The Governor's Race in Illinois

Oh goodie, another governor's race, another let down. The governor's race in Illinois is starting up...and already it doesn't bode too well for many that will be directly effected by the outcome. We have at least 2 darlings for the teabaggers, 1 1/2 for the dollarcrats, poor Kirk Dillard, who's been forced to dumb down so as to look like a teabagger...but not one for citizens who are intelligent and compassionate, at least so far.
So, the players of today:
Patrick Quinn: The Governor as of today. I always feel a bit sorry for Mr. Quinn. He was the true outsider, in his day, he was the face of CUB, Citizen's Utility Board, he's been a force in the 'outsider's' club, he was fired by Harold Washington because of his inability to get involved with day to day politics...he knew how to agitate, not negotiate...in fact, he is the true outsider, unlike Rauner who knows how to grease palms. BUT that causes a big problem when you're governor cuz he's the one that has no friends. That can work in campaign ads, but it doesn't work after the election, specially when you're dealing with Mike Madigan.
Bill Daley: All I can say is always running on the coattails....he has never won a political position, but has been given many. In fact, when he's thought about running, he jumps out before the opposition polling attacks. Also, another Dollarcrat--not Democrat; a lapdog for the Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Federation. He was involved with my nemesis, the evil Chase Bank...
Bruce Rauner: Well, he does own a German Wirehaired Pointer, one point in his favor. One point...but he's also given $$$$$ to break the Chicago Teacher's Union(he was instrumental in getting the bill passed that made it illegal for Chicago teachers to strike unless they had a 75% pro-strike vote...and the teachers outsmarted him by getting over 75% of a strike vote--he's still pissed about this), he's on the board of a charter school corporation, and brought the "Stand For Children"(read screw the teachers) group to Illinois(their policy insists that charter schools are the end all/be all and teacher's unions are evil...teachers should just feel blessed that they get to teacher our brats....err....angels and get paid a little better than minimum wage). He's listed on 21 Boards
And who did he speak to while trying to make up his mind to run? Scott Walker--who's placed WI in 50th place in the union in keeping jobs and enticing new businesses, Bobby "The Exorcist" Jindahl, who has allowed charter schools to run amok in Lousiana...and is consistently in the bottom 10 of educational ability of states(and the same for jobs), Chris Christie--another teacher abuser(notice how all of these 'men' enjoy abusing women?), and just signed a bill to allow 50 caliber weapons in NJ---after he said he wouldn't, and, last, but not least...although probably the smallest, Mitch Daniels--again, abuse of teachers, championed a right to work for less law in Indiana. And the Trib says this guy is fascinating--just like a train wreck, I imagine, for working people.
And, of course, he's running as the "outsider", although he's been on winning end of political appointments. You know, the ones in charge that aren't elected. He blames the "union bosses" for all of the issues with the state, never the corporate welfare that Illinois vomits out(Sears, Caterpillar, Google, CME, Office Max...and on and on and on...oh, and giving these big corporations tax cuts/rebates/refunds and not paying the bill). I'm always amazed when I hear how much power I have as a "union thug/boss" while still having to fight for the pension that I paid up to 9% of my income into...while the state hung out with the likes of Rauner(who, by the way made his money with...wait for it...outsourcing our jobs to other countries!). He's been outspoken on how our economy hurts Illinois' ability to create jobs while praising Walker...although since Walker took over Wisconsin, he's lost about 10,000 jobs...and Illinois has gained over 30,000 jobs. Seems like Rauner can't even understand basic math. OK, so his math issue may be to blame for his non-payment of taxes in Cook County.
Kirk Dillard(R): If Dillard had won the last governor's primary, he'd probably be governor now. He knows how to talk to both sides of the aisle, knows how to negotiate. BUT since his run in with teabagger Chris Nybo, he's been dancing with the right wing crazies...so will the real Kirk Dillard, please stand up...
Bill Brady: He made his money the old fashioned way--he married it. He plays the "pull yourself up be the bootstraps" crap without telling people how he made his money(again, so....was he on his knees?) Another CINO(christian in name only). Would love to get rid of worker protection for public employees and thinks right to work for less is just fantastic...
Dan Rutherford(R): Rutherford is a life long politician. He's been a state representative(93-2002), state senator(02-10), born in Pontiac, was a "business executive" before running for office, of course that was 20 years ago. Recently, he's come out against the new education initiative, Common Core Standards, which does have conservative support...except for the likes of teabaggers and Glenn Beck. Although he voted for civil unions in Illinois, he's against marriage equality, feeling that a 24 hour marriage in Vegas between a man and a woman holds much more love/honor than a 40 year same sex relationship. And what do you serve with hypocrisy, Mr. Rutherford? He's also a member of ALEC, which doesn't bode well for middle class/working Illinoisans.
So, there's my take on how our governor race is shaping up....sad to say, but unless Dillard decides to be Kirk Dillard and not Kirk"OH PLEASE...I'LL VOTE FOR BATSHIT CRAZY RIGHT WING LEGISLATION!!!", I may be voting for Quinn again.

Ralph Martire is My Hero--Illinois Fiscal Policy Wonk.

Ralph Martire is the executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountablility which is a bipartisan nonprofit research group that studies budget and fiscal matters. Mr. Martire also writes a monthly column for the Springfield Journal Register.

This month's column dealt with how government spends money. There are 2 ways, first directly on services(roads, education, medical, prisons, human services, etc.) but the other way is indirectly by enacting tax breaks/cuts.

I think all of us understand the first category at least a bit, although some skew it to just spending on poor lazy people who just won't get a job(of course they are the only ones that use the roads, education, medical, IEMA, Commerce Agency....yes, I'm being snarky). But the second category is a bit wonkier....now, we, as normal people, do receives some tax cuts, dependent and property tax "cuts" could be considered "tax expenditures", but this category are giving to businesses to allegedly "help fund a public good", you know-economic development. Such as jobs.

OK, the first category, direct expenditures, are given direct funds from the budget...hence the term, "direct expenditures"(OK, duh), but indirect or tax expenditures, Illinois doesn't collect anything, they allow businesses to keep the profits they would pay in taxes(or a percentage) and expect the business to provide a public good...you know, jobs and such. Now, don't get me wrong, this is a very "noble" aspect and a good partnership, if neither partner tries to screw the other...HELLO Google, Sears, CME! I'm talking about you!

Once corporate tax cuts(rarely are these given to the mom and pop small business groups--cities and counties can give local tax cuts) are made law...the cuts are not inspected to see if they are being used as intended...you know, more jobs rather than...oh...junkets to Costa Rica.  Corporations don't have to come back on a yearly basis, begging for their tax cut, unlike schools, social service agencies--they must make their argument annually for their share of the budget...and these same services also compete with each other for what's in the pot...sort of like the reality shows like Survivor or Fear Factor(among others), each agency has to prove their more worthy than the next for a budget that keeps shrinking...strongest man left standing. 

Now, its understandable that during times of sluggish economy, services might have to fight to be King of the Hill, but why only those? Why not corporate tax cuts? As I noted, both Google and Sears are still receiving the tax cuts even tho they lied about how they were going to help Illinois! Everyone needs to pay their fair share.

SB1159/HB390, the Close Corporate Tax Loopholes bills were written during this session to close/investigate changes within a couple of our worst loopholes in Illinois. Forcing service providers to slug it out for funding during difficult fiscal times may be unavoidable, but why only direct expenditures? Why not big corporations having to also be scrutinized? Tax expenditures should also be scrutinized. Even Gov. Quinn endorses it as well as having bi-partisan supporters.

The first loophole that was identified in this bill is the Foreign Dividend Exemption. Corporations in Illinois don't have to pay any taxes on dividends made in foreign lands, only on profits in the United States...could we make it any easier for companies to move much of their profits into dummy corporations in, oh, I don't know, Viet Nam????? How about the job outsourcing? No taxes paid for that call center in India? Cool, lets screw the Illinois citizens. This is an annual loss of $300 million.

The second loophole is almost as bad as the first. The Domestic Activities Production Deduction which is guided by federal law that states that businesses may deduct 9% of their income if they are producing anywhere in the United States. So, what does Illinois do? We have the same freakin' wording, so that if an Illinois company moves its business to say, Alabama, it get to keep the deduction from the Illinois business instead of only making it about Illinois. Yes, this does encourage businesses within the US, but why not just make it for Illinois? Instead of encouraging businesses to grow in other states?  The cost of this idiotic law? $100 million annually.

And last, the non combination rule. This rule exempts all financial, insurance and transportation businesses from reporting all profits. So, if I'm in charge of a big corporation that has a transportation subsidiary...how long do you think it'd take me to figure out, move most, if not all, of my profits to that business and not pay taxes? Maybe an hour if I'm a bit dull, I'd say. This costs us about $25 million--not as large as the other 2, but I'd pick it up in a flash, wouldn't you?

And as we know in these times of corporate greed and lobbyists, this bill wasn't even called for a vote.

But there a couple  more that I'd like to see changed and I've complained about them in the past:

The Retailer's Discount on Sales Taxes and Accelerated Depreciation.

Accelerated depreciation is very easy to understand. Some businesses get to depreciate equipment (computers, cars, JETS) at a faster rate than other businesses--doesn't sound very fair to me.

The Retailers Discount goes sorta like this---I go to a store, buy $100 worth of clothing and pay the 6.25% state sales tax. The retailer then sends the $6.25 to the state at the end of the quarter/year, right? Nope. This  tax cut allows the retailer to keep some of the sales tax. It was established years ago when it was more difficult to figure out the taxes in a small window of time. My idea? To the State legislature...ummm, we have computers now, this problem is alleviated! Get rid of this giveaway NOW!  This costs the state between $4-5 Billion annually! We wouldn't have a so-called pension problem if we changed this law to only include small local businesses. Walmart walks out with an extra $9 million a year---you mean to tell me you think Walmart, the one that pays its employees so little that over 80% receive medicaid and food stamps...and we give them another $9 Million of our tax money?????
Yes, its time for some changes in Illinois, but that means everyone should pay their fair share, not just Mr. and Ms. John Q Public...Caterpillar its time to get your lazy ass off of corporate welfare and get to work!

Governor Quinn is being a mouse turd

Yeah, I get it, the state is in financial ruin(if we made the 2/3 corp.that pay no income tax pay like citizens have to, it wouldn't be).
Yeah, I get it, we have a pension(Although I don't get the meme of how much we make, since over 60% make under $25K and no social security).
NO I DON'T GET WHY WE'RE THE PROBLEM!!!!
Governor Quinn decided he's gonna take his ball and go home....just like the mouse turds that use to do that in neighborhood ball---name your sport, football, basketball, baseball---you know the kid. He wasn't able to bully the other kids into what he wanted so his panties got in a bunch and he owned the ball.
REALLY????
Gov. Quinn Cancelled our contract and lied about the reasons why: he said AFSCME wanted too much money, we wouldn't even think about playing ball(not when "playing ball" meant a 20% pay cut). He whined that we were just too mean....
Again, REALLY???
Let's look at what has been happening for the last....oh...30 years...
First, for the employees: Employees have paid into the pension every paycheck their fair share, somewhere between 4 - 9% of their paycheck, every paycheck, towards their pension.
Second, AFSCME has negotiated, for at least the past 30 years to protect pensions--we've gone without raises/benefits/language to keep the pension for our members. Why? Because we thought it was important for our members to be safe during retirement.
Third, the state's reaction to pensions? For the past 30 years, they've acted like a drunken sailor when it came to pension payments. Not only have they not paid their part for at least 26 of the past 30 years, but they took my money out to spend on other things such as projects the governors wanted to do(remember Illinois First? That was done with public employees pension funds) or to pay other funds. And now? Oh, its too much of a bother to pay what they owe...I feel the same way about my mortgage, but I still must pay it - if I want to keep my house. The same for the state of Illinois--if they want to keep their employees, they must pay what is due.
And then, there are the lies that Quinn has told. The first one? Before the election, he spoke about how much retirees made when they retired. He said that if an employee in 1992 was making $65K, that retiree now would have doubled what he was receiving due to the overgenerous COLA...sure. What Quinn didn't relay is that in 1992, the average pension was about $11,000 a year, no where close to $65K(that was the pols and governor appointees) so, even if he is right about the pension doubling in 20 years, that doubling would only amount to $22K for most long term retirees!
And some more lies: Quinn whines he's cancelling the contract because AFSCME is being mean...you know how bullies are, they either intimidate you or snitch that you're being mean...BUT the facts are far from what he's whining about.
AFSCME negotiated a contract, but came back to the table to defer raises and find money savings in health insurance 2 years ago. AFSCME also requested meeting about negotiating changes in retirement earned benefits with only one caveat--that these changes would only effect future retirees, not present ones. The union was rebuffed by the Governor. AFSCME has always tried to work with the state during times of duress, but that doesn't mean we are going to roll over and play dead. Now some facts:

• Quinn is arguing that AFSCME is making excessive demands in negotiations. The truth? AFSCME has been at the bargaining table for almost a year now working in good faith to try to reach a contract settlement. Contrary to the governor’s claims, the Union’s economic proposals have been very moderate in recognition of the state’s dire fiscal condition.
• Quinn tries to give the impression that the Union has been dragging its feet in negotiations. In fact, progress in negotiations has been moving at a snail's pace for only one reason -- the Quinn Administration for more than 10 months was demanding that every employee’s pay had to be cut by 10%. And Administration is the one that cancelled meetings, not AFSCME.
•  Even now the Administration continues to demand that employees’ wages be reduced by demanding a three-year wage/step freeze and massive health care cost increases.  
• Quinn is basing his efforts to drive down employee wages on the lie that Illinois state employee salaries are the highest in the country. NOT TRUE. Although Illinois ranks 7th in the nation for wages, Illinois public employees rank only 9th, compared to other states.  

And, yes, I know, AFSCME endorsed Quinn during the last Governor's election. But I don't think we really had much of a choice, considering Brady(R) veers on teabagger and made his money the old fashioned way---he married into it and Whitney(G) had no game---no ground game, no finance game, no election game. Yes, Mr. Whitney had good ideas, but no one knows who he is, which means, no name recognition for the voters.
So, what happens now? We live in a state that seems determined to bankrupt seniors so 2/3 of Illinois based corporations pay nothing in income taxes. We seem to think its just fine if these seniors lose their homes, their savings, their future, their dignity, but can't change our laws so that the state receives all of the 6.5% of retail tax, instead of retailers keeping about 1.5%(which gives Wallmart an extra $9 million in profits just cuz they don't have to pay the tax to the state).
But, then, there we are--I think the administration of this state would like to pay us the way Wallmart pays their employees...little to nothing and the employees qualify for food stamps and Medicaid...so, then the state budget crisis would just go from so-called pension problem to the Medicaid and food stamp program...but at least the employees of those agencies know what they need to qualify for those benefits. Just very sad and shameful.

There has been much skuddlebutt about who wants to do what to/for seniors...so where are the views of the 2 parties and the candidates? Glad you asked:

1. Maintain Medicare's free preventive services:

Because of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare patients now receive many screenings and an annual "Wellness visit"(although you must use this terminology when making your appointment with your doctor). Seniors also receive cancer screenings and other disease prevention services with no copays.

Obama supports this, Romney wants to terminate this care

2. Continue closing the Medicare part D "donut hole".

First, for people who haven't dealt with this, this is how the donut hole worked prior to the ACA(Obamacare): Senior prescriptions were covered until they got up to $2750...then, even tho seniors were still paying the drug insurance premium, they were responsible for prescription costs up to $4500, then Part D would kick in again. This may not sound like much...except I know that one of my prescriptions, without my insurance, costs about $400, and I have 2 more that add up to $400...this is per month( I have insurance and I only pay a co-pay)...and these are for asthma, blood-pressure, not some rare disease. So it'd only take maybe 3 months for part D to throw me in the donut hole, not too much help.

In the ACA, the "donut hole" has already been cut in half and will be closed by 2020 and this affects over 4 million seniors!

Obama, obviously, supports this. Romney? Nope, let those seniors pay the high prices.Can't afford it, get a job.

3. Stop waste, fraud, abuse in Medicare:

The ACA puts laws in place that ends subsidies for insurance companies, tracking down fraudulent providers who either overcharge or try to swindle Medicare. Just this piece of the legislation is predicted to add about 10 years to Medicare Solvency! In one Fiscal Year alone, this act saved over $4 Billion in fraud and overcharges. 

And yes, again, Obama supports this, but Romney doesn't....

So is there anything that Romney supports? Oh, sure.....

4. Raise the Retirement age:

Romney, Ryan and many of the republicon congress support a requirement for all Americans to work to age 69 or 70 before being able to collect full Social Security earned benefits and not receive Medicare until 67. You betcha Romney supports this(and President Obama opposes).

This has been an ongoing march because, we all know that people are living longer! I mean our basic mortality is now in the 80's so we should be able to work longer! Another lie. 

Our life span has not been lengthen because all of us are getting old..remember, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and many other of the fore-fathers lived well into their 70's and 80's. The difference is that infant, child, women of child-bearing age was much lower until the 1950's or so. In the 1930's our life expectancy was about 58, its now 77. BUT the difference in infant mortality? In 1935, the infant mortality rate was 56.7 per 1000 live births. In 2009? It was only 6.7 deaths per 1000 live births. Just that fact skewers the idea that Americans are living so much longer....no, its just that many more people are making it through childhood!

The other fact that is not included in this factoid is there is a big difference on who can work until old age. Look at the Supreme Court! I'm sure their average age is about 65! This works well for people who have worked in higher income workplaces. But for the working poor? Those people who serve you at diners, work fast food, retail(yes, I'm really thinking about mallwart here), middle class workers such as police, firefighters, trades--all of these people are at risk of shorter life spans.

Again, Romney is just fine with people working until they die. President Obama opposes this.

5. Medicare Coupons..or the Ryan plan of Medicare vouchers.

We already know who's plan this is....So Romney/Ryan/Republicons want to end Medicare and give Seniors a voucher of about $7000 to "shop" for health care insurance. Now, any senior that has to search through Part D plans or Medicare Advantage plans knows how difficult and aggravating that is. And the triple R's want you to do that with insurance companies...why not just farm it out to Groupon like a spa coupon? I can see the email:

"Hurry for your chance at this medicare groupon discount!!! Our program ensures you'll get some care...just don't be very ill cuz it doesn't cover cancer, transplants, heart disease...or anything else that may be considered too expensive for our partners to be able to make any money!"

Add to this, their idea of repealing the ACA and losing the savings that Medicare has seen since 2010 and that spells financial ruin for many middle class seniors.

This is one of the Romney/Ryan's great plan, Romney has called Ryan's budget, "Marvelous"...President Obama Opposes.

6. Block-Grant Medicaid and reduce funding.

Why should seniors worry about Medicaid? That's for poor people. Sorry, but one of the largest uses of Medicaid funds is for Nursing homes for middle class seniors. The House budget committee would cut funding by $800 Billion and allow states to spend the remaining funds any way they want.

Romney, of course, supports this. President Obama opposes.

Romney doesn't care about seniors who aren't as rich as he, and before you go to the polls, you need to know this. If you are a senior and vote for Romney and the other R Politicos, you are, in all probability, affecting your ability to live safely and securely with the knowledge that your health care is covered...and again....

Mr. Romney where are your TAX RECORDS!!!!!

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING!!!

Illinois pols say they made bold tough decisions--AGAINST poor kids, the disabled and SENIOR CITIZENS

Well well well...the Illinois general assembly, along with the gov, say they made "bold, tough" decisions by attacking the disabled and senior citizens...ok, they don't say the attack part, but they'd be more honest.
In this last session, they've ended IllinoisCareRX, cut medicaid, attacked State retirees health insurance and are  aiming for my pension next. They would already have it, but the democrats and republicans got into a hissy match and stomped out of session before they could snatch away parts of our pension.
Now, the assembly is just so sorry about making gramma having to choose between electricity and medication, but decisions must be made for the GREATER good...psst...Mr. Cullerton? Madigan? Cross? Rodagno? When you say that? Please realize that I'm NOT THAT STUPID!!!
I guess I could think that all of you are that stupid...or that greedy...ok, greedy over stupid, but did you even pay attention to what you were doing? Do you know what the ramifications are of your actions?
First, Medicaid "reform" or middle class/senior destruction. The changes in Medicaid* which were touted as much needed include:

• Ending the IllinoisCareRX program -- drops drug coverage for 180,000 senior citizens. Yes, ObamaCare does help some of these citizens since ObamaCare gets rid of the doughnut hole, but the doughnut hole isn't gone until 2020 and the people that used this program had already had an income of under $19,000 per year; saves $72,000
• Family Care for Adults --  reduce eligibility to those adults with covered kids to 133% of poverty level and eliminates care for caretakers/adults. This affects about 26,000 citizens...this affects the working poor/lower middle class. We are taking away the ability of parents to get health insurance from the state...when their employer(and yes, I'm calling out mallwart, homedespot and other big box stores) doesn't offer affordable insurance without caveats; saves $50,000.
• Eliminate adult dental, chiropractic, podiatry, group psychotherapy...there is "emergency" adult dental, but does that cover a tooth that needs a root canal and is painful?  I know I missed a couple of days because of that--and I was lucky, I had a union to back me; saves $56,000.
• Limit adult optical(every other year), occupational/physical therapy to 20 visits per year--the optical is not my issue, but the PT? the OT? When I had my knee surgery, it took more than 20 visits before I was OK...now, think about someone who has a stroke? Only 20 visits? That's deplorable; saves $18,000. 
• Adopt policy to not pay for other care services when citizen is in hospice...this one hit home. Last year my mother was sent from a nursing home to the hospital(due to an infection) to hospice and then, after less than a week, we were told she was to go back to the nursing home(and she's still alive)...if medicaid hadn't paid for her bed, we would have had to scramble to find another one; saves $3,000
• *****Reduce home health services; saves $2,000 and how many people will have to go into nursing homes if they can't get home health care???? And how much more will that cost????
• Limit medication to 4 perscriptions per month(need prior approval for more); saves $180,000...hmm...ok, I understand that some people shop doctors, shop 'scripts...BUT...on the other hand...a person has asthma--2 'scripts(an inhaler and a "stableizer") hypertension(one for blood pressure and usually one diauretic) and oh...lung issues, heart issues, HRT, anxiety, depression, other mental health issues, diabetes!!!! People on Medicaid don't go to the doctor until they absolutely have to, which usually means more care is needed, not less.
• Cuts to Hospice support
• Changing asset verification for spouses...I'd love to agree on this one, but I am sure that the only ones that will be caught in this net are the ones not rich enough to hire good attorneys...if you think I'm just blowing smoke, I know people in my area that brag about how they've already hid their parents assets...10 years before there's an issue!
• Cuts to Nursing home Care, so...after the state cuts home health care(see **** bullet point), the state is cutting nursing home care?!?!?!?!?!
• Reduce advance imaging, cardiac imaging, pain management, back surgery(some of it dealing with managed care/care coordination); saves approximately $20,000. Again, part of this I agree with...too many doctors will push up the bill by adding more tests, but on the other hand, Illinois has cut chiropractic care and now wants to limit back surgery???
• Denying pediatric palliative care. For those who don't want to hit the link, Pediatric Palliative care is for children that are either terminal or chronically ill.
• Reduce some provider rates by 2.7%; saves $240,000--this does not include doctors...but...it doesn't spell out, in laymen(citizen) terms, who this will affect.

But, other issues were not addressed, how about actual bold/brave decisions such as:
Make corporations pay their fair share! Two Thirds of Illinois corporations pay no state income tax! But the only thing I ever hear on the tv is how high Illinois' tax rate is and its running corporations out of the state! So, they're trying to find a state that will pay THEM????? Can we just say the truth-they're greedy bastards. One very good post by Curtis Black(Truth Out) brings up some very good points about how horrifically biased Illinois tax structure is towards wealthy/corporations. Although Illinois has a so-called flat tax which is regressive by nature, we've also grabbed a bunch of loopholes/deductions from the federal tax code that benefits the upper class more so than middle or lower.
Raise revenue by:

• Getting rid of the Single Sales Factor There is a very good explanation of this procedure on page 4 & 5 of the Closing Corporate Loopholes,Bolstering Illinois Budget by the Good Jobs First organization 
• Getting rid of certain deduction which allow for dividend paid by foreign corporations to US parent corporations located in Illinois(this costs about $400 million annually) and the reduces tax bills for Illinois corporations that produce in other states(about $200 million). 
• Getting rid of Accelerated depreciation it does what it says. It allows businesses to take a higher percentage of depreciation on business machines/supplies. This would bring in $300 million annually.
• Getting rid of the Retailer's Discount on Sales Tax. This would bring in over $100 million a year! As I've said in previous posts, computers are the norm in retail business...in fact most registers I've worked on keeps a running balance on cash/credit and tax for the day...its time to end this welfare to wall mart(kept $9M on this in FY11)...and home depot....and menards....and so on and so on. This would had up to a couple of hundred Million annually.
• Oil Company subsidies...what? in Illinois???? Yep, oil companies get a $75 million tax break! 

OH LOOK, I've just brought in a couple of billion dollars without it being very painful for the Citizens of Illinois! 

So, to our General Assembly, Governor, and other governmental executives--this is bold and brave. What you did with the Medicaid bill? That was shameful. Sure, attack little kids, the disabled and old people; the first two categories don't vote and the last one will die off...hopefully quickly--and with the measures you just shoved through, in all probability will be their future...which is very sad, considering Illinois is one of the wealthiest states in the country.

* all monies saved in the smash Medicaid bill are in millions of dollars