Tag: Pat Quinn
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IL Public Pension Debt at $133 Billion
Ten U.S. states have public pension liabilities that are at least as big as their annual revenues, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report released on Thursday that found the Illinois pension bill was equal to 241 percent of its revenues. … According to Moody’s, Illinois has the largest net pension liability in the country,…
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SEC Hits Illinois with Securities Fraud Charges
Illinois broke federal securities laws in misstating the true health of the state’s depleted pension funds when going out onto the bond market between 2005 and early 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday. … The finding of securities fraud doesn’t subject the state to any fines or penalties but amounts to a warning…
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IL Finances Heading to Social Unrest
“I think it’s going to reach a point where there’s either social disorder or bankruptcy before people will act,” he said. via Crain’s Chicago Business. Ya, that sounds about right. But let’s back-up a little. This is a quote from a story about how back the finances are in Illinois. A Blue Ribbon Panel put…
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$2M in Unemployment to Inmates
More than 1,100 people have collected nearly $2 million in unemployment benefits while they were in county jails or state prisons, including $43,000 that went to a person in the Cook County Jail, a state agency said Tuesday. Now they may face state or federal criminal fraud charges as well as having to repay what…
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Illinois – Worst Financial Shape Ever
Bloomberg L.P., the big New York financial data firm, is holding its fall municipal-financing conference on Wednesday, and guess what the title is for the special panel on the Land of Lincoln? Try Land of Entropy. Yes, sports fans, the panel titled “Illinois Treading Water” is set for 1:45 p.m. and, according to a synopsis,…
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Illinois Unemployment at 9.1%
Unemployment across Illinois rose to 9.1 percent in August, the third straight month of increases in the state, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday. … Unemployment in July was 8.9 percent. Increases in the unemployment rate in June, July and August followed nine months of slow but steady declines. The federal government said…
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Google and the Merchandise Mart
Good News!! Crain’s Chicago Business reports: Google is in talks to lease some 500,000 square feet in the Merchandise Mart, sources say. The deal would include a rooftop deck. The Internet search giant, looking to move employees from the Libertyville headquarters of its recently acquired Motorola Mobility, has an office for tech workers near the…
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Raise Taxes — Lose Revenue
The current taxes on a pack of cigarettes in Chicago include $2 from Cook County, 98 cents from Illinois and 68 cents from the city. If Quinn signs the latest increase, the taxes in Chicago will be $4.66 per pack, compared with 99 cents in East Chicago. On Monday, a pack of Marlboros at a…
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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…
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Derrick Smith Must Resign or Be Expelled — Dems Own It
The Democratic party was silent prior to the election of State Rep Derrick Smith on the issue of his resigning or getting off the ticket for allegedly accepting a $7000 cash bribe from an undercover FBI agent posing as a daycare center owner in exchange for a $50000 grant. The silence of the Democrats is…