Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

Imagine that. The NY Times backs the suicide pact common sense people know as the Illinois tax hikes..........

For years, Illinois, like so many states, pretended that it had not fallen off a budgetary cliff. It was spending too much and taking in too little revenue, but every year it would kick its problems into the next. Unable to pay its bills, it finally accepted reality last week and raised taxes on incomes and businesses — a first step toward getting its house in order.

The action was immediately ridiculed by several governors around the nation who are still pretending that they can cut their way out of the enormous shortfalls they face, without raising taxes. Wisconsin and Indiana predicted a windfall of angry corporations and residents would head their way from Illinois. Even Gov. Chris Christie, the New Jersey Republican, vowed to fly to Illinois to invite businesses there to defect to his state.

That makes great political theater. But businesses and voters in Illinois, and around the country, should take a closer look at the facts and figures, including their own.

After 22 years of not raising income taxes, Illinois saw its budget shortfall grow to $15 billion. It had the lowest state credit rating in the nation, and it wasn’t paying its bills to hospitals and schools.

Notice that they conveniently forgot to mention sales tax of which Illinois has one of the highest in the nation.

In addition, if you have stable tax rates, the inflationary increases in tax receipts should cover inflationary increases in state services. When this is the case, you should never have to increase taxes of any kind.

Let me ask Mr/Ms Progressive. Illinois has been a state for nearly 200 years. I'm just wondering if all of these state agencies have been in existence for the life of the state.......

• Aging, Department on
• Agriculture, Department of
• Appellate Defender, Office of
• Appellate Prosecutor, Office of
• Arts Council
• Attorney General, Office of the
• Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois
• Auditor General
• Capital Development Board
• Central Management Services, Department of
• Children and Family Services, Department of
• Civil Service Commission, Illinois
• Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Department of
• Commerce Commission, Illinois
• Community College Board, Illinois
• Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, State of Illinois
• Comptroller, Office of the
• Corrections, Department of
• Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission, Illinois
• Developmental Disabilities, Illinois Council on
• Discrimination and Hate Crimes, Commission on
• Economic Recovery Commission
• Education, Board of
• Educational Labor Relations Board, Illinois
• Elections, Board of
• Emergency Management Agency
• Employment Security, Department of
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Fair, Illinois State
• Finance Authority, Illinois
• Financial and Professional Regulation, Department of
• Gaming Board, Illinois
• Governor, Office of the
• Guardianship and Advocacy Commission
• Healthcare and Family Services - Formerly known as Public Aid, Dept. of
• Higher Education, Board of
• Historic Preservation Agency
• Housing Development Authority
• Human Rights Commission
• Human Rights, Department of
• Human Services, Department of
• Illinois General Assembly
• Illinois House Democrats
• Illinois House Republicans
• Illinois Senate Democrats
• Illinois Senate Republicans
• Insurance Department of
• Investment, Illinois State Board of
• Judicial Inquiry Board
• Juvenile Justice, Department of
• Labor Relations Board
• Labor, Department of
• Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, Illinois
• Liquor Control Commission
• Lottery, Illinois
• Lt. Governor, Office of the
• Management and Budget, Office of
• Medical District Commission
• Military Affairs, Department of
• Natural Resources, Department of
• Pollution Control Board
• Power Agency, Illinois
• Prisoner Review Board, Illinois
• Property Tax Appeal Board
• Public Health, Department of
• Racing Board, Illinois
• Revenue, Department of
• Secretary of State, Office of the
• State Fire Marshal
• State Police Merit Board
• State Police, Illinois
• State Retirement Systems
• State Treasurer, Office of the
• State Universities Civil Service System
• State Universities Retirement System
• Student Assistance Commission, Illinois
• Supreme Court, Illinois
• Teachers’ Retirement System
• Toll Highway Authority, Illinois State
• Transportation, Department of
• Veterans Affairs, Department of
• Volunteerism & Community Service, Governor’s Commission on
• Workers' Compensation Commission, Illinois

I'm thinking that Illinois got along just fine without all these agencies. Did they have a Human Services Department during the days of Lincoln? In addition, are you telling me that you can't merge the lottery commission and gaming board among others under one agency?

More....

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

From the state of Illinois, where it's easier to find gold than a conservative in state government..............

Though too few noticed, this month Moody's downgraded Illinois state debt to A2 from A1, the lowest among the 50 states. That's worse even than California. The state's cost of borrowing for $800 million of new 10-year general obligation bonds rose to 3.1%-which is 110 basis points higher than the 2% on top-rated 10-year bonds of more financially secure states.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Only a year ago, Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats raised individual income taxes by 67% and the corporate tax rate by 46%. They did it to raise $7 billion in revenue, as the Governor put it, to "get Illinois back on fiscal sound footing" and improve the state's credit rating.

So much for that. In its downgrade statement, Moody's panned Illinois lawmakers for "a legislative session in which the state took no steps to implement lasting solutions to its severe pension underfunding or to its chronic bill payment delays." An analysis by Bloomberg finds that the assets in the pension fund will only cover "45% of projected liabilities, the least of any state." And-no surprise-in part because the tax increases have caused companies to leave Illinois, the state budget office confesses that as of this month the state still has $6.8 billion in unpaid bills and unaddressed obligations.

It's worth contrasting this grim picture with that of Wisconsin north of the border. Last winter Madison was occupied by thousands of union protesters trying to bully legislators to defeat Republican Governor Scott Walker's plan to require government workers to pay a larger share of their health-plan costs, and to shore up the pension system by trimming future retirement liabilities. The reforms passed anyway.

In contrast to the Illinois downgrade, Moody's has praised Mr. Walker's budget as "credit positive for Wisconsin," adding that the money-saving reforms bring "the state's finances closer to a structural budgetary balance." As a result, Wisconsin jumped in Chief Executive magazine's 2011 ranking of each state's business climate-moving to 17th from 41st. Illinois dropped to 48th from 45th as ranked by the nation's top CEOs.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/01/its_official_tax_happy_illinois_now_has_the_lowest_rated_state_debt.html#ixzz1kCPNJxgW

It's time

I don't know why, but college football is my second favorite sport behind college basketball.

The only thing that bugs me the most about college football is the outright hypocrisy of the governing bodies which are the BCS conferences.

Who was last year's national champions? I would offer Boise State.

But Gordon, they didn't play anybody.

Well, here is the Big Eleven non conference schedule for the 2007 season.

Appalachian State at Michigan
Youngstown State at Ohio State
Florida International at Penn State
Northeastern at Northwestern
UAB at Michigan State
Washington State at Wisconsin
Missouri at Illinois
Iowa at Northern Illinois
Purdue at Toledo
Indiana State at Indiana
Bowling Green at Minnesota
Akron at Ohio State
Nevada at Northwestern
Bowling Green at Michigan State
Miami (OH) at Minnesota
Eastern Illinois at Purdue
Oregon at Michigan
Notre Dame at Penn State
Western Illinois at Illinois
Syracuse at Iowa
Indiana at Western Michigan
Wisconsin at UNLV
Citadel at Wisconsin
Buffalo at Penn State
Akron at Indiana
Pittsburgh at Michigan State
Illinois at Syracuse
Central Michigan at Purdue
Minnesota at Florida Atlantic
Iowa at Iowa State
Notre Dame at Michigan
Ohio State at Washington
Duke at Northwestern
Michigan State at Notre Dame
Notre Dame at Purdue
Eastern Michigan at Michigan
Kent State at Ohio State
Northwestern at Eastern Michigan
Northern Illinois at Wisconsin
North Dakota State at Minnesota
Ball State at Illinois
Ball State at Indiana
Penn State at Temple
Western Michigan at Iowa

You tell me how is Boise State going to get a game with one of these "somebody" teams. You couldn't find more cupcakes, Twinkies or fruit pies on a Hostess truck (or a certain senator's favorite public restroom).

If you think I'm just banging on the Big Eleven, the SEC Big Twelve and PAC Ten are just as bad.

The fact is the NCAA doesn't run college football and never has. Before the BCS was the CFA, and they made sure the bowl trough was only going to feed the power conferences.

With the current BCS configuration and the extra regular season game it's only gotten worse. The power teams go out of their way to schedule an undefeated non conference schedule and then hope to play an undefeated conference schedule for a BCS title shot.

So this weekend, I'll be at on my couch watching hours of coverage of the Big Eleven - MAC Challenge.

My infamous prediction. By week 7, all the talking heads will be wondering which of the 6 or 7 undefeated teams deserve a BCS title shot only to watch all but one of them lose by week 11.

PS I know why they call it THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, they never leave Ohio until about mid November.

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

So you plan to retire with a nice cushy state of Illinois public pension?

In the words of Lee Corso........ "not so fast!"

This is scarier than waking up with The Billary...........

All Five Systems Bankrupt

TRS, SERS,SURS, JRS, and GARS are all insolvent. None of them can possibly meet their pension obligations. With 10-year treasuries yielding a scant 2.5%, plan assumptions of 8% are preposterously high on a sustained basis.

Yet, TRS went another $3.5 billion in the hole in spite of a 12.8% annual return.

What the hell is TRS going to do in the face of a stock market plunge, a bond market plunge, or both?

GARS, the General Assembly Retirement System is only 17.4% funded. Is it any wonder that state legislators are pressing for more tax hikes?
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

First, TRS only has $0.40 in the bank for every dollar it should have today to make necessary pension payouts in the future. That means the high investment returns in 2013 were earned on less than half of the assets that TRS should have

TRS acknowledged this in a recent press release:

"Despite these strong returns, TRS cannot invest its way out of the funding hole we are in,” Ingram added. “This increase in the System’s unfunded liability, even with good investment results, is another wake-up call to state officials and our members that TRS long-term finances continue to head in the wrong direction."
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

First, TRS only has $0.40 in the bank for every dollar it should have today to make necessary pension payouts in the future. That means the high investment returns in 2013 were earned on less than half of the assets that TRS should have

TRS acknowledged this in a recent press release:

"Despite these strong returns, TRS cannot invest its way out of the funding hole we are in,” Ingram added. “This increase in the System’s unfunded liability, even with good investment results, is another wake-up call to state officials and our members that TRS long-term finances continue to head in the wrong direction."
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

In spite of a 12.8% annual return, with an 8% return assumption, the Illinois Teachers Retirement System (TRS) fell another $3.5 billion in the hole. TRS pension underfunding grew to $55.73 billion as of June 30, 2013.
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

Life in "progress" State - Illinois edition

In Illinois, if you own a nursing home caring for the elderly, it's taking you six months to get paid for the services you provide.

If you're triple dipping the Illinois public pension system, you go to the front of the line............

Kenneth E. Pannaralla — once a top precinct captain for Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan — has made a good living in government.

Pannaralla, 63, gets a pension from the city of Chicago in addition to the three paychecks from his three current government jobs, including one as the executive director of the Southwest Home Equity Assurance Program, a government agency created under a law Madigan co-sponsored.

Madigan, who is also chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, also gave Pannaralla’s daughter, Jennifer Pannaralla, a one-year legislative scholarship in 2003 to the University of Illinois at Chicago. And Pannaralla’s son, Kenneth, is paid $24,000 a year as an aide to Madigan.

Pannaralla makes a total of $213,418 a year, including:

†A $94,551 yearly pension from the city of Chicago, where he worked for 28 years, retiring under an early-retirement program passed by the Madigan-led Illinois Legislature that allowed him to buy an additional five years of service. Half of that pension goes to Pannaralla’s ex-wife under their divorce settlement, court records show.

Nothing says free money like being connected to a democrat........

This is what Ohio looks like if voters vote no on Ohio 2.

So vote yes.

More......

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday downgraded Illinois' credit rating by one notch to A from A-plus, citing the state's large budget imbalance and an $83 billion unfunded pension liability.

The action affecting the state's general obligation bonds comes less than two weeks after a special Illinois legislative session on pension reform ended without a solution to rein in costs for the state's five pension funds.

"The downgrade reflects the state's weak pension funding levels and lack of action on reform measures intended to improve funding levels and diminish cost pressures associated with annual contributions," said S&P analyst Robin Prunty in a statement.

Investors in the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market have been demanding higher yields for Illinois debt as the state's fiscal problems fester. Many states are struggling with budgetary constraints and pension liabilities, but the fiscal problems in Illinois predate the 2007-2009 recession and have continued to worsen.

It also keeps Illinois as the second lowest-rated U.S. state after California, which is rated A-minus by S&P.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/government/2012/08/29/sp-downgrades-illinois-credit-rating/#ixzz24zLXDUpv

Life in "progress" State - Illinois edition

Or as they say in the Mediterranean, Welcome to Greece........................

Illinois is losing the hearts and minds of the people who put people to work here.

The chief executives at some of Illinois' largest companies think economic conditions are better in neighboring states. They expect economic growth here to lag the nation's growth. They believe Illinois taxes are a roadblock to investment. They have no faith that political leaders will use the 67 percent income tax increase imposed this year to put state government on firmer financial ground.

The business leaders have no confidence in Illinois' ability to compete with its neighboring states.

They have no confidence in its ability to resolve its fiscal crisis.

They have no confidence in the state's political leaders.

The Chicago Tribune editorial board surveyed 45 chief executives at large, publicly held companies based in Illinois. The results should be a wake-up call. The executives delivered a thudding vote of no confidence in the leadership and direction of the state they call home.

Sounds like the same vote of no confidence towards the president from that very state.

More.....

Stuff liberals run - Public Pensions

Did Ken Lay come back from the dead?

So now that the state of New Jersey has been charged by the SEC with lying to bond investors about the (desiccated, horrific, probably insolvent) state of its pension funds, the guessing game begins: Who is next? Exchequer readers will not be surprised to learn that Illinois, the place where Barack Obama developed his famous financial acumen, is on the list of potential targets.

When Illinois passed its pension “reform” law a few months ago, it decided it could skip an additional $300 million in pension contributions this year, and many millions more in the future. This, for a pension system that already is less than half funded. The New York Times asked a few actuaries about that decision, and the bean-counters are crying foul:

Paradoxically, even though the state will make smaller contributions, the report forecasts that Illinois will get its pension funds back on track to a respectable 90 percent funding level by 2045. It projects that costs will increase slowly and an economic recovery will make cash available for the state to make the contributions it has failed to do in the past.

Whether that is even possible is contested by some actuaries who note that its family of pension funds is now only 39 percent funded. (If a company let its pension fund dwindle to that level, the federal government would probably step in, but federal officials have no authority to seize state pension funds.)

Some actuaries who have reviewed the state’s plans said that shrinking contributions would make the pension funds shakier, not stronger.

Indeed, one of them, Jeremy Gold, called Illinois’s plan “irresponsible” and said it could drive the pension funds to the brink.

Further, Mr. Gold pointed out that Illinois’s official disclosures said that its pension calculations used an actuarial method known as “projected unit credit,” but that the pension reform report used another method, which had not been approved for disclosure.

“According to Illinois statute, the prescribed contributions are determined under a method that may not be in compliance with the pertinent actuarial standards of practice,” Mr. Gold said.

The Wall Street Journal has more on state pension shenanigans here.

Hey, taxpayer: How’s your retirement fund looking these days? Anything left to put in it after the state-workers’ unions are done with you? Heck, you’re probably the kind of sucker who pays his mortgage with his own money.

More........

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

No one apparently knows where the hell John Galt is but you can probably be certain you won't find him in Illinois........

First, State Farm locating jobs out of Illinois........

State Farm plans to close two-dozen field offices in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan where 1,300 people work to save $8 million over the next five years.While about 530 workers in Chicago-area offices will be commuting to a different facility in suburban Downers Grove, about 250 workers elsewhere in Illinois would have to transfer to Indianapolis......

Second, Sears looking to relocate........

Sears Holdings Corp. is researching a possible move outside the state of Illinois.

Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite said Monday that the retailer has had preliminary discussions with the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, where it is located. Sears also has comissioned an economic impact study. The Daily Herald newspaper reports state and local incentives that Sears receives will expire in 2012.

What's so "Progressive" about companies leaving your state?

If Obama is elected, we'll have the US of Chicago

From Doug Ross.....

Pull out of Iraq?

Perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago!

Body count in the last six months:

• 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago
• 221 killed in Iraq

Chicago - who runs it?

Senators: Barack Obama and Dick Durbin
Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr.
Illinois Governor: Rod Blogojevich
Illinois House leader: Mike Madigan
Illinois Attorney General: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike)
Chicago Mayor: Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley)

...our leadership in Illinois: all Democrats.

Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago. Of course, they're all blaming each other!

Can't blame Republicans. There aren't any!

State pension fund is $44 Billion in debt, worst in country. Cook County (Chicago) sales tax is 10.25%, the highest in the country. The Chicago school system is rated one of the worst in the country (despite the $160 million that Obama and terrorist Bill Ayers slathered around to various leftist causes during the Chicago Annenberg Challenge).

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois. And he's gonna 'fix' Washington politics for us? Wake up America! We've already sacrificed Chicago!

What's so "progressive" about being gunned down in a city street?

Why government doesn't work

In what might make me the only person in the world. I want to defend Blago.

First, he is still governor of Illinois.

Second, while he has been charged with crimes he still has not been convicted of anything. What if the totality of the evidence is that Blago is not guilty of any of the charges against him? Are you telling me that we need to strip him of his governor duties, which includes appointment of the Illinois senator, without due process.

Third, my understanding is that Illinois has a procedure to remove Blago from office. They've known that this was a potential outcome for doing nothing and guess what? They've done nothing.

This indictment has been out there for over a month, how long does it take for a slam dunk to get done in the Illinois legislature?

Look, Blago is a narcissistic pile of excrement. That really doesn't make him different from any other democrat. Apparently, that alone doesn't qualify anyone from removal from office without exposing all Illinois democrats.

This whole escapade is a good reminder why government doesn't work.

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

From the Prairie State.........

Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.

He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.

“This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university — and it’s getting worse every single day,” he says in his downtown office.

Mr. Hynes shakes his head. “This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services,” he says. “That is obscene.”

For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession. Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state’s bills and refuses to take the painful steps — cuts and tax increases — to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state’s budget.

Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up.

Creating entities who don't pay their bills?

Now that's "Progressive"!

More.....

Blue state exodus - Illinois edition

Roger Keats, a former Illinois state senator and Cook County Board president, is packing up and leaving the Land of Lincoln for good. The 62-year-old Keats was a good government reformer who helped clean up the rampant corruption in the Chicago-area courts uncovered by Operations Greylord and Gambat.

But now he’s throwing in the towel, and he and his wife are heading for Texas. “I am tired of subsidizing crooks," Keats told the Wilmette Beacon.

In “Good Bye and Good Luck,” a letter to all the friends and political supporters he’s leaving behind after 60 years, Keats says he is leaving what he calls “the most corrupt big city…and most corrupt state in America” with “a heavy heart.”

“But enough is enough!” he writes. “The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can’t continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here.”

Indeed, Illinois has already lost a quarter of its population and will lose another seat in the next Congress.

And that’s not the only sign of serious, and possibly irreversible, decline.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/03/ill-state-senator-leaves-texas-im-tired-subsidizing-crooks?utm_source=feedburner+BeltwayConfidential&utm_medium=feed+Beltway+Confidential&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BeltwayConfidential+%28Beltway+Confidential%29feed&utm_content=Netvibesfeed&utm_term=Netvibesfeed#ixzz1HKJxUEGj

How much do teachers make?

A good breakdown of teachers' pay with benefits.........

The average teacher in the state of Illinois makes $61,402. Illinois teachers work around 176 days, 300 minutes, or 5 hours, per day. That's just over 35 weeks per year. On average, they make $348.88 per day, $1.16 per minute, or $69.60 per hour guaranteed. Teachers in Illinois work an average of 12 years. They can retire at age 55.

In order to find out what they really make though, you should take their pension benefits, net present value them and amortize them over their career. As of 2010, the average pension for an Illinois teacher is $43,164. It compounds annually for life at 3% per year.

Now it's time to do some math and make some assumptions. Assume that the lifespan of the teacher is no different than the average American, 78 years. If they start teaching at age 22, on average they will quit at 34. This means they will wait 21 years to collect their pension. The discount rate for the cash flows is a conservative 5%.

When you crunch all the numbers, the net present value of that pension is $290,756. Amortizing that over a twelve year career adds $24,229.64 to their average salary, making their actual salary before health benefits are added in a tidy $85,631.67, or $97.31 per hour.

And here I decided against going into the teaching profession because of money and the pack of idiots I was surrounded by in Teacher's College....

More.......

Blue State exodus - Illinois edition

Where's john Galt?

The chairman and CEO of Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. is raising the specter of moving the heavy equipment maker out of Illinois.

In a letter sent March 21 to Gov. Pat Quinn, Caterpillar chief executive officer Doug Oberhelman said officials in at least four other states have approached the company about relocating since Illinois raised its income tax in January.

"I want to stay here. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what's right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest," Oberhelman wrote in the letter obtained Friday by the Lee Enterprises Springfield bureau. "The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business and I'd like to work with you to change that."

Oberhelman said he's being actively courted to move.

"I have been called, 'cornered' in meetings and 'wined and dined' -- the heat is on," Oberhelman wrote. "Before, I never really considered living anywhere else and certainly never considered the possibility of Caterpillar relocating. But I have to admit, the policymakers in Springfield seem to make it harder by the day."

Cat spokesman Jim Dugan said the letter was designed to show Quinn that Oberhelman wants to be involved in finding solutions that benefit the company, which employs 23,000 people in Illinois.

More.......

Chief Illiniwek RIP

Normally, I couldn't care less about what Illinois University decides to do with the mascot they choose to represent them.... They could go by the Illinois University Flying King Weasels as far as I'm concerned.

However, I read this article about the retirement of Chief Illiniwek and the smell of hypocrisy is worse than the smell of a south Chicago landfill on a hot August day.

Where to start. Well, let's start with the NCAA.

The NCAA has threatened all Division I schools with offensive nicknames by not allowing those schools to host NCAA sanctioned tournaments and championships. They've threatened sanctions on the University of North Dakota for their use of the nickname "The Fighting Sioux" despite the fact that Sioux tribal leaders have endorsed the University's use of the nickname as non offensive and a positive promotion of the tribe. The NCAA comes back with "No, It's surely offensive to you folks. You must be too dumb to realize it."

So how does that relate to IU? The NCAA is going to allow IU to keep the Illini nickname despite the obvious naming after a native American tribe because "it's short for Illinois and the school can use the term Fighting Illini, because it's considered a reference to the team's competitive spirit. Yeah, I can now see why tribes are disgusted..... all those references to competitive spirit and all is surely offensive.

Why is it that Illini is not offensive to native Americans when it's clearly derived from the tribal name but Warriors is offensive when it has no reference to a tribe at all. Could it be that Illinois has more pull than Marquette, Hawaii, and UND. Nah... It has to be principal. Right?

Now let's hit the "Activists". The most persuasive argument these people offer is that we don't nickname teams with caricatures of other ethnic groups such as the fighting Jews, or Zulu's etc., Well, have you ever heard of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Western Washington Vikings or the Monmouth College Fighting Scots? I bet all those Northern Europeans are pissed as hell at the disrepect.

If it's so offensive, why is it that schools on the rez all have these nicknames?

By the way, what do we do with all these state names? Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, the Dakotas are all tribal names. We obviously don't have states named after other ethnic groups so let's change those names as well.

For that matter, what about all those streets in the 'hood where I grew up, Shoshonee, Cherokee, Wyandot, Miami, Shawnee, Mohawk etc. Ohhhh, the disrespect is everywhere!

The fact is, there is a country where all the names of minority groups where eliminated just like this. The country? Bosnia. Only there they called it Ethnic Cleansing which is what the Native Americans would be calling it if Anglos were leading the charge on this.

In any event, if my almamater is interested in renaming their nickname I think the $250.00 I've donated over the years warrants changing the name to the "Fighting Gekkos".

It could be worse. It could be Ohio

It's funny to hear all these state crying about the state of their budgets all while they sabotage their own business communities.

Take the state of Illinois, where state casino revenue is down 20.3 percent. Because of the general economic downturn? No. Because they've banned smoking in the state.

The struggling economy has dealt a bad hand to the nation's usually robust gambling business, a downturn made even worse in Illinois, where the state's nearly year-old smoking ban has proved unhealthy to casinos.

Among those paying the steepest prices are local governments, charities and their clients, who have come to rely on gambling tax receipts.

The big gambling states— Nevada, New Jersey and Mississippi—are off 5 percent to 7 percent in casino revenue. But the picture is worst in Illinois, where casino revenue is down 20.3 percent this year.

Gambling officials estimate that the state will get between $150 million and $160 million less in taxes, most of it earmarked for education. Statewide, the eight communities with casinos will see $20 million to $25 million less than they took in last year, officials estimate.

It could be worse. Illinois could be the state of Ohio where we don't even get a casino to not smoke in.

Why not to hire employees

From the NY Tines small business blog............

After my last post, some readers suggested that I was exaggerating the potential cost of paying unemployment insurance when you hire the wrong person. Fred from Florida wrote, “Payroll tax rates that fund unemployment insurance are affected by the company’s history, but it’s not a dollar for dollar payout.” Actually, in Illinois, it’s even worse.

The unemployment insurance tax may be the most confusing and misunderstood tax there is. It is run by the states, and the rules can vary as much as the weather from one state to another.

Here’s how it works in Illinois. The important point for business owners to know is that when the state pays out claims to a company’s former employees, that company’s unemployment tax rate goes up. For each business, the state calculates how many dollars have been paid in compensation over the previous three years and adds on about 48 percent through various calculations. The result is that in Illinois, you end up paying for incremental compensation claims at a rate of $1.48 for every dollar that a former employee collects.

Read the rest.....

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

From the land of Lincoln...........

Obamaland is crumbling. Democrats have firmly controlled Illinois, the president’s home state, for nearly a decade, turning it into what one Republican called “a deep blue state.” But this has changed almost overnight. In the midterm elections on November 2, Democrats stand to lose the governorship, Obama’s old Senate seat, two to four House seats, and any number of state legislative seats and down-ticket statewide offices.

Democrats have been hit by a perfect storm, mostly of their own making. Illinois rivals California and New York as a fiscal and economic basket case. Democratic misrule has reached epic proportions, with the school districts, vendors, and doctors who treat Medicaid patients going unpaid for months. Unfunded state liabilities are mounting. And on top of all that, the trial of impeached former governor Rod Blagojevich, already dominating the news, is expected to continue for months.

Creating fiscal and economic basket cases?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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Life in "Progress" State

They called it paradise,
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun
Sinking in the sea

From the Golden State of California who hasn't had a conservative in state government since the Hell's Angels doubled as security guards.....

Once the envy of the other 49 states, California has become the measure of failure. Historically a trend-setter, once again, as California goes, so may go the nation.

The Pew Center on the States recently completed an extensive study of the 50 state governments and found California in the worst straits, but also discovered nine other states have joined us in a condition of "fiscal peril."

"The same pressures that drove the Golden State toward fiscal disaster are wreaking havoc in a number of states, with potentially damaging consequences for the entire country," concluded the study, "Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril."

Those states – Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin – share many of California's maladies. Some, the study found, suffer from economies that disproportionately rely on particular industries, such as housing in Florida or auto manufacturing in Michigan. California, Illinois and New Jersey repeatedly have used borrowing or accounting schemes to put off tough budget decisions. Like California, Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Oregon are restricted in raising taxes or cutting spending because of voter initiatives and constitutional restraints, Pew noted.

"The recession put almost all states in a bind," the study observed, "but California, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Wisconsin have a history of persistent shortfalls."

The Pew study was based on data up to July 31 of this year and bluntly forecasted "states' fiscal conditions are widely expected to worsen even when the national economy starts to recover." Indeed, that seems to be the case. Unemployment in California was 11.7 percent and nationally 9.2 percent as of the study's completion, the study reported. In the scant months since, California's jobless rate has risen to 12.5 percent in November, and the national rate has hit 10.2 percent.

What's so "progressive" about being a third world country?

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