Wednesday, August 10, 2016

George Will on how the Democrats destroyed Illinois

Abandoned home in Dixmoor, IL
George Will is wrong on Donald Trump but he is spot-on about his home state.

Oh, public-sector unions are nothing more than an arm of the Democratic Party.

From the Washington Post:
Seated in his office here, wearing neither a necktie nor a frown, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is remarkably relaxed for someone at the epicenter of a crisis now in its second year and with no end in sight. But, then, stress is pointless when the situation is hopeless. Besides, if you can ignore the fact that self-government is failing in the nation's fifth-most populous state, you can see real artistry in the self-dealing by the Democrats who, with veto-proof majorities in the state legislature, have reduced this state they control to insolvency.

Illinois's government, says Rauner, "is run for the benefit of its employees." Increasingly, it is run for their benefit when they retire. Pension promises, though unfunded by at least $113 billion, are one reason some government departments are not digitized at all.

What is misleadingly called the state’s constitution requires balanced budgets, of which there have been none for 25 years. This year, revenues are projected to be $32.5 billion, with spending of $38 billion. Illinois Democrats are, however, selective constitutionalists: They will die in the last ditch defending the constitution’s provision that says no government pension can be “diminished or impaired.”

The government is so thoroughly unionized (22 unions represent almost all government employees), that "I can't," Rauner says, "turn on a light switch without permission." He exaggerates, somewhat, but the process of trying to fire someone is a career, not an option.
Illinois, not surprisingly, is one of the few states losing population.


2 comments:

Trialdog said...

Had you not begun the post noting Will is dead wrong on Trump, I wouldn't have read it. Will abandoned us. I really don't need waste my time with him.
But I read the article. The first thing I noticed wrong was the headline Will chose. That Illinois represents "our" fiscal foolishness. No George, not "our" fiscal foolishness. The democratic party's fiscal foolishness. Yes, some republicans beholden to rent seeking donors are responsible too. But the democratic party owns it.
Perhaps it's Will's inability to discern that simple truth that clouds his judgment on Trump. I'll never know and can't waste time trying to figure it out. Will knows Clinton's policies will finish crushing the middle class and make it impossible for our children to live better lives than we did. He cares not about us. He cares about his "principled" image. He's no conservative. Conservative intellectuals believe in freedoms that help the common man and will do whatever they can to help their fellow citizen. Conservatives don't claim to be elitists, or act like elitists. Conservatives don't abandon their fellow citizens for personal reasons. Conservatives are heroes who don't run because some "progressive" claims to be offended by something your teammate said.

Anonymous said...

Yep, obongo did it, and ram continued it