Totaling the unsustainable tax increases and windfall revenue during Pritzker Administration – Wirepoints
May 26, 2026
10 Comments
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Sounds like nothing but a lame excuse to give a giant handout to construction unions.
My stepdaughter had scholarship offers from UofI and Illinois Wesleyan (and Michigan and Wisconsin). UofI’s campus blows IWU’s away. But the kid chose IWU (after spending two-full days on each campus) because the UofI professors she spent time with “were arrogant jerks.”
I find it funny when JB makes such silly pronouncements. Does he think investing in campuses will make these universities more attractive? They are extremely expensive because of Illinois policies. Too many staff getting high salaries and pensions. College students don’t want to stay in Illinois after they graduate, so why go to school here? That arrogant waste of space we call Governor is foolish if he thinks he can solve this with investing in campuses. But it is a way for him to give the unions some work.
Wow. Talk about locking the barn door after the cow has escaped. Fatboy is so out of touch with Illinois that its impossible to exaggerate.
Yet his children and wife left the state–Proof how wonderful Illinois is.
How about we make U of I affordable to parents of in state students? Kentucky gives parents cash off tuition for good grades at admission. Purdue for Indiana residents? $10K. Tons of merit based money for residents. Out of state $30k. U of I for Illinois residents? $20k plus tons of “other fees” and boarding expenses that are almost double that of other states. No money for merit. THAT is why people are leaving. Illinois needs to get a clue. These kids won’t be back. The state knows the reason why these kids leave but it won’t spend money for… Read more »
My kid is at an out-of-state University. We spent about 5 seconds looking at the obscenely priced and terrible value in-state options. Virtually all other options were out of state. He was accepted at 6 of 7 out of state schools where he applied and most offered him money. Illinois Universities exist to employ public sector union stooges. Teaching Illinois young citizens is most certainly not a criteria. Period.
My 3 kids are now out of college, but your post struck a nerve for me. I remember taking my daughter (perhaps our best at academics) to UIUC for orientation in the summer 6 years back. The alumni center is a beautiful bldg, but we were shocked when of the +300 prospective students there, at least half were Asian (most speaking broken English it sounded). My daughter at the time was interested in clinical psychology, so we next headed to the College of Arts were in a small classroom setting we met with an associate dean. It was quickly apparent… Read more »
The students are not leaving for better funded universities, they are leaving for what they perceive to be schools with much better value. I am saddened by the state of Illinois’ public colleges and their decline since I finished high school in the late 70’s. University of Illinois Champaign Urbana is still an excellent school (but even they have struggled a bit with rankings), but the remainder don’t stand out and worse yet, save for UI Chicago and Illinois State (my parents went there), enrollment declines have been precipitous. I live in Virginia, and the college options for young people… Read more »
It’s more than just branding problem, it’s actual value problem. Our Flagship, and best public school, U of I, is by far the ugliest of the Big Ten campus…and it’s a big frat school with a very large international student community (at least until last year). It’s difficult to get into and its really expensive too. And that’s really the only public option for top performing students in Illinois. And it’s an OK, but not great or even good option. UIC can’t compare to UofI, and is far lower in the rankings, and it’s so diverse, with 70% of the… Read more »
Everything is a branding problem to these fools. To them, there’s nothing wrong with the Blank Check Amendment, UI, Illinois’ finances, it’s all just a branding problem
Yes, but in this case Illinois’ branding problem is driven by a bona fide lack of substance. The low opinion of the brand is earned. I say this because where I live in Virginia, the top 5 options (can you imagine having 5 U of I type choices, with much prettier campuses, all relatively affordable?) flog their brands pretty heavily, too much for my taste, but they have something to back it up. Debtsor’s summary is spot on. You mention ISU. It indeed has no cachet in the market. My father runs a successful business in Chicago with offices around… Read more »