We need to reach more people with this kind of excellent material. Many people are getting paid to produce content, but not enough people are being paid to distribute it. Here are just a few recent posts from the Illinois Policy Institute:
MADIGAN’S UNBALANCED BUDGET OVERSPENDS BY $7 BILLION — llinois Comptroller Leslie Munger said Speaker Madigan’s budget proposal would increase the state’s unpaid bills to $15 billion and cause eight to nine month payment delays for vendors.
MADIGAN SPENDING PLAN SHOWS NEED FOR REAL BALANCED-BUDGET RULES — Illinois’ budgeting process is not fair to the people of Illinois. Imagine spending more than you make. Imagine spending more than you make for an entire year. Imagine spending more than you make for 15 years in a row. What would happen? Well, just look at the state of the state. Illinois lawmakers have failed to pass a single balanced budget since 2001. Panic reigns at the Statehouse as the Land of Lincoln drowns in debt, unable to pay its bills. Residents remain overtaxed and underserved.
MADIGAN’S RULES: HOW ONE MAN CONTROLS ILLINOIS — Illinoisans may elect who goes to the House of Representatives, but they don’t choose their representation – at least not in any meaningful sense. The power belongs to Madigan. And he represents himself.
PENSION DEBT FOR CHICAGO CITY-WORKER PENSIONS DOUBLES TO MORE THAN $21 BILLION — Thanks to new government reporting standards, Chicago’s municipal-workers and laborers pension funds’ debt doubled in 2015 to more than $21 billion. That’s $20,500 of pension debt per Chicago household.
ILLINOIS HAS HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN NATION — A new report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security shows Illinois gained 5,400 jobs in April, but the state’s unemployment rate ticked up to 6.6 percent, tied for highest in the U.S.
5 FACTS SHOW IMRF IS JUST AS UNSUSTAINABLE AS EVERY OTHER ILLINOIS PENSION FUND — The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s relative health compared with other government-worker pension funds is only due to its ability to force localities to fund it at the expense of other pension funds and vital local services.
Image credit: Illinois Policy Institute.
