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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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01.31.17
Latest Articles

Rand Paul

Written by Joshua Withrow

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. (A, 92%) has been nothing if not vocal about his belief that a new set of health care reforms should be voted on at the same time as a repeal of Obamacare. This week, Sen. Paul has revealed his proposal to replace Obamacare, by introducing S. 222, the Obamacare Replacement Act.

His bill is obviously designed to work in tandem with the partial repeal that was passed by Congress last year, in that it sweeps away the parts of Obamacare that the other bill leaves behind, particularly the regulations.… Continue Reading

01.31.17

IllinoisSenate

Written by State Representative Jeanne Ives

No one should be surprised that group think instead of rational choices surround the 13 interconnected bills of the “Grand Bargain.” It is wholly predictable given the longevity of the Illinois Senate leaders involved. They’ve been working together for nearly 2 decades. They put in place many of the policies that are now taking a toll on our state.

They are the beneficiaries of generous pensions when they retire, excessive pay for their part-time jobs, and the public attention and stature of the positions they hold. … Continue Reading

01.30.17

Written by Tom Neven

Is there a constitutional principle so sacrosanct that it can abide no exceptions? Perhaps the First Amendment? Nope. Courts have placed reasonable restrictions on free speech and the practice of religion. You can’t libel someone, nor can you sacrifice live animals. The Second Amendment? No again, as any number of gun laws attest. One can find reasonable exceptions to just about every constitutional principle.

But 43 years ago, trawling through the penumbra and emanations of the Constitution, Justice Harry Blackmun found an inviolable right that had somehow evaded the Founding Fathers: the right to kill a child in utero—mere inches from being fully born, even—for any reason or no reason.

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01.28.17

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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01.27.17

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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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01.26.17

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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01.25.17

Image result for voting

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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01.24.17

Guy with thought bubble saying The Big Question

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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01.23.17

Kennedy-DiCaprio-Kerry-climate-deniers-1024x460

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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01.23.17

Image result for radogno cullerton

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

01.21.17