becky sarwate

“Illinois has no budget. Our state has entered year three of Rauner’s fiscal chicken game with taxpayer funds. Allegedly, the tough love stance supports a “business-friendly” agenda that just happens to include a list of modern Republican Party favorites: deregulation, eviscerating worker protections and tax cuts. Yet the stubborn approach is a demonstrable failure that’s driven away corporations and residents alike. A January report from Chicago Business Journal woefully observes, “[In 2016] Illinois ranked third among all states in terms of the most outbound moves. Yes, that would be moves out of the state.”

More tellingly, “60 percent of moves in Illinois were among people headed out of a state wracked by billions in unpaid bills, no approved state budget, a sluggish employment environment and, in the case of Chicago, soaring crime rates.”

But what about those most valued people of all? You know, the corporations? I’ll let this Huffington Post headline do the talking: Is Governor Rauner Deliberately Trying to Turn Illinois Into a Third World Economy?”

Read the full post at Contemptor.