Tag: Gov. Quinn

Quinn Spends Another $1.5 Billion We Don’t Have

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday signed into law an extra $1.5 billion in spending for road construction and child welfare investigations, even as Republicans decried the measure as including ill-timed, pork barrel money.

via Chicago Tribune.

What is wrong with this guy?  Really?

Quinn already stopped a bond auction because the rates for Illinois bonds are too high (and only going to go higher.)

Illinois already has $9 billion in unpaid bills.  There’s also the looming pension time-bomb that no one wants to talk about.

What does The Machine not understand?

STOP SPENDING MONEY!

 

What Quinn Didn’t Say

For The Good of Illinois logo

“Yes, we are going to continue
milking Illinois taxpayers like a dairy cow…”
what Gov. Quinn didn’t tell you
State of State Address
February 6, 2013


Word cloud of State of State Address (what we heard)

Yesterday, Gov. Quinn gave the “State of the State”. Here’s the rest of the story…

The growth of state payroll is exploding. In 2012, the State of Illinois payroll went from 79,451 (2011) to 115,388 employees. We questioned the numbers, Quinn’s administration defended them. See chart here.

No stopping salary abuse, even from state officers. The Chief Investment Officer at Teachers Retirement System (TRS) salary spiked from $209,697 (2008) to $357,500 (2011). See salary history.

The College & University payroll is padded with patronage. In 2000, the Illinois College and University system employed 51,439. Today, the system employs 90,213; but, student enrollment is up only 7%. Taxpayers and students are stuck with the bill- that’s called “generational theft”.
In 2011, the 7th highest salary went to the president of Moraine Valley Community College: $674,210. The junior college chief out-earned the Chancellor at the University of Illinois. See Top 8 Illinois College/University Salaries here.
Governor, the taxpayer is abused at every level of Illinois government…

In 2011, a DuPage County engineer cleaned off $340,147, tops among 197,000 local- municipal employees across the state. Click here.

In 2011, 57 village/city managers out-earned all governors of the 50 states. The village manager of small Grayslake topped them all- $259,252. Click here.

Where are the Republicans? Milking the same dairy cow…

Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno just doled out six $20,649 “perks” for “leadership” – those cashing in include Sen. Kirk Dillard and Sen. Bill Brady. Now they make $87,000 plus. In Texas, legislators make a salary of $7,200! Read Alton Telegraph Editorial.

New Manufacturing Institute Coming to Chicago

Gov. Pat Quinn will announce today in his State of the State speech that the Urbana-Champaign school, in partnership with its National Center for Supercomputing Applications and private companies, will be forming an Illinois Manufacturing Lab likely to be located in the central area of Chicago.

The facility will be a somewhat smaller, more applications-based version of the UI Labs tech-research center that was announced in January by U of I President Robert Easter and others. The prime goal will be to make the state’s manufacturers more competitive, something that has become increasingly challenging as overseas firms take control of many of the world’s factories.

via Crain’s Chicago Business.

Quinn thinks this is going to be like 1871 for manufacturing.  It won’t be.

Manufacturing is going high-tech.  There was a story (I’m too lazy to find right now) a few weeks ago about the new Apple factory in the U.S. is much touted and “moving tech. manufacturing back to U.S. soil.” However the details are such that the new Apple plant will have very few workers.  All the manufacturing will be done by machines, robots.  Humm….

That is the future.  The old days when some dude (or dudette) got paid a decent wage to assemble something complicated are gone.  The more complicated the design to more automation is used in place of human labor.  The robot never needs to use the bathroom.  The robot doesn’t eat lunch, or have a sick kid, or get carpel tunnel.  And one person can manage several dozen robots.

What Chicago really needs is to lower the cost of doing business so that a paper plant on the west side can hire 100 workers to do meaningful low skill work for a decent wage.  Multiply that by 50 and you got a nice little recovery in Garfield Park.  Repeat in Lawndale, Pilsen, Rogers Park, Pullman, etc.

We need to get 25-30 thousands people working.  Very few have the skills to be a computer programer (a la 1871.)  But nearly all can learn to drive a fork truck, run a hydraulic press or a large paper cutting machine.  Most can learn how to operate a CNC machine or a laser/plasma cutter.

It’s time to get this place working.  But it can’t happen until the broken and corrupt Illinois government gets out of the way.

 

 

 

Quinn’s Motto: Move Your Business Out

Today’s Local Bad News:

Illinois companies warned in January that they may lay off as many as 1,200 workers in the next two months, according to filings with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

viaChicago Tribune.

The economy sucks and the media doesn’t want to talk about it.  Manufacturing in Illinois is on life support.  It’s questionable if it can be revived.

To this mess we add:

Quinn wants Illinois’ minimum wage to increase from $8.25 to $10 an hour, according to a source familiar with the planned remarks. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but Illinois’ rate has been higher for years.

via Chicago Tribune.

That will not help growth.  It will not help poor communities.  It will not help high school drop-outs or college professors.  It’s an inflation creator and job killer.  We don’t need the cost of fast food going up.  We don’t need the cost of goods at Target going up.  We’re taxed to death already.  The state is $100+ billion in the red and he’s upset that some kid’s making $8.75/hr making pizza’s.

Illinois is dying.  The Machine is driving full speed off the edge of the cliff.

 

Crain’s Propaganda on Illinois vs. Indiana

My comment on a brainless story:

Since when is Crain’s the new PR mouthpiece for Quinn and Rahm?

Except for the graphic this piece is nearly 100% opinion. So Indiana spent $300k on a campaign and got 20 or so companies to move. Those companies may provide several millions worth of tax base; yielding a huge ROI for IN. But the author just sweeps that under the rug.

Yes, IN does not have the “white collar” talent pool that Chicago has. But it will develop it over time. Success is a long term game; not a lottery ticket.

The Illinois Machine has driven us to the edge of insolvency. Rahm appears to have a plan. Quinn is a headless chicken. But sooner or later the taxpayers are going to get a tax bill the likes of which have never been scene before. Then we’ll see how many more people decide to move East and North.

via Crain’s Chicago Business.

Quinn Balks at Illinois’ Fresh Interest Rate

Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration delayed Wednesday’s planned sale of $500 million in construction bonds, saying a recent credit downgrade because of inaction on government worker pension reform left the market “unsettled.”

The decision was made after officials with the governor’s budget office spoke with potential bidders who indicated they would seek interest rates higher than what the state wanted to pay.”

In a bond market when there is uncertainly, you pay an extra premium, which we decided was imprudent to pay,” said John Sinsheimer, director of capital markets for the state. “So we pulled them, and will bring the back at a future date when everything has settled down.”

via Chicago Tribune.

Pathetic.

The first thing to do when you’re in a hole is stop digging.  Quinn has the right idea… now may not be the best time to issue more bonds.  But because the finances are so bad pretty soon he will not have a choice.  More debt — at higher interest rates — is our future.

More troubling however is note how the Gov’s office is not waiting until they actually fix anything.  He’s not going to defuse the pension time-bomb.  He and The Machine are not going to balance the budget or develop a long term spending plan to correct the state’s deficit.  The plan is to merely wait until “everything has settled down.”

We deserve so much better than that.

So alas… people don’t like to hear bad news and will continue to vote for Santa Claus.  We need not be real.  Just keep voting for the guy who tells you it’s somebody else’s problem.

We’re so screwed.

More Money 4 Medical Malpractice Lawyers in IL

Medical malpractice lawyers are poised to make more money after Gov. Pat Quinn quietly signed a law allowing them to collect higher fees.

Doctors groups criticize the change, arguing that it will result in less money for injured patients who need it for costly health care and therapy. They also contend the measure was quickly pushed through the General Assembly in the waning days of a lame-duck session by ruling Democrats friendly to trial lawyers.  …

The bill surfaced in the Senate on Jan. 2, tacked onto a measure that originally dealt with firearm ranges. A day later it passed the Senate mostly on Democratic votes. Over in the House, powerful Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan sponsored the bill. A few days later it went to the governor on a 67-46 vote, again with mostly Democratic support. Quinn signed the measure into law Jan. 18, disclosing his move on a Friday afternoon, when politicians often choose to bury controversial news.The law eliminates the sliding scale that spelled out how much attorneys could charge for bringing medical malpractice cases. Previously, attorneys could collect one-third of an award up to $150,000, 25 percent for awards ranging from $150,000 to $1 million and 20 percent for awards of more than $1 million. Attorneys also could petition the court for even higher fees, a practice the new law eliminated.

The new system will see attorneys collecting a flat one-third rate on all awards. The Medical Society contends that means a patient who was awarded $1 million would now pay $333,333 in attorney’s fees as opposed to $262,500 under the old standards — the first $150,000 of the award at the one-third rate and the rest at the 25 percent rate.

via Quincy Journal.

The Machine at it again.

If this was such a great law, so helpful to the general public, then why passed in the dead of night and signed on a Friday afternoon?

Just more corruption from Michael Madigan and his trial lawyer buddies.

Illinois Credit — Worst in the Nation

Illinois fell to the bottom of all 50 states in the rankings of a major credit ratings agency Friday following the failure of Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers to fix the state’s hemorrhaging pension system during this month’s lame-duck session.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service downgraded Illinois in what is the latest fallout over the $96.8 billion debt to five state pension systems. The New York rating firm’s ranking signaled taxpayers may pay tens of millions of dollars more in interest when the state borrows money for roads and other projects.

“It’s absolutely bad news for taxpayers,” said Dan Rutherford, the Republican state treasurer.

Illinois received its bottom-of-the-pack ranking when it fell from an “A” rating to “A-minus.”

via Chicago Tribune.

Well there you have it.  The Machine, the Illinois combine has driven us straight into the gutter.  The cost of the billions and billions of debt is going up and up.  The taxpayers are stuck with the bill.

It’s old news but I’d like to review this for the record.  I have only three (3) Republicans that represent me.  Every single other elected official that represents me is a Democrat.

Alderman Bob Fioretti – D
Mayor Rahm Emanuel – D
Chicago City Clerk – D
Cook County Clerk of Courts – D
Cook County Treasurer – D
Cook County Assessor – D
Cook County Recorder of Deeds – D
Cook County States Attorney (DA) – D
Cook County Board Member – D
Cook County Board President – D
IL House Seat, Derrick Smith (Current under indictment) – D
IL Senate Seat, Patricia Van Pelt – D
IL Governor, Pat Quinn – D
IL Lt. Governor, Sheila Simon – D
IL Attorney General, Lisa (I won’t investigate my father) Madigan – D
IL Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka – R
IL Treasurer, Dan Rutherford – R
IL Sec. of State, Jesse White – D
US House, Danny Davis – D
US Senate, Mark Kirk – R
US Senate, Dick Durbin – D
US President, Barack Obama – D

What is that?  3 of 22?  If you just take the State folks it’s 2 of 17.  2 of 17.  That’s 11.76% of my elected persons are not Democrats.

So let me ask you, if I was looking to blame someone for the mess that we’re in where would be a good place to start?

Chicago’s Pension Time-Bomb

While Emanuel can coast for two more years, the city in 2015 is required by law to set aside an additional $700 million a year for two of its four pension funds, all of which are woefully underfunded: That year’s budget will include a total of $1.2 billion for the retirement accounts of teachers, police, fire and municipal workers. Such a steep ramp-up threatens to gobble city resources for everything from parks to schools to transportation.

via Chicago Tribune.

The total budget for this year is $8.35 billion.  In two years the city has to find nearly another 10% more money… out of thin air.

This is naturally in addition to the $86 billion (laughable that anyone still believes this number; it’s easily twice that) hole is the state pension funds.

Get ready… something’s going to go BOOM pretty soon.

Jimmy John’s Leaving Illinois, Florida Bound

Jimmy John Liautaud is moving part of the sandwich chain that bears his name to Florida next year, making good on a threat issued in 2011 after Illinois hiked its corporate tax rate.

The founder of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches said during a Sept. 18 panel discussion in Chicago that he will relocate the company’s licensing division to Florida, where he plans to move in early 2013. Mr. Liautaud said in January 2011 that he applied for residency in Florida out of anger when Gov. Pat Quinn raised the corporate tax rate to 5 percent from 3 percent.

via Crain’s Chicago Business.

Ya see!!  This is what happens when you raise taxes.  It’s called the Laffer Curve and it’s a real phenomenon.  Illinois is in the down portion of the curve where when you raise taxes you get less income.  Can someone explain that to Gov. Quinn, Michael Madigan, John Cullerton, Rahm, and the rest of The Machine?

Raising taxes — especially on “the rich” — only shifts the actual tax burden further down into the middle class.

What we need is a wholesale rewrite of the tax code.  But that’s a much, much longer post.