Caterpillar might be leaving Illinois..
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/article_3c23590c-572a-11e0-afc0-001cc4c002e0.html
I hate to say I told you so...... In case you don't click on the links - the first is a story in the Pantagraph about Caterpillar considering leaving the state of Illinois, and the second is my prediction of this occurrence posted back in January on this site.
I know a lot of you out there seem to think there is no difference in our political parties. You're partially right, in that the power and the money can go to their heads, and some become corrupted by the system. Some, not all. However, in this state there are distinct differences in the overall fiscal policies that have a direct impact on our lives. Here is one. Rather than tackle the real issue of gross overspending, democrats in this state passed a massive tax increase that doesn't even come close to fixing the problem. Some people told Jimmy John good riddance when he thought about moving. What do you think they're going to do in Peoria if they lose 23,000 jobs to another state? "Good riddance Cat," who needs 23,000 high paying jobs anyway?
Keep on electing fiscally irresponsible politicians, and this state will go bankrupt. What do you think will happen to the U of I when the state is bankrupt? You think you saw some unrest in Madison when they attempted to take away the collective bargaining rights, wait till all the profs and teachers and workers don't get their retirement checks and medical benefits. If you're a union member for the state of Illinois, you'd be crazy to vote for a democrat for governor. They are spending your retirement people. They owe you $70 plus billion dollars and have NO plan on paying any of it back, except to tax all the companies and high paying jobs out of the state and borrow money.
Meanwhile, in Springfield, democrats continue to OVERSPEND their budget by BILLIONS of dollars with no end in sight.
Get your heads out of the sand, and put people in office who have the guts to make a real change for the better.
I am tired of companies
I am tired of companies thinking that they have to have everything given to them to stay around. It is nothing more than a shakedown. Companies give the jobs to the highest bidder and that needs to stop. It should be against federal law for anyone to offer incentives to a corporation.
Are you saying that
Are you saying that corporations have no moral or social responsibility? Do they not owe something back to those who invested their tax dollars in their profitability? What kind of ROI do tax payers deserve, is not their investment money as important as those who bought stock, especially since every investment dollar put in, is now gone?
The view that we are to give corporations whatever they want and they owe nothing in return except to the billionaires that own their stocks is the view of the Robber Barons of a hundred years ago. And the view of the money men today who now finish draining the citizen dry.
There is no question that we have an issue with regard to governmental spending. However, the American public has been trained well in following the Rushdies and sound-bites of the corporate media, jumping on command to whatever conclusion is the official story line of the day.
Today’s governmental spending was predicated on the business model set forth by corporate interests. Corporate charters granted by the citizens who are not allowed to challenge those same corporate charters social agendas. A model that dictated huge public money outlays, in lieu of corporate tax dollars refilling those public coffers.
An unsustainable symbiotic relationship, destine for failure at the first major financial crash, but even more exacerbated by the skipping town of the corporate thieves who now through law and guile, fail to pay their fair share of the tax burden.
Until WWII corporations paid their fair share of taxes, but in the ensuing years as the public was trained to accept anything that corporations do as being good, have let them become the social deadbeat, waiting on the porch for their next corporate welfare check.
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/06/corporate-vs-pe.html
Corporations that can do whatever they want and never be held accountable
http://www.cleanupge.org/gemisdeeds.html
Corporations that can make 14 billion in profit and pay no taxes of any kind.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html
Corporations that not only skip town on paying taxes but control the public’s perception of what the real issues are, by owning the media that feeds the ignorance. NOTE: notice the headline, notice how the most rightwing, imperial, corporate, oligarchyian issue is touted as “liberal”, keeping the message on track and the faithful well trained.
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2011/03/31/nbcs-refusal-...
Corporate ownership so complete that they own our politica, all the way to the Presidency
http://wwwamericanpatriot-vance.blogspot.com/2009/04/general-electric-ow...
Or course the ultimate goal is turning our democratic nation into a dictatorship, through the continued expansion of the corporate beast that controls us all.
http://saladin-avoiceinthewilderness.blogspot.com/2011/03/inc-beast.html
We don’t have a spending crisis, we have a social responsibility crisis!
Until the right wing Limbaughnese speaking side wakes up to what they are helping perpetuate, we will continue to be fleeced by the money men who control nearly every aspect of our lives. Faceless unknown men, who force us further into generational servitude through unlimited public usury that in turn helps fuel their shareholder profitability.
It takes a village many generations to make a strong society, it only takes a corporation a few years to steal it blind.
Bluegrass, Great reply,
Bluegrass,
Great reply, thanks.
This is where we probably agree to disagree indeed.
The Democrats for years have been a party of the people, throwing huge dollars at programs to benefit people. From health care, elder care, etc, their focus has always been about those underserved and for that we should be grateful.
However, we can both agree that it’s gone to far and now with the collapse of the capitalist system in lieu of the money men’s takeover, corporations will become ever increasingly mobile in today’s flat world and easily skip town owing their fair share.
The Republicans must shoulder some of the blamed in all of this, as their motto has always been less oversight because business will always be kind to us and let’s give them anything they want so they will come and play. A party that talks the talk but rarely walks the walk of a market free of corporate welfare, a great example is how one corporation can make billions in 2010 and never pay a dime in taxes.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/general-electric-paid-federal-taxes-2010/...
Boeing is another prime example. We gave them how many tax incentives, provide them with how much tax money to move here, only to see them probably skip town as soon as their contractual obligations are finished. I see little difference in personal welfare and corporate welfare, how about you? Meanwhile we are left to pick up the tab of thier profitering.
We’ve seen this in Danville a few times, where the local and state government dumped millions into getting some corporate machine in here, only to see it fold and leave when they’ve sucked the public coffers dry.
Both parties are owned by corporate interest, especially now that soulless corporate beasts who have the rights of the individual in a court of law, can now dump whatever monies they want into the political system.
And what do we get? The likes of a Wisconsin thug who has no interest in public discourse but to bring out the muscle to do as his benefactors want – to finish the destruction of the last remaining union power. The last remaining balancing power. against the corporate machinery now consuming us all. Even going so far as to ignore a court order.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/27/wisconsin-department-moving-i...
Trust me, the man was not even in the same galaxy as Jim Edgar. Jim Edgar’s brilliances was not that he was a Republican, but that he was a Governor for the people of Illinois, who brought all sides together through leadership, not at the end of a bullwhip like today’s Republican candidates.
The reason why the Republicans lost in the last Illinois election is not because of their social/economic positions, as the majority in the state support much of what they have to offer. The Pubs lost because the gubernatorial candidate that they ran was a right wing nut that few if any to the left of center could vote for.
His thug like demeanor and radial stands on issues like women’s rights, lost the election. Yes it played well to the Republican faithful that would vote for a Republican even if it was the devil himself, but it turned off everybody else who are independent thinkers. Hippy or not, a thug is a thug and people are tired of the trash talk by the likes of millionaire politicians.
It really boiled down to this. Let’s see - do we want a radical rightie, or a spendie leftie – Hummm, think I’ll go with the softie side because I’m tired of all the warring wingies.
Here’s what’s going to happen. The Republican machine will continue to grind on, throwing up leadership like our former Bill Black that loves to scream and throw tantrums like a little child, candidates who lip sink Rush Limbaugheas and threatening anyone who thinks differently.
The Democrats will in turn continue unopposed to spend freely until we are bankrupt and everything collapses, because people are more fearful of the hobnailed Republican’s in power than a Democratic Governor who spends our money like a drunken sailor in the red light district.
There is no difference between the two parties as their only focus is in self preservation and they will say anything and do anything to continue attracting the hypnotized support base necessary for their own preservation.
And this is why nothing will change until we cut the umbilical cord that attaches their diseased carcass to us and stop this symbiotic relationship that’s killing us all.
if Boeing leaves after their
if Boeing leaves after their contract is up why should we be angry at them, theyre just doing whats best for their company and stockholders, its the state of Illinois that failed them and us by raising taxes and overspending, as for r the democrats, throwing money at problems has only resulted in an entire generation of people who expect someone to throw money at them instead of getting a job.
One of the interesting things
One of the interesting things about parasites is that you usually don’t know you have them until it’s to late, such is the case in Illinois State government. And as the old saying goes, “Politicians are like diapers, you need to change them often or they really begin to smell”.
Yes, the Democratic controlled government has in recent years ran the train off the rails and is in the process of burying it completely. Their recent increase in taxation, will drive many from the state, putting us further in debt and increasing our misery.
Meanwhile over this same period the Republicans have played the fool, fielding war hawks with vitriol voices that dominated not only their own party members, but made moderates think twice about voting for them.
Until Republicans realize that they need people like former Governor Jim Edgar (probably one of the best Illinois Governors in the 20th century) to win elections, they will continue to be on the outside looking in. Because until you can swing the Chicago area voters with a moderate Republican candidate, Republicans will never control Illinois politics.
So yes, the Democrats continue their love fest in spending the peoples money on the people, as the Republicans love giving big business all the breaks, both dwindling the state coffers in their own ways. But until Republicans learn a little love instead of hate speech against anything outside their little right wing terror world, things will not change.
My observation is this. As long as people like you keep voting for the same two political parties, they will never have any incentive to change and you will continue to have the same problem year in and year out.
So if you voted for either of the dysfunctional political parties in the last election, you have simply been a host for an ever growing parasite and you have absolutely no excuse in complaining. Because until you cut off it’s food source, which is your vote, you’re one of those who keeps the filthy two headed beast alive.
My cousin works for Boeing,
My cousin works for Boeing, he said they may be next
These other states would have
These other states would have to offer additional incentives to get Caterpillar to move. "bluegrass" would have to demonstrate which of the states who have contacted Caterpillar truly would have lower cost for Caterpillar after factoring the cost of moving.
bluegrass: Explain/justify
bluegrass: Explain/justify your claim that "other states provide a healthier business climate than we do here in the Land of Lincoln"
Why do people continue to
Why do people continue to elect officials who run the state government into the ground? As a generalization, electable legislative candidates must have wealthy connections, be good at self-promotion, and tell people what they want to hear because the candidates are virtually unknown personally to the voters. Most people's only source of candidate information comes from the media and gaining favorable media requires connections and/or money to market yourself or tear down your opposition. Regular folks can run against a well funded candidate but, without publicity, no one will ever know who they are or have any measure to gauge their potential. People with electable qualities are not particularly representative of the voters nor do they possess particularly admirable attributes but I guess people would rather take the crook they know than the unknown. Obviously, there are exceptions and some very good people can make it through but they are the exception rather than the rule.
This is why we need sortition in the House. Give us a randomly selected citizen review board who can educate themselves on the issues and serve as a check on an elected Senate. They won't be perfect but they only need to be better than what we have now to see an improvement and I can't see how they couldn't do a better job when loyalties to campaign funders and buying votes with pork projects are removed from the equation. Real citizens with a real incentive to do a good job and not just good enough to grease the wheels to keep the paychecks rolling. Just takes 300K signatures to put it to the voters to decide!
The problem is not in the
The problem is not in the election of democrat legislators but in the election of legislators at all. I say the House should be chosen by sortition as a common sense citizen check on the elected Senate. That would put a big damper on the runaway spending. Just takes 300k signatures to get this on the ballot.
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