Free Republic

While Illinoisans will be paying higher taxes, Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s going to give state lawmakers at least a $1,600 pay increase because they’re hard workers. Pritzker said he’ll sign the budget bills being sent his way, despite the ire from taxpayers that lawmakers gave themselves a raise while doubling the state’s gas tax. Pritzker was asked multiple times in Chicago Tuesday if he’d line-item veto more than $280,000 in lawmaker pay increases when he gets the budget that was passed in overtime session. “Look, this was a highly negotiated budget,” Pritzker said. “We had the Republicans and Democrats...

Here’s a pretty good piece on how the Democrat’s future is tied to the future of the public service unions. As you can imagine, that’s not where I’d want to be if I were them. As I’ve said a thousand times, the purpose of a union is to increase costs and lower accountability in spite of any economic realities. They also increase unemployment and lower productivity, and through it… GDP. If you’re a political party and your stated agenda is to "put people back to work" that is not the agenda that you want your closest partner to have. I...