‘The Illinois Exodus’: A black comedy or disaster movie? – Editorial – Chicago Tribune

If a satirical comedy is ever made about Illinois politics, we envision a scene in which hapless lawmakers stun themselves by actually passing an on-time budget: “I can go back to my district and I can say that we have done our job for the first time in many years,” one member marvels. Comment: That was Jim Durkin, House leader of the party supposedly representing fiscal sanity.
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Patriot man
7 years ago

Sort of disingenuous…I like how the Tribune essentially gives Rauner a pass with this: But rather than give Rauner chances to claim those successes, Democrats have hemmed him in at every turn Please. First off Rauner never tried to build a grassroots coalition, he is inept, and totally devoid of leadership qualities. For proof,look at what Jeanie Ives was able to electorally with a low budget grass roots organization. Moreover Rauner has driven many deep pocket conservatives from the State with his permissive social agenda on gay rights, sanctuary cities, dope smoking, baby murdering, support for the liberal public school… Read more »

world with end
7 years ago

Of course, Durkin and the rest of the IL pols haven’t done their jobs as long as the taxpayers are over-burdened. One of many amazing things about IL’s death spiral is that the IL pols are doing nothing about it despite wirepoints and other news services making Illinoisans painfully aware of the magnitude of the unfunded pension and health care benefits liabilities. What also adds to the problem and continues the out-migration is that so many Chicago-area teachers are making six figures. Sorry, but for a nine-month teaching job, that’s out of line. Overpaid teachers eventually become retirees with monstrous… Read more »

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Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades

Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.

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