QUOTE OF THE DAY
Chicago Tribune: Deerfield drugmaker defies Democrats’ anti-inversion effort
Horizon Pharma Inc., a Deerfield-based specialty drugmaker, shifted its corporate address to Ireland Friday, defying a threat by Democratic lawmakers to unwind such maneuvers retroactively.
Now known as Horizon Pharma, it’s the first company to complete an address change, known as an inversion, that risks being overturned if legislation submitted by congressional Democrats this year becomes law. Under that proposal, intended to halt a wave of such deals, companies that carry out certain types of inversions after May 8 would remain U.S. corporations for tax purposes.
“The probability of legislation being enacted to affect inversions is pretty close to zero, because you’ve got a divided Congress,” Robert F. Carey, Horizon’s chief business officer, said Thursday in an interview. “The legislation that’s being proposed right now is simply campaigning for the midterm elections.”
Chicago Tribune: Survey: Chicago area a good place for young professionals, innovation
Chicago a good home for innovation and entrepreneurship? A new survey from Charles Schwab indicates locals are enthusiastic about starting businesses and innovating here, but it also highlights concerns about the effect of crime and government inefficiencies.
The company’s “View From Chicago” survey, released Tuesday, asked 1,000 Chicago-area residents age 21 to 75 to evaluate the Chicago area as it relates to life, personal finances and the economy. Schwab said Koski Research, an independent firm, conducted the survey online July 7-16.
Sixty-five percent of respondents gave the Chicago area an A or B grade for young professionals. Some 55 percent said it deserved an A or B for innovation, and 49 percent awarded it an A or B for entrepreneurs. Sixty-four percent of Millennials and 49 percent of Baby Boomers called it “a place for innovation,” while 63 percent of Millennials and 41 percent of Baby Boomers called it “a place that is business friendly for large companies located here.”
Illinois Issues: Income stagnant in Illinois
The state’s median income has not increased since 2008, according to numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The median household income for Illinois in 2013 was $56, 210—the same as it was in 2008, the year that the U.S. financial collapse began. Illinois’ median household income is slightly higher than the national of almost $52,000, which has stayed relatively flat over the same time period. Stateline, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts, crunched the state numbers into this handy map for state comparisons. Meanwhile, the average income for the state’s top 5 percent of earners is $363,159. That number has increased by 6.4 percent since 2008.
According to Pew’s analysis, most of Illinois’ neighboring states saw an increase in median income. The exceptions were Indiana, which had a .9 percent decrease, Wisconsin, which had a 1.2 percent decrease and Michigan, which had a .7 percent decrease. However, the average household income for the top five percent of earners went up in all three states. Out of Illinois’ neighbors, Iowa saw the largest increase for overall income at 6.6 percent. The state also saw a 16 percent jump for the top 5 percent of earners.
Daily Herald: Grayslake fire district cites declining revenue in seeking tax hike
Six years ago, voters approved a tax increase for the Grayslake Fire Protection District to build a new station, add to the staff and buy additional equipment.
But after fire officials froze the approved increased tax rate, they were caught short as home values fell and revenue didn’t meet projections.
The combination has come to a head, they say, and voters again will be asked to bump the tax rate to provide funding.
Chicago Tribune: Former Harvey schools chief gets probation for misconduct, theft of $78,000
A former Harvey elementary school superintendent accused of stealing from the impoverished south suburban school district while he was at the helm pleaded guilty to official misconduct charges today and was sentenced to probation, court records show.
Prosecutors had accused Alex Boyd, now 67, of stealing nearly $500,000 by padding his vacation and sick time, making unauthorized credit card purchases and withdrawals from a school district-funded life insurance policy and receiving unauthorized cash to purchase a tax-exempt annuity.
Boyd ended up pleading guilty to two counts of official misconduct in connection with the theft of a combined $78,000. Judge Thaddeus Wilson sentenced him to two years of probation.
Health Policy and Market: The “7.3 Million”
The administration finally released the Obamacare enrollment count this week.
Like everything else about their scorekeeping we got a number. Just one number. A number that was conveniently better than we had expected. And, we got no real context for the number or any of the back-up information.
Investors: The Next (Nasty) Economic Surprise?
We live in the shadow of “secular stagnation,” to use a phrase now fashionable among economists. Even assuming a full recovery from the Great Recession, it’s widely expected that the economy will grow more slowly.
In part, this reflects baby boomers’ retirement, which reduces expansion of the labor force. Pre-recession growth was also artificially boosted by cheap credit. Forecasts have been cut, but they haven’t been cut enough, says economist Robert Gordon.
If he’s right, this could be our next nasty economic surprise.
Daily Herald: Illinois awards $25.8 million in health outreach grants
Most of the same Illinois organizations that helped consumers sign up for insurance in the first year of President Barack Obama’s expanded health coverage will receive additional funding for a second year, state officials announced Friday.
The Illinois Department of Public Health released a list of 37 community groups that will share a total of $25.8 million in federal funding to be used to employ outreach counselors, sometimes called navigators.
“This is a strong team of organizations that will be aggressively reaching out to the uninsured in every corner of the state and making sure they know what they need to do to get covered,” Department of Public Health Director LaMar Hasbrouck said in a statement.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
