QUOTE OF THE DAY
Illinois Homepage: Illinois among worst for business
“Business friendly” may not describe the Land of Lincoln after it ranks second from last in a new study. The Chicago-based research group, American Economic Development Institute, ranked Illinois the 49th worst state for business just ahead of California.
The report looked at education levels, taxes and regulations, and government incentives for businesses. Illinois failed for its high tax rates and stringent regulations on business. The uncertainty facing the state’s budget and pension problems helped contribute to its failing grade for long-term financial planning.
Prescott Paulin helps his father run 300 Below, a small family business in Decatur. He said he’s not surprised by the low ranking.
The Federalist: Why The Nationwide Pension Crisis Is An Opportunity To Reinvigorate Society
Much has been written in recent years about the looming crisis of underfunded public employee pensions, estimated by the Pew Foundation to total $1.38 trillion. Not a day goes by without some headline about a major city having to scrimp on essential services just to pay retirement funds, much of which to people who are no longer working.
In fact, American taxpayers and their elected representative have far more leverage on this issue than they realize. Instead of wringing their hands about how to stop the pension problems of Detroit from coming to their own communities, they should aggressively use the desire of government workers to preserve retirement promises to engineer long-delayed reforms, especially with regard to public education.
NY Times: For Many New Medicaid Enrollees, Care Is Hard to Find, Report Says
Enrollment in Medicaid is surging as a result of the Affordable Care Act, but the Obama administration and state officials have done little to ensure that new beneficiaries have access to doctors after they get their Medicaid cards, federal investigators say in a new report.
The report, to be issued this week by the inspector general at theDepartment of Health and Human Services, says state standards for access to care vary widely and are rarely enforced. As a result, it says, Medicaid patients often find that they must wait for months or travel long distances to see a doctor.
The inspector general, Daniel R. Levinson, said federal and state officials must do more to protect beneficiaries’ access to care, in view of the program’s rapid growth. Just since October, the administration says, eight million people with low incomes have enrolled. By 2016, the Congressional Budget Office estimates, one in four Americans will be on Medicaid at some time during the year.
My Suburban Life: District 86 could lose $1.76 million in annual state funding
A state senate bill that would overhaul the way Illinois funds education by distributing money to school districts based on financial need would cost Hinsdale Township High School District 86 nearly $1.8 million annually, according to the district.
If Senate Bill 16 is passed by the Illinois House of Representatives this fall, the district would lose $1.76 million in state funding, district officials said at Monday’s board of education meeting. The bill was passed May 27 by the state Senate.
District 86 receives state funds based on local wealth and on the characteristics of its student population. Since district 86 is considered “property wealthy,” the portion of received state funds is based on local wealth is relatively low, coming in at $218 a student and totaling about $980,000 in yearly state revenue, District 86 Superintendent Bruce Law said.
WirePoints: Worst Illinois pension commentary of the week – from Sen. Cullerton’s lawyer
What a sensible headline: With Illinois pensions, what’s past is prologue. Instead of dwelling on the past we have to accept it and move on to solving the problem, right?
Yet Eric Madlar, Senate President John Cullerton’s chief counsel, goes on to write about just one thing — the history of underfunding. His big discovery is that underfunding goes all the way back to 1917. Not one word about how to solve the problem except for the last line, which is that we should accept history and recognize the obligations imposed by the constitutional pension protection clause. In other words, just pay the damn pensions (including his own.)
Of course we’ve been underfunding pensions. If we hadn’t been they’d be fully funded and we’d have no crisis. We should have tried, all should agree. That way we would have seen long ago that they are unaffordable and we would have addressed them sooner.
Daily Herald: The next step for regulating Uber
How do you deregulate a transportation service like taxis? The popularity of competitors such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar has stirred calls to loosen regulations and allow innovative business models. That’s good. The question now is what role the government should play.
The best approach for these app-based services is transparency.
Traditional taxis are heavily regulated. Governments control fares, paint schemes and the number of vehicles. When you can hail a vehicle with an app, many of these rules become unnecessary. Yet existing laws didn’t anticipate these services, meaning they often are technically illegal. (Jeff Bezos, who owns The Post, is an investor in Uber.)
CARTOON OF THE DAY
