Illinois is far more generous than both other states and the private sector. Illinois state retirees contribute too little to their health benefits

Statewide, there were only 16 affordable rental units available for every 100 deeply low-income households in 2012, the report found. That same year, 90 percent of deeply low-income Illinois families spent at least 50 percent of their income on housing costs. The Chicago metropolitan area had 17 affordable units available for every 100 deeply low-income renter households. Eighty-nine percent of those poorest households in the Chicago region spent more than half of their income on housing costs. via Housing Needs Grow For An Aging America; Low-Income Illinoisans Struggle To Find Affordable Rentals | Progress Illinois.

Comment: Being funded with borrowing as part of the 2009 Jobs Now (a/k/a Jobs? How?) which was justified as stimulus to fight the recession, yet they won’t even start laying the tracks for two more years. http://ilnews.org/2805/critics-take-on-quinns-102-million-high-speed-rail-announcement/

If the Illinois Teachers Retirement Service had to pay out all of its pensions today, it could only afford to give its members 40 cents on the dollar.

http://www.nwherald.com/2014/08/29/miller-rauner-spending-promise-is-a-lie/arh0o8o/

National Democrats say two of their vulnerable incumbents, New Hampshire Rep. Carol Shea-Porter and Illinois Rep. Bill Enyart, may soon be lost causes and are scrambling to prevent that list from growing. http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/house-gop-2014-elections-goals-110499.html#ixzz3CAZVPsUe

Among the items in this Labor Day snapshot report, such as: The number of Illinois teachers receiving pensions over $100,000 increased by 24% in n 2014 to over 6,000. – Over 100,000 educators broke even on their pensions in the first 20 months of retirement. That is, they got more out of their pensions than they paid in over their careers in their fist 20 months of retirement. – One spiking double dipper now gets a pension of $254,2000 per year plus a salary of $240,000 per year. His website where he brags about himself is linked here. via Open_The_Books-_IL_School_District_SNAPSHOT,_Executive_Summary.pdf.

One university president gets around half a million dollars base salary. Another gets more than half a million if additional compensation is counted. http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/08/25/editors-picks/kay-day/illinois-university-president-salaries/23797/

A new 3.5 percent premium tax on payments to captive insurance subsidiaries—which in some cases could be as high as 4.6 percent—”easily” will raise at least $100 million a year for the state, according to an estimate by Mark Denzler, a lobbyist at the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “It’s just another frustration companies have with Illinois,” he says. “They’re saying, ‘Now I have to pay $5 million or $10 million more a year than my competitor in Indiana or elsewhere.’ “ via Boeing, United Airlines, ADM oppose Quinn tax on captive insurance – In Other News – Crain’s Chicago Business.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119272/labor-day-are-unions-dead-interview-rich-yeselson

Illinois’ median wage has collapsed by $12,000 since 1999