High Drama, Low Comedy in Illinois Tax Follies
Barack Obama was wrong when he said that our problem is that we don’t treat one another with enough respect. The problem is that we don’t laugh enough at politics and politicians.
For example, in the midst of tragedy and pathos, we witnessed the weird spectacle of the president of the United States speaking before 20,000 people dressed, with North Korean-like similitude, in blue T-Shirts, cheering, whooping it up, and otherwise turning what should have been a sad occasion into a late-night monologue joke. The juxtaposition between solemnity and raucousness is the stuff of stand-up comedy — despite the president’s heartfelt sentiments and the unspeakable tragedy of lost lives and wounded souls.
The fact is, we treat these politicians and the whole process as if it were a religion. This breeds humorlessness among the citizenry, which leads to a decidedly unfunny political climate where we are forced to take goofballs like Joe Biden and Sarah Palin seriously. What passes for humor from both sides is the kind of ill-tempered, mean-spirited, pulling-the-wings-off-flies jocosity you grow out of when you hit puberty.
That’s why before I go to bed at night, I hit my knees and thank God I live in Illinois.
You people who live in good government states like Minnesota and Vermont really don’t know what you’re missing. You might have the occasional stray dog who wanders off the straight and narrow, dipping their greedy paws into the public purse, or perhaps being a little too generous to their friends and political supporters. Politics, like any human endeavor, has more than its share of charlatans, grave robbers, and amoral amoebas who were born with a prison number tattooed across their forehead. No matter how squeaky clean you try and make your local governments, these types always seem to make an appearance now and again just to remind us all of the moral frailty of our species.
But really, how entertaining is that kind of government? Once you start taking politicians too seriously, they start taking themselves too seriously and then you’re in trouble. A politician who takes himself too seriously actually believes they can solve the problems of the world by spending just a little bit more money that isn’t theirs. They start to believe their own campaign rhetoric about how wonderful they are and before you know it, your state is up to its eyeballs in debt.
Illinois has the most fascinating, the most colorful, the most entertaining politicians in the land, which makes following the goings on in Springfield akin to watching a combination Demolition Derby and cockroach race. Of course, we still get politicians who spend the state into penury, but at least we’re disabused of the notion that any high ideals or uplifting principles are at work. It is a rotten-to-the-core, cynical, sybaritic exercise in politics for fun and profit and it was on full display last week. A lame duck session of the Illinois legislature passed a gargantuan tax increase on individuals and businesses, while borrowing another $4 billion to seed the gold-plated retirements of unionized state workers.
It was done just minutes before the newly elected senators and representatives were to be sworn in, as high drama, low comedy, and strong-armed politics combined to bring more misery to Illinois’ long-put-upon taxpayers.
The individual income tax rate soared from 3% to 5% — a 67% increase, while the business tax rate climbed from 4.8% to a whopping 7%. This is supposed to raise $6.8 billion over the next year to help bring down an expected $15 billion deficit. A separate measure to allow the state to borrow another $8 billion to pay bills that were due in 2009 and early 2010 was defeated. In short, if you supplied the state with Christmas decorations in 2009, you will probably still be waiting for your check after Santa Claus is dead and buried.
Rick,
All I know is that the Socialists running Illinois MUST have had some type of private assurance from Obama that the Treasury will find a way to bail them out WITHOUT having to go through Congress.
Because these Tax increases will not produce anywhere near the amount of revenue they hope for. They never do.
You’re assuming that the Illinois doofuses can see past their own personal payday.
This is the old “Good News – Bad News” cliche for the adjacent states…a mass Exodus will bring many businesses and citizens into the States with the concomitent growth in the states economy and employment opportunities.
Thats the GOOD news, the BAD news is that the Idiots that allowed this to happen in Illinois by voting (or not voting) for those Corrupt scumbags and having leftist liberal leanings will now be living in THEIR States.
Just ask the people that live next door to Kalifornia, their states had an Economic boost but now suffer from the Kalifornian Malaise…Stupid/Liberal/Leftist voters changing the demographics for the worse.
UGH!!!
If you liked what happened in Illinois, you’ll love what’s about to happen in Washington, DC. Washington is Illinois on steroids and the debt we are facing is nothing compared to what’s going on in Illinois. The Republicans are going to have to stop this cycle of doom by cutting the Federal budget and stopping Obamacare. If you think our national deficit is bad now, just wait if Obamacare isn’t stopped. As usual, the liberals and Democrats (same thing, really) have run out of spending other people’s money. The question is, do we have the stones to stop spending? If the people in Illinois don’t like what’s going on there, they can always move to Wisconsin. But if we don’t like what’s happening in Washington, were do WE move to?
Once again democracy gives the people what they want and deserve.
WARNING! This post is written by a Snowe,Collins and Murkowski republican,caution should be observed.If digested frequently this product can cause harmful side effects.
Thanks for the warning.
Got links?
Aside from his obligatory snark at Sarah Palin; I would direct your attention to his own blog RIGHT WING NUT HOUSE. I don’t have the exact link, but go to his archives right after the 2008 elections. He made the statement that Obama was his president and he wished Obama success. It kicked off a …. rather vociferous and extended discussion of his relationship to Conservatism, and about success for Obama -v- success for our country. It reached the point where he shut down the comment function on his blog for a while. It should be in the archives. I don’t know for sure how his archives are set up now, as I have not been back there since then. In fact, if I had noticed his name next to the headline at PJM, I would not have clicked it.
Subotai Bahadur
Lots of people said things like that right after Obama was elected. The “my president” part is the respect due to the office — something we all wished Dubya had been given more often — and the “success” part is a nice gesture that doesn’t mean quite what it sounds like (we want Obama to succeed at leading America, not changing it). I don’t see either sentiment as harmful to Moran’s conservative credentials. The shot at Palin, on the other hand, was embarrassing even to read.
Mark v: I dug up the main post in question. The permalink doesn’t work anymore, but you can scroll down to 10/13 on this page. Read it and judge Moran’s words for yourself.
The spectacle of the Democrat-dominated states like New York, Illinois and California is like a Greek tragedy. They bring it on themselves; I just spent a few weeks on a short-term project in New Jersey – a good part of it listening to one guy bad-mouth Governor Christie. His wife, of course, is a teacher.
As the old saying goes, you can teach ‘em, but you can’t learn ‘em.
Maybe we can send all of the welfare recipients of the US to Illinois.
There will be free housing, a free chevy volt, and all of the public service people to help them.
Obama’s stash come to life.
“Obama’s stash come to life.”
Unfortunately, the fine, upstanding African-American woman who should be credited with this insight about taxpayer’s money lives in Detroit. I’ll never forget the interview when she spoke it because it seared in my psyche how the typical Obama supporter and illiberal leftists think. One only has to look at Michigan to see how this thinking has destroyed the industrial heart of the nation. At least Michigan has decided that it is time to change.
Are you sure Miss “Obama’s stash” lives in Detroit? I could have sworn she was from Baltimore. Maybe it was her accent.
Uprooting & shipping half the state of NJ (& w/them, their Democrat votes) to IL is gonna be one tough job, but NJ taxPAYERS will be glad to finally have some say as to what goes on here. Maybe we’d even be able to rid ourselves of Lautenberg & Menendez, or as they’re more commonly known, the Senators from Mexico.
Ask New York how well that went. Are these politicians incapable of learning? Andrew Cuomo is making the right noises, now let’s see if he can save New York from itself.
Who would lend money to Illinois? Not me, not at any interest rate.
If New York doesn’t drastically cut spending, I too will flee as soon as I hit retirement age. I’ll have no choice. I pay over $7,000 in property taxes annually. That’s six hundred dollars a month on top of utilities and the mortgage.
Several years back Boeing Co. elected to fly their corporate headquarters from the overtaxed, hard-left Peoples Republic of Seattle to….you guessed it….Chicagoland! How ’bout them new Illinois corporate tax rates, boys! And these are the people you count on to design and build safe passenger aircraft? Where will they move next….California?
Washington voters smacked down the income tax on the rich initiative and restored the super majority for tax increases. Seattle is looking real good right now. Come back home Boeing.
We just need a few thousand more sane voters fleeing Illinois and California to tip the balance up here. No income tax in Washington, relocate here!
Honest Illinois residents can move their businesses to Indiana.
Sorry, bub, you lost me with the Sarah slap.
What is with you people? She was an effective and courageous governor. And she is ten times the man Obama will ever be.
That’s all I got to say.
I agree. What is it with these Republicans? Can’t write an article without trying to slap down the only honest politican with any guts the Conservatives have. If you can point to someone who has the cajones to take on the corruption of both parties more than Sarah Palin, I will listen, but otherwise stop the denegrating of a solid conservative.
I also agree. There is something about Palin that scares the hell out of the establishment types. I don’t know if she wants to be President but she would be so much better than Obama.
Yo Rick. The remark about Sarah! Not very cool!
With the higher tax rates, businesses will leave for lower taxed states in the Midwest & South; the Chicago thug Democrats have sealed their fate with this tax increase since they have given into the unions & gave the middle finger to the non-union Illinois residents. Instead of a lifeline, the thug Democrats have slit their own throats. It’s just a matter of time before the fatal wound starts bleeding.
This is true.
But, Obama to the rescue.
He will rally money from all his other “56 states” to bail out his brothers in corruption.
Actually, he’ll totally bypass Congress (where in today’s atmosphere he’s almost sure to fail) & go directly to the Fed.
You guys don’t understand Chicago or Illinois politics.
How is it that they slashed their own throats?
A handful of political dynasties run Chicago and the state of Illinois. Most of those dynastic families come from a couple of mobbed-up Irish/Italian neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. They got the tax increases they wanted. They get to keep the money flowing to the government employee unions and other key constituencies (despite the public spin, the tax revenue isn’t really intended to pay the bills on the state’s spiraling debt).
If you think that an exodus of business from Illinois constitutes the Dems “slashing their own throats” you don’t understand the game. They know that business will leave in droves. They just don’t care. A liberal Democratic state senator from Skokie who voted for the increase even admitted on record (in the local Chicago media) that the tax hike will kill jobs and chase business away, but he said that it’s the right thing to do anyway.
When tax revenues drop because of all the businesses and residents who flee the state, it will give Dems the excuse they need to raise taxes even more.
And Chicago Dems know that most of the businesses that leave will be small businesses. Even more to the point, most of the business people who will leave will be suburbanites who vote Republican. I’ve personally witnessed Chicago liberals laughing over the prospect of a mass exodus of suburban Republicans (remember, Pat Quinn barely won reelection–a halfway decent Republican gubernatorial candidate would almost certainly have beat him).
The states that surround Illinois are nice Midwestern heartland states with lots of hard-working middle and upper-middle class people. But although much of the state of Illinois fits that description, Illinois possesses a wild card that makes it unlike any other state in the region. That wild card is, of course, Chicago. And with Chicago comes a sub-population of insular, very wealthy urban people who won’t be affected by the state’s dwindling economic viability, and who have the luxury of being very liberal. They fund and promote the corrupt politicians who, in turn, funnel state business back to them and to their friends.
Most people who have clout in Chicago are either happy or apathetic about the tax increases. They’ll be just fine. They don’t care if the state loses business and residents. It won’t hurt them–if anything, it will just keep strengthening the Democratic machine’s hold on the state.
The idiot voters voted demtard:let ‘em rot!
I don’t expect a mass exodus from Illinois. The smart ones (like me) left long ago.
Yep, I happily bailed a couple decades ago . It’s only gotten worse since then.
Illinois is like the Federal government full of Marxist Mobsters stealing the publics wealth. What is really funny is the idiot America people that fall for their antics. I don’t know who is more insane the Mobsters or some of the idiot Americans.
Moran knows little of Minnesota. In 2008 Al Franken won the top of the ticket race. In 2010 it was Mark Dayton. Neither can be considered a Good Government candidate. Minneapolis is becoming the new Chicago.
I live in Minnesota and you are correct, but remember it’s a squishy Rick Moran you’re talking about here.
If Al Franken “won” that senate seat, then pigs DO fly.
despite the president’s heartfelt sentiments
I freely admit that I don’t know what’s in a man’s heart, all I can go by is the whole of his life. But, I heard the “we aren’t a red state or a blue state” during the campaign trail…and then witnessed some of the ugliest two years of bullying, demagoguery, and vitriol from Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and their base…when they had the numbers to be bullies.
Now that they are staring down a slightly less scraggly opposition, out comes the “try a little tenderness” bromides. Hmmm.
While I experienced the cesspool of Illinois politics (at times up close and personal)for the first 50 years of my life, I understand full well how Democrats “mobbed up, then mopped up” for almost the entirety of my time there.
It is a state built with its cornerstone steeped in corruption, graft, and with a jackboot on the neck of its citizens. Run from cradle to grave on a diseased political system. And a Democrat couldn’t get elected in Chicago, if he walked on water, turned that water into wine and then passed it out for free in silver chalices to everyone in town.
Cook County is hardly any better.
And Obama cut his political teeth here. As a hard core socialist, far, far, far left of the majority of this country, and even to the left of most of the “downstate” voters. (Don’t confuse Illinois with California, outside of Cook County…and especially the more miles you put between Chicago and the rest of Illinois…they are as different as butters from bitters)
Virtually every Democratic state is broke. They give away what they do not own, create a largess for themselves, a crony treasure chest built upon the children of tomorrow’s back…and then award themselves medals, pins and trophy’s for “doing good”…”for the children”.
Graft Socialism, the unions absorb the dues and provide the muscle. Government workers provide the doorbell ringing and get the jobs, which they do poorly as a rule. Steroidal Statism, going broke…but living high because your kids are going to get stuck with the bill.
Heartfelt sentiments usually make the best cover for all this. They always have.
Sorry Rick Moron.
You lost a huge chunk taking another gratuitous swipe at Governor Sarah Palin, possibly the premiere fiscal conservative in the jockying for 2012.
And, the only with the guts to actually push to reduce federal spending rather than simply slow the growth rate.
Silly silly elitist.
Income taxes going up from 5 to 7%…..
You guys don’t know how lucky you are.
In the western socialist welfare state where I live, income tax is 30%. On top of that I pay another 15% in VAT\ goods and services tax when I spend the rest of the money. Add to that my rates (city taxes), tobacco, alcohol and petrol taxes and 50% of my money goes to the government and other bureaucrats.
You’ve got some way to go….
Then again, with Obama, you never know.
Illinois.. bwahahaha Unless you’re a state employee or a senior citizen, WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING THERE?
Though I respect Palin’s, ‘self-made woman’ regarding her education- politicial rise, I too look at her as a type of ‘goofball’.
The ‘reality’ shows, the appearances anywhere and everywhere, it’s Obama-like.
Like Obama, her persona overweighs her ACTUAL political agenda and supposed message.
For me the overexposure is invasive. Hearing the ‘gameplan’[ on occasion is informative. The more often it’s spoken, the less of an impact it makes in each instance. It’s preachy. Televangelist-like.
Obama’s shtick/emperor wore no clothes was apparent to anyone who is lobotomy-free.
For me, Palin too is becoming a caricature.
I think the Sarah Palin brand so to speak has gotten bigger than she anticipated it to be
We’re still here because we have property (and a mortgage that we still pay). Anyone want some downstate farmland?
I heard that we here in Illinois really got a tax cut. You see they actually wanted to raise our taxes 75% but only raised them 67% so we really recieved an 8% tax cut. LOL.
5
Having read these posts, I wonder what the outcome of a referendum to expel Chicago from the rest of Illinois would be. 3-to-1, perhaps? Greater?
That said, Illinois is not the only state that suffers from “one-city dominance.” No doubt Las Vegas outvotes the rest of Nevada, Omaha the rest of Nebraska, Baltimore the rest of Maryland, Detroit the rest of Michigan and Little Rock the rest of Arkansas. Of course, NYC is obviously the T-rex of New York politics. I saw a county map of the 2000 Senate race there in which Hillary’s GOP opponent swept nearly the entire upstate and Staten Island, but the Lizard Queen’s huge majority in the Wormy Apple put her over the top. Yet another reason to repeal the 17th Amendment.
“to raid his dysfunctional neighbor in the manner of a Viking swooping down on English monasteries.”
Well Rick Moran nice job, but enough is enough.
I would just like to say that we Nordics are getting just a little bit annoyed with this constant mocking of our heritage. Those awful Viking ads on TV should be stopped immediately. They are obviously stereotyping our people and bigoted to boot. And now this.
Not to mention the Minnesota Vikings and various sports teams named the Norsemen or Northmen or Nordics or Swedes or Danes (I don’t think any of them are named the Norwiegians and don’t know why). This is very unnerving and humiliating. It must stop.
And And furthermore I was told that Mitch Daniels doesn’t have a sense of humor and that is a boldfaced lie.
And And And don’t be sending your people up here to Michigan, we’ve got our own can of worms to stuff back in the can.
Manga Tak
I hope you’re being facetious. As a proud Viking myself (Finn, thank you very much), I’m tough enough to take the teasing. Get some sisu, ya sissy!
Of course I am facetious and I ain’t no sissy, brother. Every other ethnic and cultural group gets to whine about how they are put upon by biggots, only they are serious and I am not. I just wanted to see how it felt. I find most of it humorous, but then I am a white male christian overachiever and that would make me inelligible to whine.
Lars,
Is there a television series depicting your Vikings as big, hedonistic conquerers? No?
There was a program which ran for some time called, ‘The Sopranos’. Depicting Italians in the Northeast U.S. as some fat, unintelligent meatheads, bullies. A ‘Good Fellas’ if you will shown on a weekly series format.. pathetic.
I didn’t agree nor like the program and ignored it. Nessun gran cosa..
If Chris Christie runs in ’12 or ’16, I bet you Sopranos footage is re-released ad nauseuem.
Politicians have an abiding faith that increasing tax rates increases tax revenue.
And so it does – for a while.
My sister lives in the Chicago area. She’s a single mom with two boys–one in college and another in a private high school (because the local high school sucks). She can’t afford this kind of dint in her income, and neither can her employer.
The cities of Northwest Indiana–Hammond, Gary, Whiting, East Chicago, Merrillville, etc.–have dire unemployment numbers. Illinois companies moving a few miles east will be a big boon to those cities. At least my sis lives close enough to the border to commute.
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Fernandez, Driscoll, Kimball should be followed with this trailer, not everyone.
~ Jas 2:8 ¶ If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. ~
This is the path to peace and prosperity. In this post and comments that is not what I see. Both the giver of favors and the receivers of favors are corrupt and that is like the sand which was the foundation to the house in the sermon on the mount. When the storm and floods come the sand erodes and there is no foundation on which that house can stand. That has happen to all who embrace corruption and Socialism. It is a law that is beyond the reach of legislature and the executive. It is the law that offends all those who choose that course and there is no respect of persons in this instance.
When we look out for the welfare of our neighbor we should remember we are their neighbor so it will also apply to us. If we harass our neighbor we will also be harassed as we are his neighbor. This law has never changed. You cannot steal from yourself but you can be defrauded and lose your wealth though covetousness.
They figure (rightly) that the middle class and upper middle class suburbanites of Chicago cannot move. The reason is that they cannot sell their houses. In some of those neighborhoods houses have been on the market for 18 months. Reason no one buys is no one wants to move there — at any price. Because there are no jobs.
So what is the definition of someone who cannot move from their land and can be hammered with taxes — property, income, and sales? A serf.
Evanston (IL), a suburb just north of Chicago’s City Limit, is being hit with a double whammy. The Evanston Township High School has decided to drop its freshman honors English classes and force all students into a regular “humanities” course. Some homeowners already are seeing potential buyers back off despite the interest in the actual physical house and lot charactersistics, citing a lack of willingness to enroll in the ETHS system.
Nahhhh, those peace loving mobs from Chi town would never seek to financially enslave their constituency. Have they ever done sucha thing in the past? You are so far off the mark. Are you not familiar with the kumbayah singing and utopian peace in South Chicago? obama is from South Chicago and he is so passive he makes Buddhist monks look like bloodthirsty savages. Nevermind that remark about bringing a gun to a knife fight. That’s just his peace loving organized crime side coming out. Really, there’s nothing to worry about.
On the other hand,…..
What time will this be shown and discussed on Pravda America (MSNBC and CNN)?
I won’t be holding my breath.
The liberal voter who lives in poverty ,thinks that all liberal politicans are on their side and don’t have much money. Well poor city liberals living in poverty check out your poor politicans. Gore , multi millionaire, owns many , many homes. Clinton’s worth many many millions. Kerry, ‘WOW’ . McCain, a liberal thinker , another ‘WOW” Soros, can’t count that high. Obamass, getting there. Preachers Jackson, Rangel, Walters, and many other poor liberals politicans that have you brain-washed into thinking that they are on your side. They feel your pain. Tell them to cough up some of their illegal money and give you some to pay your bills , and feed your family. Don’t think so. Enjoy your happy meal at Mcdonalds.
A man was telling his co-worker one day that the company was transferring him to Chicago. He explained that he was going to quit before he had to move there.
When asked why, he replied that he was just too afraid of all the crime even though he would be passing up a big salary increase and greater benefits.
His co-worker said to reconsider and that Chicago was a magnificent city, with world class museums, loaded with a great history, sites, close to Canada, good public transportation, etc.
Then he said: “Why I myself worked in Chicago for almost 10 years and in all that time I never ever had a problem with crime while I was working.”
The first asked, “What did you do there?”
To which the other replied, “I was tail-gunner on a bread truck.”
Well for every dark cloud there is a silver lining. And here the silver is going to show up in Indiana, and Wisconsin, and Iowa and well all throughout the Midwest and maybe even the upper South. Heck if I were Governor of any of those states I would have immediately, within say a microsecond of the passing of that stupid tax increase, had ads out urging business to relocate to my state where the tax rate is either reasonable or non-existent and get out from under the thumb of big state government. In a few more years there won’t be any “taxpayers” in Illinois, only tax receipt recipients; entitlement seekers in other words. Good job, Illinois!!!!!
Okay, Moran…What is it about Sarah Palin that you just can’t resist your lower instincts and has you labeling her a “goof ball”? Honestly, I’d like to know. I get it that Progressives hate her for what she is: an attractive, intelligent, successful, principled, strong woman willing to call it like she sees it. I get that. But you? Many of us who read this website have a lot of respect for that woman. Obviously, you don’t. That’s your right. (I’ve got a real strong feeling that I don’t like you either, Rick, even though we’ve never met.) But I’ll tell you WHY I think you are a “goof ball.” — You do the drive-by thing. You come before us and take your shot at a woman many of us admire, and you drive on by. No arguments. No proof. Just your little snarky shot. That’s why you are a “Goof Ball”. So enlighten us, Rick, and tell us why you think Sarah is one, too.