by Richard Lorenc, Guest Blogger We’ve been hearing lots about how giving money to unemployed folks creates jobs (or not) over the past few days. But how much, exactly, do these benefits cost? While we won’t have figures from 2010 for a while longer, the Labor Department says American taxpayers spent $76.8 billion in unemployment...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson According to a Bloomberg News article, Thomas Wilson, CEO of Illinois-based Allstate Corporation, recently “called for political leaders to cut costs.” Wilson is quoted as saying “Government borrowing is way out of control. We need to get our house in order.” Bloomberg reports: The middle class is “going to bear the brunt of the...
by Kate Piercy From today’s Chicago Tribune Editorial page: “Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises — some of more than 20 percent — to his staff while proclaiming a message of ‘shared sacrifice’ and planning spending cuts of $1.4 billion because the state is awash in debt.” —The Associated Press, July 6, 2010. “Illinois ended...
by Kate Piercy The Mercatus Institute’s Veronique de Rugy used “data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to compare recent changes in government expenditures to those in private domestic investment.” What did she find? Government consumption and investment have generally grown more quickly than private expenditures and investment during the last decade. In the last...
by Ashley Muchow Considering the current financial woes affecting Illinois’s economy, coming to you with more bleak news isn’t fun. Onward. Congress has before it the Financial Reform Bill; a reform bill intended to overhaul the financial system as we know it. But before you begin thanking Washington for coming to the rescue; for protecting...
by Kristina Rasmussen $4.712 billion. That the size of Illinois’s unpaid bill backlog at the end of June, according to a new report from the comptroller’s office. It’s up from “just” $2.785 billion at the end of last year. Payment delays are also up: “the delay in paying vouchers was 153 working days this June compared to...
Recently, a number of Illinois state government employees received pay raises in the midst of an economic recession and ongoing budget crisis. Was this an isolated incident? No, it’s a trend. The chart above was constructed using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and it shows the compensation of public and private employees indexed against the first...
The State of Illinois gave a $15,000 grant (#06-203940) in fiscal year 2006 to the Chicago Park District “for the installation of two stall type batting cages at Jackie Robinson Park located at 1054 South Morgan Street in Chicago.” According to the DCEO’s grant tracker website, the grant was part of the Grant Management Program “for specific purposes to...
The Problem Illinois faces $6 billion in unpaid bills with an unemployment rate over 11 percent—the highest in 27 years. The state pension system is underfunded by $80 billion, and the state’s bond rating ranks second lowest in the country. In response, Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed fiscal year 2011 budget would raise income taxes by...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson The Chicago Sun-Times reports that a dozen Cook County contracts are being investigated by the county’s ethics board and inspector general. Two of the contracts went to businesses that are not registered with the county or state, “a requirement of businesses doing contract work for Cook County”. The article states: Contracts obtained by the Sun-Times...
by Will Compernolle The State of Illinois hired 5 inhalation therapists in fiscal year 2008 for a total of $170,935.86 in combined total wages for an average salary of $34,187. The highest salary for an inhalation therapist was $43,824. According to the Illinois Central Management Services website, inhalation therapists, “Under general supervision, administer specialized inhalation, therapeutic...
by Kristina Rasmussen Governor Quinn claims to make $1.4 billion in spending reductions for fiscal year 2011 compared to fiscal year 2010. Why is Governor Quinn comparing his proposed spending reductions to last year’s spending levels instead of his proposed budget for fiscal year 2011? It makes his cuts look bigger. Think about it. Last year’s spending was artificially...
by Collin Hitt In the wake of a recent study showing strong results for a Washington D.C. voucher program, the Trib is again urging Illinois lawmakers to support a school voucher bill that would provide students in Chicago’s worst and most overcrowded elementary schools with the choice of attending a city private school instead: No, we haven’t...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Yesterday, Quinn unveiled and signed the Illinois state budget for fiscal year 2011 in which he claims to cut $1.4 billion when compared to the FY2010 budget. He outlined only $509 million in specific appropriation cuts, with the remaining $891 million categorized under vague “emergency budget act reserves.” But let’s focus on this year’s...