering its inherent advantages as a business location because “all the other good stuff doesn’t make up for the [fiscal] calamity that’s on the way.” Caterpillar, the giant Peoria-based maker of heavy construction machinery, made the same point more vividly when it declined in February to locate a new factory in Illinois, specifically citing concern about the state’s “business climate and overall fiscal health.”

    via WSJ.

    How bad is it going to be?

    Back in Illinois, Dana Levenson, Chicago’s former chief financial officer, has projected that the average city homeowner paying $3,000 in annual property taxes could see his tax bill rise within five years as much as $1,400. The reason: A 2010 Illinois law requires municipalities to raise the funding levels in their pension systems using property tax revenues but no additional contributions from government employees. The legislation prompted former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in December to warn residents that the increases might be so high, “you won’t be able to sell your house.”

    We’re in trouble.

    Local media is still ignoring.  National media starting to ring the bell.

  • Obama Has More Fundraisers Than Previous Five Presidents Combined

    I offer this by way of observation only; make up your own mind as to what it means.

    More from the Brits:

    Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every elected president since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be published in a new book.

    Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office.

    The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief of modern times.

    Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.

    Since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124. Carter held four re-election fundraisers in the 1980 campaign, Reagan zero in 1984, Bush Snr 19 in 1992, Clinton 14 in 1996 and Bush Jnr 57 in 2004.

    via Daily Mail.

    Yowza!  That’s a lot of fundraising.

  • IL’s ‘Amazon-tax law’ Unconstitutional – 9K Jobs Lost for Nothing

    An Illinois law aimed at leveling competition between online and offline retailers while collecting more state sales taxes owed from Internet purchases is unconstitutional a Cook County judge said Wednesday. …

    In March 2011, Illinois passed the Main Street Fairness Act, informally dubbed the Amazon-tax law.Before the law, online retailers were forced to collect and remit sales taxes on purchases made by Illinois residents only if the online retailer had a “physical presence” in the state. For example, Sears must collect sales tax on virtual checkout at Sears.com because it has a headquarters and retail stores in Illinois. But Amazon.com does not have a physical presence and did not have to collect tax on checkout.

    But the new law expanded the meaning of physical presence beyond a warehouse, factory or office to include affiliate companies, typically deal and coupon website operators that earn commissions for directing shopping traffic to an online store. Affiliates are essentially third-party advertisers for online stores.

    To avoid having to collect sales tax upon virtual checkout, some large Internet retailers including Amazon.com, responded by cutting ties with affiliates in Illinois. That eliminated revenue streams for affiliate marketers. There were an estimated 9,000 affiliate marketers in Illinois, according to the Performance Marketing Association, a trade group that was the plaintiff in the case.

    After the new law passed, some prominent Illinois-based Internet businesses, such as CouponCabin.com and FatWallet.com, fled to nearby Indiana and Wisconsin rather than be cut off from commissions from Amazon.com,Overstock.comand others.

    Cook County Circuit Court Judge Robert Lopez Cepero said in court Wednesday that the Illinois law violated the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, which limits who a state can tax, and that the law conflicted with the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibits some types of Internet-related taxes. He directed parties to draft an order reflecting his opinion.  …

    “We are relieved that the 9,000 affiliates that were based in Illinoismay now have the opportunity to operate in Illinois without jeopardizing their business relationships with online retailers. This ruling places the responsibility for a solution back where it belongs: in Congress. CouponCabin continues to strongly support a federal solution to the taxation of all online transactions.”via Chicago Tribune.

    Unbelievable!

    I got news for the mopes that voted for this thing — THESE JOBS AIN’T COMING BACK!!

    Worse, the companies that left took the talent base with them.  So now there’s some talent in Indiana or Wisconsin which will attract other tech businesses.  Companies locate to where there is talent.  The “if you built it they will come” only works in movies.

    Chicago was establishing itself as an affiliate marketing empire, sort-of a Midwest silicon valley of online marketing.  But 9,000 high paying tech jobs left.

    What we need is a law that says anytime a legislature votes for some law later found to be unconstitutional that they get docked what it cost the taxpayers to defend in court and the estimated loss to the state treasury.

  • IL Legislators Should Give-up Pensions

    Illinois lawmakers ought to give up their state pensions.

    Legislators are part-time employees, but they make nearly $70,000 a year and in some cases can qualify for a pension after as little as four years in office at age 62. If they were elected before 2011, they can retire at 55 and collect a pension after eight years of service.

    Those pensions (like all pensions in Illinois) are not subject to the state income tax, and lawmakers also get health insurance benefits after they retire.

    With the state facing roughly $80 billion in unpaid pension liabilities and on the verge of financial collapse, the elected officials who created this crisis ought to be ashamed to accept such largesse from taxpayers.

    via Southtown Star.

    Agreed.

    I can’t remember where exactly but I once wrote about this at length.  Elected folks should earn a salary based on their more recent private sector salary.  And when they’re done with their “service” they should not receive a nickel from the taxpayer.

    This change alone would solve many many of our problems.

  • lllinois Moves Toward Insolvency

    We’re now making national news:

    After trying to tax Illinois to governmental solvency and economic dynamism, Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has been governor since 2009, now says “our rendezvous with reality has arrived.”  …

    Illinois was more heavily taxed than the five contiguous states (Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin) even before January 2011, when Quinn got a lame duck Legislature (its successor has fewer Democrats) to raise corporate taxes 30 percent (from 7.3 percent to 9.5 percent), giving Illinois one of the highest state corporate taxes, and the fourth highest combination of national and local corporate taxation in the industrialized world. Since 2009, Quinn has spent more than $500 million in corporate welfare to bribe companies not to flee the tax environment he has created.

    Quinn raised personal income taxes 67 percent (from 3 percent to 5 percent), adding about $1,040 to the tax burden of a family of four earning $60,000. Illinois’ unemployment rate increased faster than any other state’s in 2011. Its pension system is the nation’s most underfunded, and the state has floated bond issues to finance pension contributions. Quinn’s recent flirtation with realism — a plan to raise the retirement age to 67 and cap pension cost-of-living adjustments — is less significant than the continuing unrealistic expectation that some Illinois’ pension investments will grow 8.5 percent annually. Although the state Constitution mandates balancing the budget, this is almost meaningless while the state sells bonds to pay for operating expenses (in just 10 years the state’s bonded debt has increased from $9.4 billion to $30 billion), underfunds pensions and other liabilities, and makes vendors wait (they are owed $5.6 billion).

    …

    Peterson, a professor of government at Harvard, and Nadler, a doctoral candidate also at Harvard, say collective bargaining rights for government employees pose “a dramatically new challenge to the viability” of American federalism. They cite studies demonstrating that investors’ perceptions of risk of default are correlated with the rate of unionization among government employees. Higher percentages of government employees who are unionized, and larger Democratic shares of state legislative seats, correlate with increases in state borrowing costs.At least 12 percent of Americans change their residences each year, often moving to more hospitable economic environments. In a system of competitive federalism, Peterson and Nadler write, “If states and localities attempt in a serious way to tax the rich and give to the poor, the rich will depart while the poor will be attracted.” And government revenues and expenditures vary inversely.

    via Boston Herald.

    Illinois may fail before California.  Businesses are fleeing.  Residents are fleeing.  Illinois is shrinking, dying.

    For all of the Democrats efforts to “help” the poor, how will the poor be helped when Illinois becomes nothing more than one big Detroit?  The rich will all leave — they have the means to do so.  Those left I guess will feed on each other.

    I need to make sure history get written correctly.  The suffering of the poor that is coming is blood on the hands of Richie Daley, Michael Madigan, Lisa Madigan, Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan, Pat Quinn, Rahm Emanual, Jesse White, Danny Davis, Jesse Jackson, Todd Stroger, John Daley, and the rest of the Illinois combine… the Machine.

  • How America Will Fail

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc?rel=0]

  • DHS/TSA & 450 Million Hollow Point Bullets

    1 + 1 = Concern.

    Start with this:

    The DHS has signed off on an “indefinite delivery” from defense contractors ATK that will include, for some reason, nearly 500 million high-power ammunition for .40 caliber firearms. The department has yet to discuss why they are ordering such a massive bevy of bullets for an agency that has limited need domestically for doing harm, but they say they expect to continue receiving shipments from the manufacturer for the next five years, during which they plan to blow through enough ammunition to execute more people than there are in the entire United States.  …

    While ammunition itself seems not too unreasonable of a request by a major federal entity that emphasizes domestic durability and safeguarding the country from coast to coast, the choice — and quantity — of its hollow pointorder raises a lot of questions about future plans for the DHS. ATK says they won their contract with the US government by being able to provide them with 450 million HST bullets, which it describes as “the next generation in high performance duty ammunition.”What does that mean, exactly? On their website, the contractor claims that the ammunition is specifically designed so that it can pass through a variety of obstructions and offers “optimum penetration for terminal performance.”

    via RT.

    Now, DHS is the “Department” a/k/a a cabinet level position within the government.  Under DHS is a whole slew of sub-department(s), administration(s) and bureau(s).  One such administration is the TSA.  We deal with these chuckle-heads each time we fly.  These are people generally unemployable in the private sector who are given the job of making sure that airline travel in this country is safe.

    It’s common to find out that a TSA agent has been arrested for possession of child porn, running a prostitution ring, assaulting a pilot, stealing money from passengers, selling property stolen from luggage, and stealing iPads.  And that’s just in 2012.  Going back further it only gets worse.

    So it should come as no surprise to anyone when:

    Four current and former Transportation Security Administration screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

    The TSA screeners, who were arrested Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, allegedly received up to $2,400 in cash bribes in exchange for allowing large drug shipments to pass through checkpoints in what the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles called a “significant breakdown” of security.

    In addition to the two current and two former screeners, prosecutors also indicted two alleged drug couriers and a third who allegedly tried to smuggle 11 pounds of cocaine but was nabbed when he went through the wrong security checkpoint.

    via DSL News.

    So when these people start buying 1.5 bullets for every man, woman, and child in the country I start to get concerned.  Just who exactly are they planning on shooting at?  And if that’s number is small, then why do they need so many rounds?