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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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 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...
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 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...
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...
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...
Illinois’ current unfunded state government pension liabilities total approximately $200 billion under Moody’s Investors Service’s new methodology. The Illinois Policy Institute estimates that the state’s pension funding ratio is currently less than 25 percent, meaning the state has the worst-funded pension system in the nation. Buried within this massive financial obligation are thousands of current...
Myth: The temporary 2011 tax increase was necessary to pay down Illinois’ backlog of bills, stabilize the state’s pension crisis and strengthen its economy. Fact: Since the tax increase was passed, Illinois’ unpaid bills and pension debt have grown, and the state’s economy is among the worst in the nation. Illinois lawmakers in January 2011...
Before ObamaCare became law, many labor unions – including the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA – supported it. But over the last several months, labor unions have become more and more alarmed over the actual effects of the law. Now Terry Sullivan, General President of LiUNA, has gone further than any other union leader...