Must-Reads for April 27
State Journal-Register: Quinn defends Medicaid plan, despite job-loss claims
Gov. Pat Quinn defended his proposed Medicaid cuts Wednesday, even in the face of a new report that claims more than 25,000 jobs will be lost if his plan is enacted.
National Review: Public-employee unions gone wild
Ninety percent of public employees in the United States enjoy defined-benefit pension plans, meaning they will receive a guaranteed income, and usually health insurance, until death. These benefits are prohibitively expensive, and more so when they are tied to retirement ages that are atypically low.
Must-Reads for April 26
Washington Post: Illinois is running out of time and money
After trying to tax Illinois to governmental solvency and economic dynamism, Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has been governor since 2009, now says “our rendezvous with reality has arrived.” Actually, Illinois is still reality-averse, so Americans may soon learn the importance of the freedom to fail in a system of competitive federalism.
Belleville News-Democrat: Illinois auditor blasts workers' comp system
The workers' compensation system that determines monetary awards for injured state employees has "numerous shortcomings," according to a report issued Wednesday by Illinois Auditor General William Holland. In general, Illinois is too quick to hand out awards to its employees who claim they were hurt on the job, and doesn't have enough workers to spot fraud.
Forbes: The 99% need growth, not economic fairness
President Obama and his merry band of Progressives are beating the drums for big tax increases on “The 1%” for the sake of “fairness”. However, if you look at the numbers, “The 99%” needs faster economic growth a lot more than it needs Obama’s version of “tax fairness”.
Must-Reads for April 25
Bloomberg Businessweek: Illinois taxpayers penalized by unpaid-bill backlog
With its pile of unpaid bills growing about 30 percent this year, the weakest pension-funding ratio among states and falling federal aid, Illinois and its municipalities are paying a penalty above AAA debt that’s twice their five-year average.
State Journal-Register: Illinois backlog of bills tops $5.5 billion
The state of Illinois owed vendors, hospitals, local government, schools and others nearly $5.6 billion at the end of March, according to the state comptroller, but one Springfield nonprofit says it’s more worried about potential Medicaid cuts than what the state owes.
Must-Reads for April 24
Chicago Tribune: Bag the bag bill
You wonder how government gets so big? How state statute books grow by the inch each year? How spending goes up here and there, everywhere? This is how.
The American: The Midwest's growth lessons for America
The areas within the Midwest that have gotten the basics right are poaching people and companies from the areas that haven’t. Any economic development strategy that ignores the basics in favor of a more stylized theory of growth will usually run off the rails before too long. Americans, at the end of the day, want the places they live to get the basics right so they themselves can build their lives, start their businesses, and raise their children as they wish.
Must-Reads for April 23
Wall Street Journal: Joel Kotkin - the Great California Exodus
Nearly four million more people have left the Golden State in the last two decades than have come from other states. This is a sharp reversal from the 1980s, when 100,000 more Americans were settling in California each year than were leaving. According to Mr. Kotkin, most of those leaving are between the ages of 5 and 14 or 34 to 45. In other words, young families.
New York Post: An $8 billion trick?
The most oppressive aspects of the ObamaCare law don’t kick in until after the 2012 election, when the president will no longer be answerable to voters. More “flexibility,” he recently explained to the Russians. But certain voters would surely notice one highly painful part of the law before then — namely, the way it guts the popular Medicare Advantage program.
