Paul Kersey Director of Labor Reform A state with $9 billion in unpaid bills and at least $96 billion in unfunded pension obligations cannot afford to overpay for anything, even wages for child protection workers. So while some lawmakers may want to grant the Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS, with a supplemental...
Billboard on I-55 urges state lawmakers on their drive to Springfield: "Read my lipstick: No new taxes"
Illinois' five public pension systems are broke. The systems are expected to pay out more than $600 billion between now and 2045, but have just $62 billion in the bank.
After four years in office, you have yet to provide a detailed proposal for how to reform the pension system. Oh, sure, there have been press releases and bullet-point presentations but nothing detailed enough to present to the Legislature as your solutio
It is a fairly standard piece of Alinskyite strategy: make the argument about personalities rather than principles or results. Find an enemy and make the whole fight about him or her or it. As progressive icon and “Rules for Radicals” author Saul Alinsky himself put it, “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize...
Despite higher taxes, union strikes and apocalyptic predictions, we
It is a fairly standard piece of Alinskyite strategy: make the argument about personalities rather than principles or results. Find an enemy and make the whole fight about him or her or it.
Dixon: Years in the making, city woes won’t end in months Taxpayers in the city of Dixon fell victim to former Comptroller Rita Crundwell’s theft of $53 million since 1990. But until last year no one noticed the money was missing. With Crundwell pleading guilty to the federal embezzlement charges, the city of Dixon stands...
Wouldn’t it be nice to earn 7 to 8 percent interest on money you don’t have in the bank? That’s exactly what caretakers of the state’s public pension systems assume. Illinois’ five pension systems are expected to pay out more than $600 billion between now and 2045. In order to pay for these benefits, the...
Imagine an Illinois economy so vibrant that companies felt they had to be in Illinois to reach their fullest potential. Imagine a tax environment so competitive that companies across the country battled to get a piece of Illinois real estate. Keep imagining, because this certainly isn’t a reality. The fact is, Illinois ranks 48th in economic...
Wouldn't it be nice to earn 7 to 8 percent interest on money you don't have in the bank?
Imagine an Illinois economy so vibrant that companies felt they had to be in Illinois to reach their fullest potential.
Another one of the state’s five pension systems has posted negative investment returns for 2012, highlighting yet again the problems caused by Illinois’ politician-controlled defined-benefit plans using taxpayers as a backstop. For the third time in the last five years, the Judges’ Retirement System, or JRS, has posted a negative investment return. Although the pension...