[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Then say goodbye to:

- Collective bargaining for tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of hardworking union members (if you and others really think Unions are a bad thing, then please move to Texas)

I'm not sure if you are aware that Illinois massive governing problems are almost exclusively a result of the union-democrat circle jerk that has been going on for a century. Unions elect democrats who pay the unions back with ridiculous legislative rewards and public sector contracts.

Is being like Texas with a 5% unemployment rate, 4% GDP growth, and an economy that is creating jobs faster than just about any other state such a bad thing?

- Clean drinking water, not to mention possible severe relaxation of federal/EPA environmental rules. Oh yeah, enjoy having Lake Michigan inundated with Asian carp (even though you Steely have said in other threads in the forum that that damn fish poses no threat).

I'm sure a state governor can override the Federal Government (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers. Too bad the governor can't do anything of the sorts...

- Dissolution of film tax credits (I personally know dozens of folks who work in film/tv/commercial production, among thousands in the state who will see their jobs going to Atlanta or NC or even Canada if Rauner wins - believe it)

How is he going to do that with the legislature in the hands of the Democrats?

- (necessary) stalling of in-state hydraulic fracturing, both downstate and closer to Chicagoland, which as we've seen in Oklahoma and TX works wonder for the environment, and doesn't cause any earthquake problems, whatsoever.

Honestly? Who cares? The "earthquakes" created by Fracking are essentially undetectable to humans in all but the rarest cases. Quarry blasting causes much more noticeable shockwaves yet I don't see you advocating a concrete ban...

- Any possibility for resolving the state pension crisis, unless you don't mind the unemployment rate going up above 9-10% again, within the next 2 years.

Oh yes, I'm sure addressing the problem that is threatening impending ECONOMIC DOOM will cause the economy to crash. The pension problem here is orders of magnitude worse than anywhere else in the country and, based upon the fat check I just had to send in when I filed my extensions last week, it certainly is not a result of low taxation. That leaves only one cause: the pensions themselves. If the economy is harmed by knocking our pensions back into line with the rest of the country then that's a price we are going to have to pay regardless of who is governing. That's the price we have to pay for living an economic lie for decades.

- the dream of hiking the state minimum wage to a decent living wage for those who desperately need it most.

Yes, hiking the minimum wage will attract countless employers to Illinois. We will be unstoppable then since we are already known as a business paradise... /SARCASM




The fact is that the Democrat-union alliance has been driving Illinois into the ground for decades now and it's time for a change. Whether we like it or not, we are now completely surrounded by right to work states with 21st century employment policies. The days of high wage manufacturing jobs are over and it has nothing to do with China or corporations. Labor is obsolete and the age of automation is upon us. We can choose to ignore those facts or we can adapt to them. Believe me, I'd love to have the Hawthorne Works and Brach's Candy Plant back running at full steam, but to believe anything even remotely close to that will happen ever again is flat out delusional. The same delusions have led to the pension crisis because we have a political alliance between a certain party and a certain special interest group.

This alliance has burdened Illinois long enough and it's time we snap out of it. This isn't about "the 99%" or "corporate raiders" or any of that nonsense. This is about reality and the cold hard fact is that Illinois state government has been living a lie for longer than I've been alive. Every generation (Mayor Daley for a Chicago example) has been playing hot potato with this hand grenade, but I'd like to release the handle (the pin was long ago pulled) and give it a heave before it explodes in our hands. I'm young, I'd rather deal with a decade long depression now than be enslaved to an economic farce for the remainder of my life.

Rauner can't solve everything, but he's a step towards reality. Now if only we could give him a supermajority in both houses like our neighbors to the north.