Just a couple of weeks ago the AFL-CIO passed a sharp criticism of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, in a written document at its national convention in Los Angeles. This document was the last of a string of union complaints about the national health insurance law and the way that the...
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is in damage control mode in the wake of the glitches and failures of ObamaCare’s grand unveiling. Her op-ed in USA Today calls the government’s ObamaCare website “simple, user-friendly.” She also appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But her next appearance might be in...
The Local Transparency Project is an encouraging example of a successful grassroots effort and a great resource for citizen activists looking to organize and mobilize.– Sunlight Foundation For democracy to work citizens need access to the information about what government does. Proactive online transparency is the best way to give citizens the opportunity to be educated...
A new Tax Foundation report reveals one of the reasons why Illinoisans are finding it so hard to get jobs – it’s getting more and more expensive for businesses to operate in Illinois. The Tax Foundation released today its 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index, confirming the state’s worsening position. Illinois has dropped 15 spots to...
Illinois legislators and local officials could learn a thing or two from California cities that have buckled under the weight of too much debt. The first is if they don’t implement reforms early enough, bankruptcy for the city of Chicago and other municipalities may be unavoidable. In California, both Stockton and San Bernardino were forced...
With 42,336 elected officials as of 1992, Illinois has nearly 12,000 more state and local elected politicians than any other state. Amazingly, with this unprecedented wealth of legislators Illinois hasn’t been able to adequately address some of its most dire problems. Illinois still ranks near the bottom of the nation in numerous key economic indicators,...
The ObamaCare exchanges have been riddled with glitches. I spent three hours last week trying to look at what’s available and couldn’t even create an account. It was not the “fast, completely scalable and secure” experience I was promised by the chief technology officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The administration has claimed these problems are related...
Illinois is one of several states that have chosen to allow the “unionization” of people who provide care for children or disabled persons and receive assistance from state programs. But one woman has stood up against this forced unionization. Pamela Harris is a mother from Western Springs, Ill., who has been forced to fend off...
Federal officials are trumpeting the high “demand” that ObamaCare’s health insurance exchanges are experiencing, but their celebration is misguided. What’s the point of the ObamaCare health insurance exchanges if the end result is to dump the majority of Americans covered under ObamaCare into Medicaid? The truth is that more than three-quarters of the newly insured next year...
Progressive lawmakers in Illinois continually argue that the state has a revenue problem. They argue that, with a little more cash in the coffers, Illinois could solve its countless fiscal woes. This talking point is part of a larger sales pitch used to advocate for higher taxes in Illinois. But it’s not true. In fact,...
Does President Barack Obama think House Republicans should form a union? If not, it’s hard to make much sense out of his latest speech at a business in Rockville, Md., in which he equated House Republicans’ decision not to support a budget that would fund ObamaCare to disgruntled workers going on strike: If you are...
State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, penned a press release attempting to mask her agenda for higher taxes in Illinois and sell her progressive tax plan as something it isn’t. When it comes to her peers and opponents, Jakobsson suggests that arguments about a progressive income tax for Illinois need come with coherent policy arguments combined with facts....
After months of requests, the public finally has a bit more information about what health insurance is going to cost under ObamaCare. And it is easy to see why federal and state officials dragged their feet in disclosing this information. For weeks, officials have been bandying a premium rate of $125 per month for a...
A system where parents control the flow and distribution of money empowers families to hold schools accountable.