Midwestern United States

Taxpayers on the hook for risky investments in state pension systems

08/15/2014
Politicians have made a mess of Illinois’ finances, in large part through their mismanagement of state and local pension systems. With most of the state’s pension funds heading toward insolvency, it’s no surprise that politicians’ actions – from using government-worker retirements as slush funds, to trading retirement benefits in exchange for union support, to taking...

Illinois paychecks shrink

By Michael Lucci
08/11/2014
Illinoisans enjoyed a larger paycheck than their Iowa counterparts for 30 years – until 2012. For the first time ever, the median household in Iowa surpassed its Illinois counterpart, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. If you lined up all households in order of income, the median household would be the one in the very...

Waukegan, beleaguered, needs school choice for a comeback

08/01/2014
Chicago’s North Shore is synonymous with million-dollar homes and top-notch schools. For decades, families have left Chicago to raise their families and educate their children in the North Shore suburbs. But tucked away within those wealthy villages is a city with schools on the other end of the spectrum. Waukegan, with a population of more...

Illinois’ disappearing workforce

By Michael Lucci
07/28/2014
Since the Great Recession began, Illinois’ workforce participation has dropped more than that of any other state in the Midwest. That means that working-age Illinoisans have given up and left the workforce more rapidly than in surrounding states. A full 3.9 percent of Illinois’ adult population has quit the workforce since January 2008. The state’s...

Illinois workforce shrinks by largest margin in state history

By Michael Lucci
07/20/2014
In June, Illinois suffered the largest monthly workforce loss in recorded state history. June’s workforce loss was worse than the worst month of the Great Recession. Overall, 21,700 Illinoisans gave up and left the workforce in June; in September 2008, 17,500 Illinoisans quit the workforce. (Bureau of Labor Statistics data go back to 1976.) This...

Analysis of GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner’s ‘Bring Back Blueprint’

By Michael Lucci, Benjamin VanMetre
07/18/2014
Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner released yesterday another portion of his “Bring Back Blueprint,” acknowledging Illinois’ jobs crisis and identifying many of the pain points that make Illinois the lowest performing state in the Midwest, economically. The Illinois Policy Institute has reviewed Rauner’s proposal, and while the plan is not perfect, it addresses many...

Piling it on: Fitch downgrades Cook County

07/14/2014
Cook County residents got more bad news last week when Fitch Ratings, the global rating agency, downgraded Cook County’s debt to A+ from AA-. The rating agency cited skyrocketing pension costs as one of the key reasons for the credit downgrade. The most direct impact of the downgrade is higher borrowing costs for Cook County. Infrastructure and...

Illinois’ jobs report card

By Michael Lucci
06/30/2014
It’s report-card season in Illinois, as the journey and efforts that began last August have come to fruition for students across the state. State governments can be graded too, in particular on the subject of jobs. How Illinois fares on job creation is critically important for local high school and college seniors, who have just...

A tale of two governors: Wisconsin vs. Illinois

By Michael Lucci
06/16/2014
In January 2011, the governors of Wisconsin and Illinois took office for their first elected terms. They set their states on two very different paths: one that led to recovery, and one that led to further decline. Gov. Pat Quinn saw a hole in pension funding, so he raised income taxes on all Illinoisans by...
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FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016