Capital City CrossFit is breaking the status quo
Capital City CrossFit is breaking the status quo
The story of two entrepreneurs who are disrupting the status quo in Illinois and nurturing a stronger business environment.
Illinois: nation’s 2nd-highest unemployment rate for sixth straight month
Illinois: nation’s 2nd-highest unemployment rate for sixth straight month
ix months ago, Illinois overtook California to become the state with the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, behind only Nevada. It hasn’t budged since. Today’s release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics details yet another month of stalled unemployment numbers for Illinois. The state’s August unemployment rate remained at 9.2 percent – 1.9 percentage...
More than 141,000 Medicaid enrollees in Illinois found ineligible for the program
More than 141,000 Medicaid enrollees in Illinois found ineligible for the program
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an Auditor General report noted, state workers failed to...
Taxpayers subsidizing health insurance costs for Congress
Taxpayers subsidizing health insurance costs for Congress
Only 7 percent of those who support the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare, believe it is OK that members of Congress and their staffs are exempt from one of the most burdensome ObamaCare rules. At issue is a fundamental question of fairness. Under ObamaCare, individuals purchasing insurance on the new ObamaCare health care exchanges...
Illinois August unemployment rate remains stalled at 9.2%
Illinois August unemployment rate remains stalled at 9.2%
Tomorrow, Illinois is likely to celebrate its six-month anniversary of having the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation. That’s when the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, releases its Regional and State Employment and Unemployment report for August. In the meantime, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, pre-released some of the BLS data...
Chicago gives Whole Foods $10M tax incentive
Chicago gives Whole Foods $10M tax incentive
In a free enterprise system, businesses grow organically by providing customers with products of value, and in return customers reward those businesses with their hard-earned money. Unfortunately, in Illinois the free enterprise system has been corrupted by bad government policies. Because of Illinois’ high taxes, regulations and anti-free-market policies, many businesses now resort to playing...
Illinois and Chicago riddled with bad economic policy
Illinois and Chicago riddled with bad economic policy
Illinois and Chicago are riddled with many regulations, laws and licensing requirements that are unnecessary and anti-growth in nature. Politicians often claim to pass these laws in pursuit of a favorable business climate; but the result is often the opposite. Illinois’ economy is struggling. The state has the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 9.2...
ObamaCare aims to turn doctors into government agents
ObamaCare aims to turn doctors into government agents
Under ObamaCare, your social history — alcohol use, drug use and sexual history — will be included in your electronic medical record. In a recent column, Ph.D. historian and former Lt. Governor of New York Betsy McCaughey reveals that “The president’s ‘reforms’ aim to turn doctors into government agents, pressuring them financially to ask questions they...
Philadelphia and Chicago public schools’ experiencing similar fates
Philadelphia and Chicago public schools’ experiencing similar fates
The Philadelphia and Chicago school systems are both in trouble. Decades of mismanagement have left both districts in financial free-fall. Philadelphia has a $304 million deficit. It has already taken some steps to address it – closing 24 schools this summer and laying off more than 4,000 employees, including almost 700 teachers. District leaders tried...
The hidden bill: Chicago taxpayers and the looming crisis
The hidden bill: Chicago taxpayers and the looming crisis
The city of Chicago has long been regarded as an economic engine of the Midwest. It is home to some of the country’s largest industries and more than 30 of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies. Chicago is accessible by road, rail and water, and is located in a state that boasts an abundance of natural...
Chicago only major U.S. city without term limits; Illinois one of 11 states without term limits
Chicago only major U.S. city without term limits; Illinois one of 11 states without term limits
Term limits are a foreign concept to most Illinoisans. There are no term limit provisions governing our state legislature or constitutional officers. At least 39 other states have some form of term limits that apply to either state legislators or constitutional officers. Only a few municipalities in Illinois, such as Downers Grove, have any formal term-limits policy. But...
Illinois state government wastes hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars
Illinois state government wastes hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars
Illinois spending is packed with waste. Nearly 200 examples of wasteful government spending in Illinois, totaling more than $354 million, is detailed in the “The 2012 Illinois Piglet Book,” a report compiled by the Illinois Policy Institute in a partnership with Washington, D.C.-based Citizens Against Government Waste. Each item highlights the decisions of politicians who...
Illinois and Chicago’s pattern of cronyism and corporate handouts
Illinois and Chicago’s pattern of cronyism and corporate handouts
Instead of creating a business-friendly environment by keeping taxes and regulations low, Illinois state government and the city of Chicago have a laundry list of special tools they claim promote economic development. These tools include: tax increment financing, or TIF, districts; economic grants; and a series of loopholes in the tax code. When government gives...
National gas prices average $3 or more for 1,000th straight day
National gas prices average $3 or more for 1,000th straight day
Today marks the 1,000th day in a row the national average price for a gallon of gas was $3 or more. And AAA forecasts the national average will remain above $3 per gallon for at least another thousand days barring a major economic recession. “Paying less than $3 per gallon for gasoline may be automotive history for...