Written by Michael Lucci
Illinois lost 16,700 payroll jobs in December 2016, according to a Jan. 20 report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES.
In addition, the state’s November jobs count was revised down from a gain of 1,700 jobs to a loss of 4,500 jobs. Illinois’ unemployment rate went up to 5.7 percent in December, even though Illinoisans continued to drop out of the workforce.
The budget plan coming out of the Illinois Senate couldn’t come at a worse time, as it depends on tax hikes that would only hinder job creation.
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From the Chicago City Wire
The president of a company that moved from Illinois to Indiana said recently on a Chicago radio talk show that he looks back on Illinois and hopes one day the state will get its act together.
“It’s kind of a double-edge sword,” Hoist Lifttruck President Vincent Flaska said during a recent edition of “Illinois Rising.” “I still live in Illinois, and I want to see Illinois succeed. But the problem that they have is that they need to get rid of how their tax credits function.
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Written by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Illinois Senate members have a drafted a new budget plan that relies on multibillion-dollar tax hikes, but little in structural spending reforms.
The plan punishes taxpayers with more than $5 billion in additional income and other taxes, borrows $7 billion from the bond market and adds casinos in Chicago – none of which provide relief to struggling Illinoisans. The plan also leaves pensions unreformed, does little to workers’ compensation costs and burdens job creators with a higher minimum wage cost.
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Written by Aaron Bandler
Ronna Romney McDaniel has officially been named as the new chair of the Republican National Committee.
“I am a mom from Michigan,” McDaniel said in Tuesday’s RNC meeting. “I am an outsider. And I am here to make Donald Trump and Republicans everywhere successful.”
McDaniel also criticized the Democrat Party as an “elite, coastal, redistributionist Party of the status quo” and hailed the Republican Party as “the national, opportunity for everyone, party of change.”
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Written by Michael Bargo, Jr.
The 1964 Voting Rights Act and revisions addressed the right of the individual citizen in the U.S. to vote without obstruction or discrimination. The concept of one person one vote has been repeatedly upheld. While Illinois became infamous for having the dead vote and allowing multiple votes by one person, its legislature has adopted rules that seriously infringe upon the rights of all voters.
This more subtle, abstract, and far more dangerous practice implements a new method of vote theft: administratively denying voters any input into legislation; thereby violating the concept that government can only legislate with the “consent of the governed.”
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Written by Daniel Horowitz
Obama’s parting gift to this country is a transformed society with $20 trillion in debt. The big question is what will Republicans do differently to curb the growth of the debt?
Given recent news about GOP plans on health care and infrastructure, there are no signs things will improve. Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office has released a new “fiscal health” study, which portends disturbing trends for our fiscal stability.
The gross federal debt now stands at $19.94 trillion — roughly $9.3 trillion more than it was when Obama took office.
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Written by E. Calvin Beisner
Okay, so most of the time here at the Cornwall Alliance we try to keep our language entirely civil, to avoid both formal and informal fallacies, and just stick to true premises and valid inferences to support our conclusions. Rational, yes. Entertaining? Well, not always. And in today’s America, lots of people—at least if their conduct reveals anything about their values—value entertainment a good deal more than reason.
So for their enjoyment—and for the enjoyment of those who really do track with us on rationality but nonetheless get a kick out of entertainment from time to time—I offer you a few tastes of Julie Kelly’s delightfully snarky column from The Hill January 6, “The hypocrisy of climate change advocates”:
So according to all the hysterical people, President-elect Donald Trump has appointed the most climate denier cabinet ever.
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Written by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
One of the most foolish things politicians can do to an economy suffering from a weak recovery and a shrinking tax base is to pass tax hikes. Hitting residents and businesses when they’re struggling risks sending a faltering economy into a tailspin.
And for an economy edging toward recession, tax hikes are even worse.
Unfortunately, a multibillion-dollar tax hike is exactly what Illinois politicians are proposing for a state economy that’s been remarkably weak and is now showing signs of recession-like shrinkage.… Continue Reading
Written by Peter Heck
How appropriate it was that President Obama delivered his farewell address from Chicago, the crime capital of America … for it is indeed his crime against a humble group of nuns that will be forever etched in many people’s memory.
I was unable to watch President Obama’s Farewell Address last Tuesday night delivered appropriately in the crime capital of the country, Chicago, Illinois. That didn’t break my heart because I found myself indifferent to the spectacle for a number of reasons.… Continue Reading
Written by John Biver
This is a great series by Dennis Prager outlining the basic information more Americans need to hear. Enjoy.
Many people – including those who keep up with politics – cannot articulate the differences between the Left and the Right in a way that is fair and objective. In this five-part video series, Dennis Prager does exactly that. In under 30 minutes, you’ll understand the essential differences between the two.
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How big should the government be?… Continue Reading
Illinois Politics | Admin | 
January 31, 2017 4:00 AM | 
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