Posted on 04/18/2012 4:44:47 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
In January 2011, facing a forbidding budget deficit and a backlog of unpaid bills, Illinois officials decided that a massive tax increase would lay the groundwork for the states recovery. As Barbara Flynn Currie, the majority leader in the state house of representatives, said at the time, the nearly $7 billion in new revenues would allow Illinois to pay our old bills and deal with the structural deficit. The taxes passed with little controversy. Several weeks later, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker proposed fixing state and local fiscal problems by narrowing public-sector workers collective bargaining rights and requiring them to contribute more to their pension and health-care benefits. His reforms, which took months to become law, provoked an occupation of the capitol and set off a national debate.
Little more than a year has passed, and Illinois is right back where it started: the states unpaid bills now top $9 billion. Meantime, Wisconsins state and local governments have made substantial strides toward long-term budget stability. The different fiscal outlooks of the neighboring states illustrate a crucial fact in todays budget wars: you cant tax your way to a better future. Thats because the promises made by previous generations of politicians to public employees and special interests have become, as one northeastern mayor colorfully put it, the Pac-Man of budgets, gobbling up revenues faster than governments can raise them.
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
It’s so much easier to pick the pockets of the producers than to say “no” to the parasites.
Well said...and particularly applicable to politicians.
Ill-Annoy is a third-world cesspool of political mis-needs headed by the delusional Governor, Quinnoccio, with the mute King Maker Mikey Madigan pulling the strings for the last few decades, and now the Rahmfather is implanting his ethos need within Springpatch. A prairie fire needs to raze the political landscape (and burn down the Combine, too) and allow the green sprouts of sanity to return. This won’t end well, I am afraid, until sanity returns to Ill-Annoy.
Ricky, I'm shocked.... SHOCKED!
Beware of women with three names.
Only liberals, including liberal republicans, have ever believed that you could. It's really, really stupid thinking............or non thinking.
Great article...thanks.
Seriesly !
And 'men' with three names, well . . .
It amazes me that case studies like this do not lead to voter revolts against dem pols in States like Illinois, California, and others. Sadly, Obama is doing the same thing on a national level.
States like Il and CA have problems that won’t go away and won’t get better even after collapse and rebuilding.
After the crash, they will still have all the same players; Dem leadership, unions who keep the dem leaders in power, sufficient numbers of non-producers to keep voting for the dem leaders.
That is why lottery winners almost always lose what they win, and states cannot heal deficits with more taxes.
Which is precisely why welfare does not and cannot reduce poverty. In fact, it feeds/increases the neediness!
+1
If the union thugs succeed in that recall vs. Gov Walker in WI, that state within a year will be a carbon copy of IL.
Seriesly !
And 'men' with three names, well . . .
And don't forget the first initial, middle name thing...as in J. Willie (somethng) of Sanford, Florida NAACP.
Bump
This is what I’ve been saying for a long time. The entire state save Chicago and E. St.Louis go R but the votes of the rest of the state are negated by those highly populated and highly D areas. It’s a real shame and it’s getting really, really old. I’m not sure what the solution is because it will always be this way in Chicago unless another fire burns the place down.
Wisconsin Comparison to Illinois ping
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.