"Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is there," but "THERE" will soon be Texas, not Illinois

Coach is Right ^ | 2/22/13 | Kevin "Coach" Collins

[Oldpuppymax]

State Farm, the nationally knowninsurance chain headquartered in Bloomington Illinois, has apparently had its fill of “The Land of Lincoln’s” confiscatory taxes. The 800 million dollar company is reported to have purchased “substantial workspace” in the Dallas, Texas area. The giant insurance firm’s workers are being kept in the dark reportedly to avoid “alarming them” but is it their workers or the State of Illinois they would like to keep in the dark about this move? If this doesn’t signal State Farm’s coming dash out of Illinois’s clutches what could it mean?

A knowledgeable Dallas real estate insider has called this impending move “a major business relocation” of record breaking proportions. The numbers involved are approximately 2.5 million square feet of workspace and...

[morans14]

Serves who right? Those of us in Downstate and Central Illinois who are conservatives outnumbered by the beast known as Chicago?

We live in Bloomington/Normal and I can say the prospect of losing State Farm is a scary proposition. Many businesses in the are are dependent upon the dollars State Farm employees pump into the local economy.

[stars & stripes forever]

Those of us in Downstate and Central Illinois who are conservatives outnumbered by the beast known as Chicago...

How many of those downstate and central Illinois conservatives bother to vote?

[lurk]

The Chicago Catholics(relatives of ours) are way to the left. They see the church as a mechanism of social justice, not a place of worship.

[mass55th]

I wish they’d move their stupid TV ads there too.

[bigmak007]

Just curious, is there any special meaning to your name?

You should rename your towns to Bloomisoffington/Notnormal.
Just sayin.

[Kolath]

I would love to see what the 2020 census will be like. How many congressional seats, EV’s the blue states will lose and the red states gain.

[morans14]

Bloomington and Normal are the 2 cities connected

[morans14]

Those of us in Downstate and Central Illinois who are conservatives outnumbered by the beast known as Chicago...

How many of those downstate and central Illinois conservatives bother to vote?

Everyone is our circle votes. Typically our local government is Republican.

[prairie dog]

You should rename your towns to Bloomisoffington/Notnormal. Just sayin.

The mayor of Normal has a standing offer of $50 to anyone who offers up a joke on the town's name that he hasn't heard before.

[prairie dog]

State Farm is not pulling their headquarters out of Bloomington. They are consolidating ten zone centers (which were consolidated years ago from 25 regional offices) into three larger ones in Dallas, Atlanta, and Phoenix. SF will reduce its workforce in Bloomington by attrition, which will include offers to employees to transfer to those three cities.

So yes, State Farm is expressing their displeasure with Illinois' draconian taxes/business regulations just like another great downstate industry, Caterpillar, started doing with their factories 40 years ago.

[familyop]

If not for the government default process, insurance companies would probably need several times the “substantial workspace” that they have now.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

The Chicago Catholics(relatives of ours) are way to the left. They see the church as a mechanism of social justice, not a place of worship.

When members of the new testament church which I attend stray that far as your Chicago catholics have done, we don't have fellowship with them. We do not condone the error.

[CIDKauf]

I’m sorry about that. I am sure you are right. Maybe the revolution in Illonois should be against the Chicago politics. I forget that the socialists are from the big cities, as in Denver. We are now the MMJ capital of the U.S., but not by me. I can’t believe it.

[98ZJ USMC]

Most of Illinios is very conservative Correct. Born and raised Cook County and live in Southern Illinois. Outside of Chicago/Inner burbs, even Cook is Republican leaning. Take away Springdump and Cook County, Illinois is a red state.

[jsanders2001]

I’m slowly coming to realize tha all Yanks’ aren’t bad...lol

[piasa]

Our turnout was very very high. There is also East St Louis to contend with in downstate IL, however. Their turnout usually isn’t good unless the Dems are giving out free chicken dinner tickets [I’m serious, that’s what they used to do... now it’s probably cigarettes] but I bet turnout in the last two national elections was high since it was for the first halfblack president. And I guarantee the Dems transported blacks from Chicago downstate to vote a second time using addresses of abandoned or burnt out apartment buildings to register them.

[piasa]

The reason I say that is the blacks my mom worked with up there in the St Louis area often went to get state aid and freebies by traveling up to Wisconsin, then to Missouri, then to states downriver such as Louisiana and Mississippi like it was some kind of handout family reunion world tour. They’d brag about it. The only lady that didn’t go on the annual journey was her black Republican friend who was embarassed by it all. Her friend was so conservative she made her own dresses rather than “waste money” by shopping and she was very good at it.

That said, there really are a lot of patriotic religious conservative blacks in the area but the Republican party simply doesn’t bother to reach out to them or give them a hand because there are so few volunteers to begin with. What there are... are little old white ladies who are scared of the crime rate- caused by Democrats who like it that way- and they aren’t going to go walk any precincts and talk to anyone. Even the foreign black students at local colleges are afraid to drive through the area because of the reputation. The problem with the GOP in Illinois is that it depends almost entirely upon little old white ladies. The men are AWOL.