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Republican Whipping-Boy Illinois Beats Wisconsin on Jobs

Republican Whipping-Boy Illinois Beats Wisconsin on Jobs
By Tim Jones - Apr 19, 2012 11:00 PM MT .LinkedIn Google +1 43 Comments
Print QUEUEQ..Scott Walker, the Republican governor facing a recall vote in Wisconsin, traveled over the Illinois line to argue that the tax increase backed by his Democratic counterpart Pat Quinn is killing jobs even as the Midwest rebounds from recession.

“Is it any wonder because of choices that were made right here in the state’s capital?” Walker, 44, said in an April 17 speech in Springfield. “When you raise taxes on businesses, that wealth and opportunity and those jobs more often than not go somewhere else.”
A broader snapshot tells a different tale. Illinois ranked third while Wisconsin placed 42nd in the most recent Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States index, which includes personal income, tax revenue and employment. Illinois gained 32,000 jobs in the 12 months ending in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found. Wisconsin, where Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs with the help of business-tax breaks, lost 16,900.

For Republicans, Illinois is the Nancy Pelosi of U.S. states -- like the former House speaker, a favorite target of ridicule when arguing Democrats stifle growth. The state has $8 billion in unpaid bills and $80 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

Quinn was ready for the cross-border critique from Wisconsin, whose state’s employment fell more than any other. Quinn scheduled a news conference less than hour after Walker spoke to announce that LaFarge SA (LG), the Paris-based building materials maker, would move its North American headquarters to Illinois.
‘Worst Job Record’
“They have the worst job record in the whole country, dead last,” Quinn, 63, said of Wisconsin. “We certainly don’t want to follow his prescriptions when it comes to economic growth.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...ing-boy-illinois-beats-wisconsin-on-jobs.html
 
Opinion
Illinois still needs reality check
By George Will

April 26, 2012


Washington — After trying to tax Illinois to governmental solvency and economic dynamism, Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has been governor since 2009, now says “our rendezvous with reality has arrived.” Actually, Illinois is still reality-averse, so Americans may soon learn the importance of the freedom to fail in a system of competitive federalism.

Illinois was more heavily taxed than the five contiguous states (Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin) even before January 2011, when Quinn got a lame duck Legislature (its successor has fewer Democrats) to raise corporate taxes 30 percent (from 7.3 percent to 9.5 percent), giving Illinois one of the highest state corporate taxes, and the fourth highest combination of national and local corporate taxation in the industrialized world. Since 2009, Quinn has spent more than $500 million in corporate welfare to bribe companies not to flee the tax environment he has created.

Quinn raised personal income taxes 67 percent (from 3 percent to 5 percent), adding about $1,040 to the tax burden of a family of four earning $60,000. Illinois’ unemployment rate increased faster than any other state’s in 2011. Its pension system is the nation’s most underfunded, and the state has floated bond issues to finance pension contributions — borrowing money that someday must be repaid, to replace what should have been pension money that it spent on immediate gratifications.

Quinn’s recent flirtation with realism — a plan to raise the retirement age to 67 and cap pension cost-of-living adjustments — is less significant than the continuing unrealistic expectation that some Illinois’ pension investments will grow 8.5 percent annually. Although the state Constitution mandates balancing the budget, this is almost meaningless while the state sells bonds to pay for operating expenses (in just 10 years the state’s bonded debt has increased from $9.4 billion to $30 billion), underfunds pensions and other liabilities, and makes vendors wait (they are owed $5.6 billion).

The Illinois Policy Institute, a limited-government think tank, in a report cheekily titled “Another $54 Billion!?” argues that in addition to the $83 billion in pension underfunding the state acknowledges, there is $54 billion in unfunded retiree health liabilities over the next 30 years. Illinois, a stronghold of public employees unions, “is on pace to spend nearly $1 billion on retiree health care benefits in fiscal year 2013, more than double what it spent in 2003. Worse yet, these liabilities are growing more than twice as fast as tax revenues.”

To prepare for Illinois’ probable plunge into insolvency, read “Freedom to Fail: The Keystone of American Federalism” by Paul E. Peterson and Daniel Nadler in the University of Chicago Law Review. They note that only 25 of the world’s 193 nations have federal systems, and in most of the 25, the freedom of the lower tiers of government is more circumscribed by the central government than American state governments are by the federal government. American states’ greater freedom — autonomy under America’s system of dual sovereignty — from the central government’s supervision requires that they be disciplined instead by the market for government bonds, and the real possibility of default.

Peterson, a professor of government at Harvard, and Nadler, a doctoral candidate also at Harvard, say collective bargaining rights for government employees pose “a dramatically new challenge to the viability” of American federalism. They cite studies demonstrating that investors’ perceptions of risk of default are correlated with the rate of unionization among government employees. Higher percentages of government employees who are unionized, and larger Democratic shares of state legislative seats, correlate with increases in state borrowing costs.

At least 12 percent of Americans change their residences each year, often moving to more hospitable economic environments. In a system of competitive federalism, Peterson and Nadler write, “If states and localities attempt in a serious way to tax the rich and give to the poor, the rich will depart while the poor will be attracted.” And government revenues and expenditures vary inversely.

From September through December 2008, the premium that investors demanded before they would buy California debt rather than U.S. treasuries jumped from 24 to 271 basis points (100 points equals 1 percent). The bond market, the only remaining reality check for state politicians, must be allowed to work.

Constitutional jurisprudence affirms that states exercising substantial autonomous powers thereby assume concomitant risks. Federal loans or other bailouts of misgoverned states would remove bond market discipline, the only inhibition on the alliance between the Democratic portion of the political class and unionized public employees.

Copyright 2012 The Lawrence Journal-World. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. We strive to uphold our values for every story published.

— George Will is a columnist for Washington Post Writers Group.
 
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Is it really a surprise that no business wanted to go to Wisconsin after what the public sector unions did?

Once again, these bozos in the union are responsible for their own demise, they were basically extorting businesses into supporting them, and supporting unions, do liberals really think that businesses were going to move into a situation where unionised lynch mobs were running around all over the place and telling them, "either you support unions or we will fuck your business over"

Were big corporations going to move into an environment like that and take the risk of their business being unionized? Plus the unions who were attacking them were the fire fighters union and the police union, so all of a sudden when you dont support the union, you end up with some over zealous fire inspector harassing you all the time, and police officers constantly monitoring your business, yeah thats really a place i want to be as a business man.

Businesses were basically presented with an option of moving in and cutting their customer base in half, while they dealt with constant harassment from public sector unions,(if they didnt support the unions) or moving in and supporting unions, in which case they were basically asking for their employees to unionize on them,(if they did support the unions) or the third option which was simply refraining from doing business in Wisconsin..... Real tough choice....



Here is the letter that that went out from the public sector unions to every single business in Wisconsin, it basically says, "support us, or your fucked!" And you guys on the left have the nerve to make the claim that "taxes dont matter" based on this situation..... its funny how you create your own reality.



March 10, 2011
Mr. Tom Ellis, President
Marshall & Ilsley Corporation
770 N. Water Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202
SENT VIA FASCIMILE AND REGULAR MAIL
Dear Mr. Ellis:
As you undoubtedly know, Governor Walker recently proposed a “budget adjustment bill” to eviscerate public employees’ right to collectively bargain in Wisconsin. ..

As you also know, Scott Walker did not campaign on this issue when he ran for office. If he had, we are confident that you would not be listed among his largest contributors. As such, we are contacting you now to request your support.
The undersigned groups would like your company to publicly oppose Governor Walker’s efforts to virtually eliminate collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin. While we appreciate that you may need some time to consider this request, we ask for your response by March 17. In the event that you do not respond to this request by that date, we will assume that you stand with Governor Walker and against the teachers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters, and other dedicated public employees who serve our communities.

In the event that you cannot support this effort to save collective bargaining, please be advised that the undersigned will publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company. However, if you join us, we will do everything in our power to publicly celebrate your partnership in the fight to preserve the right of public employees to be heard at the bargaining table. Wisconsin’s public employee unions serve to protect and promote equality and fairness in the workplace. We hope you will stand with us and publicly share that
ideal.

In the event you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact the executive Director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, Jim Palmer, at 608.273.3840 .

Thank you in advance for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

James L. Palmer, Executive Director
Wisconsin Professional Police Association
Mahlon Mitchell,President
Professional Professional Fire Fighters
Jim Conway, President
International Association of Fire Fighters Local 311
John Matthews, Execuctive Director
Madison Teachers, Inc.
Keith Patt, Executive Director
Green Bay Education Association
Bob Richardson, President
Dane County Deputy Sheriffs Association
Dan Frei, Prersident
Madison Professional Police Officers Association
 
Quote from Trader666:

And Obama will be the only one with fewer jobs at the end of his term than at the beginning.
More...
You mean because half a million jobs a month were being lost as and when Bush finished partying with the country?

In other news, large cruise ships and oil tankers can now stop and turn on a dime after going at maximum speed in the wrong direction.
 
How about GDP?

Here are the worst five years for the economy since 1948:

2009, -2.6%, Barack Obama
1982, -1.9%, Ronald Reagan
1958, -0.9%, Dwight Eisenhower
1974, -0.6%, Richard Nixon / Gerald Ford
1954, -0.6%, Dwight Eisenhower

Doesn't it take jobs to move the economy? How about the Labor Force Participation Rate?

AK- can you post that graph for us?
 
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