127 Comments - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:07 pm: Is it me…or Rauner in front of a huge screen with language as it is…. Indoctrination? Just asking… - Cassiopeia - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:07 pm: Well its going to be anything but dull the next few years. - k3 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:10 pm: So much for common ground. - Phlegm640 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:10 pm: The Fraser Institute is Canada’s Heritage Foundation. This is like asking the the Tobacco Institute to conduct research on the safety of cigarettes. - Concerned - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:13 pm: And did the study take into consideration that wages are higher in non-”right to work” states? While union dues come out of paychecks, those paychecks are higher by an amount greater than union dues in unionized workforces. Rauner’s argument is pure sophistry. - anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:16 pm: This simply busts the middle class. Rauner goal= Rich or Poor. - Sun - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:16 pm: Mind numbing power point presentations? This state is being run like a business… - AlphaBettor - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:19 pm: Why is that the more money people have, the less money they want other people to have? - Phlegm640 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:20 pm: And clearly our new governor is having to engage in mathematical contortions and manipulations to make the data support his position. Quite simply, wages are lower in “right to work” states. They have been lower for decades. Here is some data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_income - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:20 pm: “Sorry everyone. Wrong slides…unless any of you are interested in timeshares in Key West, then see Mike Schrimpf after…ok, let’s start over…” - Qui Tam - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:21 pm: Didn’t Quinn do this same type of indoctrination against the middle class a while back with grade-schoolers? - Snucka - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:22 pm: This crew did not spend $60,000,000 so that they could sit back and make minor changes. The Rauner administration is ready for all-out war. The working men and women of Illinois had better be prepared as well. Already, Rauner’s patronage hires are settling in to new state jobs. Another spate of terminations was carried out last night by Rauner’s office at agencies across the state. Once their lieutenants are in place, this group of money-grubbing jackals will be in position to assault the wallets and the common human decency of ordinary folks across this great state. I am begging the good men and women of the Legislature, and the general public, to stand up to this bully and his well-funded group of bandits. If not, Illinois will surely descend into oligarchy. - Phlegm640 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:23 pm: Here is some information on the lower wages coming our way if Illinois becomes a “right to work” state, from the WSJ no less: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324296604578179603136860138 - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:23 pm: “Before I begin…Make sure you put your name in the fish bowl. If you stay for the whole presentation, you are eligible to win a weekend on South Padre Island, but you have to stay the whole 4 hours…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:24 pm: One more… “Amway isn’t a product, or service, or a company…its a lifestyle…” - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:25 pm: 2013 numbers here http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Household-Incomes-by-State.php - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:25 pm: ==Rauner: check Quinn’s campaign contributions. Unions gave a “lotta money” then he contracted with them, PLAs. == Now, check Rauner’s campaign contributions. Wealthy businessmen gave a “lotta money” then Rauner cut workers right to organize and bargain. - Norseman - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:26 pm: So let’s go from paying prevailing wage to lowest possible wage. This may help Illinois become competitive, but certainly not compassionate. There will be nothing compassionate about the Rauner regime. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:29 pm: Rauner is just as “bought & paid for” as anyone else. The difference is that he was bought and paid for by the wealthy few and will work to further their interests. - Say It Ain't So!! - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:30 pm: Is there a reason there was only 49 states used in the Canadian study? Would the averages results been different if that 50th state was included? If you throw out the one value that would throw your results off, of course you can make the results come out the way you want to. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:30 pm: Back in 2013 the University of Illinois looked at the potential impact right-to-work laws would have in the state. Their conclusion was not the same as Governor Rauner’s. http://www.ler.illinois.edu/labor/RTW_policy%20brief_spreads05.pdf - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:32 pm: I find it interesting that he contrasts unionization with employee empowerment. Nothing empowers employees more than unions. Having a collective voice forces management to the table to respect the rights of workers to get a fair wage & safe working conditions. The last thing Rauner wants is “empowered” workers. - Obama's Puppy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:33 pm: He must really think by putting a pretty name on right to work that employees want to be empowered. Most want to go to work make a good living and go home. Once they find out that you will not make as good a living after you are “empowered” this will go down and $40 million in advertising will not help the cause. - Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:34 pm: ==Is there a reason there was only 49 states used in the Canadian study? Would the averages results been different if that 50th state was included?== Alaska really oughtta be ours, eh? - AlabamaShake - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:34 pm: Interesting that Rauner wants to open up this fight on so many fronts. I thought he wasn’t anti-union? He was only anti public sector union bosses? - John A Logan - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:35 pm: I love the competing numbers and studies that always pop up anytime Right to work is discussed. Does everyone have a research firm bought and paid for these days? - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:35 pm: I have always hated protests. I have never protested anything in my entire life. I would protest this guy. - Finally Out (formerly Ready to Get Out) - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:36 pm: Say it.. Maybe that Canadian group doesn’t know we have 50 states! - Jorge - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:37 pm: Like I say, the Robber Baron in Chief is here. I hope sweatshops and kids back in the coal mines is brought up tomorrow. - Norseman - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:37 pm: Had no luck Googling the slides. Anyone see a copy of these 28 slides of masterpiece research? - slow down - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:38 pm: Why would he be pushing this issue post election? Surely he knows he has no chance of getting a law enacted on this issue. - sparky791 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:39 pm: And so it begins - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:41 pm: And one more thing… why is this guy’s wardrobe always so horrible?! Just wear a suit and a tie for cripes sake. Look like a governor. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:43 pm: ===wardrobe=== And there you have it. He dresses for the occasion. Presidents have been doing that for years and years. You don’t go to Decatur (the hometown of the IL AFL-CIO president) to pick on unions wearing a $4,000 suit and French cuffs. - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:47 pm: I get that. But his pants make him look like a jockey. - White Denim - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:48 pm: The way the rhetoric flies around here, you’d think that union employees are the only “working people” there are. - Qui Tam - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:48 pm: Keep in mind that the Governor has a Dem legislative leader and a Constitutional Officer with track records of acting against state workers; the AG & the Speaker. It appears that IL public employees will be experience the touted private sector wage/benefit erosion that has accreted to executive class wealth. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:48 pm: Class war. What else would you call it? - sparky791 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:49 pm: I think those are matching carhartt pants for his jacket. - Joe Blow - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:51 pm: A great start by Gov. Rauner! - cover - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:53 pm: = You don’t go to Decatur (the hometown of the IL AFL-CIO president) to pick on unions wearing a $4,000 suit and French cuffs. = Rich, I’d imagine it would be hard for an anti-union message to find a friendly audience in Decatur, unless it’s comprised entirely of Andreas family members. Try this slight edit: “You don’t go to Decatur (the hometown of the IL AFL-CIO president) to pick on unions.” - Tsavo - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:54 pm: Personally, I think “the puffy shirt” from Seinfeld would have been more appropriate. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:56 pm: Smuka- it’s called politics . Out with the old in with the new. Blago got rid of a couple thousand people the first month so quit with the wining. - Peoria Guy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:57 pm: Come on. Please. Enough of the hyperbole. Once their lieutenants are in place, this group of money-grubbing jackals will be in position to assault the wallets and the common human decency of ordinary folks across this great state. I am begging the good men and women of the Legislature, and the general public, to stand up to this bully and his well-funded group of bandits. If not, Illinois will surely descend into oligarchy. - Anonymoiis - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:57 pm: ==Is there a reason there was only 49 states used== “I’ll be deep in the cold cold ground before I recognize Missourah!” - Grandpa Simpson - vise77 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:58 pm: “Class war. What else would you call it? ” Exactly. History is largely though not entirely the story of class warfare, and there’s been a class war for the last 35 years or so of the rich against the rest of us. I don’t consider myself a Marxist, and I accept that the above statement is a bit simplistic. But the rest of us shouldn’t be afraid to use the term. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 2:58 pm: To the Post, Rauner is building his case. You can like it, you can despise it, but you can’t say you’re shocked at the case being made. The one thing I know for sure is 6 months from now, I’m not going to be at all shocked how the Rauner Adminstration is heading. Rauner is going about his business as he always has; sell the idea, make the pitch, know the answers to questions before they’re asked, counter negatives, get the audience to agree with you, close the deal. He’s good at it. The only negative I have? I wouldn’t make it a habit to discuss meeting the Speaker off campus as a drop in nugget. It’s like name-droppers who spend all day picking up the names they drop “off the floor”. Be Governor, you don’t need to name drop, plus, MJM is stealthy, maybe being stealthy with him will help. The Rauner Crew has their roadmap. They are following it. They won. Elections sometimes brings change. - not applicable - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:01 pm: Of course a billionaire who pays people in his administration 190 a year would think someone making 60 a year is making too much. Why am I not surprised by this? - Del Clinkton - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:10 pm: Bruce: In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, Illinois will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten thousand years. [Auditorium fills with enormous applause] MJM to JC: So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause. - Walter Mitty - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:12 pm: OW..and Qui Tam… You are both on it… The previous administration and GA already tried to cut benefits.. Why are we shocked by this? This is the way the wind has been blowing… Not just by Rauner..Clearly. - Original Rambler - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:22 pm: Anonymous 2:56 That is waaaaay off (on the high side). - Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:24 pm: You can pick on unions plenty in Decatur. The DHR has been doing so for years. Every time industry threatens workers, DHR says to sell out to the corporatists with wage cuts, benefit cuts, etc. They did it at CAT, they did at Staley, they’re doing it today. - Cheswick - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:32 pm: Willy, good points. My thought on Rauner dropping the Madigan name is that it is some sort of Rauner way of trying to convey that he owns, or will soon, own Mike Madigan. (Not that he will, but he wants his audience to think so.) - Rob Lowe - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:35 pm: Rewind … I am sure Bruce that you are not talking about Union employees that provide security detail for you or the union employees that fly your airplane/helicopter or serve you breakfast or the union employees that keep your sidewalks/roads clear in the winter. Look around you Bruce …. Ask yourself, are you running this State by yourself? - Anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:35 pm: He could have at least ironed the pants. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:36 pm: Is compassion what Rauner is displaying when he talks about slashing public worker jobs, public worker salaries, public worker pensions? Or do they not need to be included in his compassionate approach? Do they not count or are they simply servants, just happy to serve? - Fred - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:36 pm: The purpose of government to provide services to people who need them, not as source of cushy employment. If you can hire 5 quality teachers for the cost of 4 under the current contract, we are cheating our children if we don’t. If we run fewer, less frequent bus routes so we can pay wages and benefits that are twice what we need to attract qualified drivers, then we are harming the people trying to use the bus to make their lives work. The country has a huge problem with quality middle class jobs. But running an expensive, inefficient and ineffective state government just makes the problem worse. There are ~77,000 state employees out of 6.1 million jobs in Illinois. They have a huge impact on the economy, but it is because of what they do, and how well they do it. Bottom line, the state is a buyer of labor, and it should get the most value for money. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:41 pm: - Cheswick - Agreed. I’m of the belief that some things like breakfast between the Governor and the Speaker only helps if one is not exploiting the knowledge of it happening for their own gain. If Rauner wants to tout movies, poker games, hunting trips, phone calls, whatever to show he is really connecting with whomever, or to boost his image of being engaged, fine. The last person I would drag into “look whose my buddy, we had breakfast!” narrative without clearance from the person is MJM. Stealth is the Speaker’s trademark, not name-dropping. - Del Clinkton - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:45 pm: @Fred: It costs a minimum of $20,000.00 a year, per person. to put pot smokers in time-out. If made them into taxpayers instead of tax consumers…and taxed their product to boot…its a win-win for society. But I’m sure with “Bruce’s Vast Business Acumen” he’s figured this out already…. - D.P.Gumby - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:47 pm: What ever happened to that governor recall amendment??? - Anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:50 pm: No mention of the 80 plus IDOT firings today? Governor Carhartt even fired a woman out on maternity leave. How ‘Merican of him! - anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:52 pm: His goal is to make IL the most competitive and the most compassionate state. The compassionate part won’t happen by slashing Medicare and child care subsidies. Or by jacking up regressive taxes in a state with a highly regressive tax system. - Anotheretiree - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:55 pm: ==Anon 80 fired++ Are these at will employees ? Have any four year appointees been dropped or too soon to tell ? - Anonymoiis - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:55 pm: ==No mention of the 80 plus IDOT firings today? Governor Carhartt even fired a woman out on maternity leave. How ‘Merican of him!== You must be new to the whole transition process if this caught you off guard. - SonofSuperAbe2014 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:56 pm: Most of those commenting hate Bruce’s idea, therefore I like it. - anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:56 pm: Class warfare? According to our friends in the GOP, class warfare is a one-way street that only applies to graduated income taxes or equalizing the tax rate for capital gains and earned income. It never applies to trying to emasculate unions, slash spending for the working poor, or jack up regressive taxes. - Arsenal - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:01 pm: “If you can hire 5 quality teachers for the cost of 4 under the current contract, we are cheating our children if we don’t.” But it’s awfully hard to get 5 “high quality” employees to work for 4 people’s salaries. “If we run fewer, less frequent bus routes so we can pay wages and benefits that are twice what we need to attract qualified drivers, then we are harming the people trying to use the bus to make their lives work.” But we’ll need more people to work more, more frequent bus routes. - anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:01 pm: == The country has a huge problem with quality middle class jobs. == That “huge problem” will only be made worse by forcing down salaries and stripping benefits. It is also not the formula to attract the best and the brightest into our classrooms and state agencies. - Del Clinkton - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:02 pm: Del: Check Rauner’s tax return and campaign contributions. Guessing there is ALOT of overlap there. Oh wait, Bruce didnt release his tax returns. Welcome the State of Potter! - Livingston Co. - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:07 pm: Is the guv giving up his membership in the Commercial Club of Chicago? If not, sounds like working folks will continue to need organizations of their own. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:08 pm: The hay market riots,men died for the rights Bruce wants to dismiss. - Cheswick - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:11 pm: Willy, very well said, and something we all should keep in mind going forward. - Anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:11 pm: Too soon to tell on the 4 year appointments. So far, all are at will. Going after the staff assistants next (which is how this all ties into the Union discussion). And the lady had her baby on Friday and got fired today. Even Blago had more decency than that. - 19th warder - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:11 pm: anon- it’s the old saying with the victor goes the spoils. Earlier Smuka was going off on some tangent concerning this, it’s nothing new it happens when a new administration takes over. Let’s not make this into something it isn’t. If it makes you feel better maybe they will replace the pregnant democratic woman with a pregnant republican woman. - Wensicia - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:12 pm: The well-funded Rauner propaganda machine takes off. - anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:13 pm: Lack of unions = worker empowerment Sure, just like the Walmart workers who are empowered to need food stamps and Medicaid. While the Walton heirs rake in $billions more. - Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:13 pm: Does the man have any idea how much it costs the state to have a bunch of poor people live here? Or are we just going to let them die? - Demoralized - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:13 pm: ==it’s nothing new it happens when a new administration takes over== Actually this is a bit new as far as numbers and type of jobs. It’s kind of reckless in my opinion in some cases but nobody asked me. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:14 pm: Right to work is to Rauner as Universal healthcare is to Hillary - 19th warder - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:20 pm: Demoralized- it’s not new let’s not kid ourselves. Most if not all will end up working again either in cook county, SOS, or the treasures office. These people who got whacked most knew it was coming and already have landing spots I’m sure. - DuPage - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:22 pm: Rauner’s agenda does not surprise me, it is what he said he would do back in the primary. What does surprise me is not enough union members took it seriously enough to vote against him. Now he is going to try to destroy unions in general, and public sector unions in particular. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:26 pm: With all the rhetoric by both sides here, I still fall back to the pragmatic view of the “what” is going on, and the “needs to happen” part of the equation; Rauner making his case is just that, making a case. This is like the opening statement of what Rauner wants. That’s it. Nothing has happened yet. To the letting go of stste workers, it’s a new administration. These things happen. Nothing new. To “needs to happen” part, The legislative process is going to require at least 13 Dems in the House, 10 votes in the Senate for Legislative passage. That also means every GOP GA member is a “green light” Further, the Speaker and senate President need to bring the Bills up, send them to committees to pass, and structure roll calls to get Dems off these types of bills for passage. EOs? Sure, some may have that avenue, but litigation may follow too. Executive Order away if it makes sense, but there may be blowback. Bottom line? Pack a lunch. This is a starting point. Going to towns or Unversities with power points isn’t the governing part. Mike Z knows that. The Rauner Crew knows that. LLs and Press Shop. Trust. The $20 million. Horse trading. Structured legislative agenda, married to full court press on educating the Press…. All today did, and the U of C discussions did was open the salvo. I just wouldn’t keep touting breakfast with MJM. Think stealth Rauner Crew. “Now we’re beginning…” - RNUG - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:27 pm: - Fred - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 3:36 pm: The active government workers have a bit more clout than you think. You need to add about 160,000 teachers (TRS) and 81,000 professors (SURS) to about 63,000 state employees (SERS). - Mouthy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:28 pm: Wow, that didn’t take long. Nothing will destroy unions faster that “Right to Work”. In my world it should be called “Right to Freeload” because that’s basically what it is.. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:29 pm: ==Unions gave a “lotta money” then he contracted with them== See, when he says stuff like that he just backs himself into a corner. It plays well. He’s still in the honeymoon period so he can play the “Blame the Last Guy” game. But what happens when his administration contracts with people who contributed to him - because it will happen. Then what? It’s not a bad thing when he does it? I get the argument, I just think it’s a dumb one to make. - Ubecha - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:31 pm: Superimpose the map below over the map of the U.S. showing RTW states and the two are remarkably similar. Now add the map of the U.S. showing Median Household income and you have a telling story. RTW, No Thanks! http://www.chicagobusiness.com/Assets/legacy/downloads/2012MF-Finance.pdf - Finally Out (formerly Ready to Get Out) - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:31 pm: RNUG…..if you add spouses and families, that number grows even more! - Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:35 pm: So Rauner is going full-out against unions after all. Well that’s nice–a multimillionaire and his super-rich supporters going after worker protections in this age of staggering income inequality. We will see whether Rauner gets the same success that he had in the private sector. This time he’ll have to face something that was absent in his former world: thousands of dissenters and organizations who will vigorously oppose him. - Amalia - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:36 pm: So Rauner is Illinoispeak for Walker. Yuk. - 19th warder - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:37 pm: Where was all the crying last week when big Tom the man started laying off people at SOS? He blamed Rauner saying it was his budget cut mandate. That’s funny because big Tommy is hiring people starting next month, one of them is my neighbor. So believe me they will all land safe and sound in some other department - D. Schwarz - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:44 pm: From the U of I: “After the third year of adoption [passage of a right-to-work law in IL], annual state income tax revenues would decline by $75 million to $355 million and by about $1.5 billion over the next five years.” Here are two studies done in 2012/2013 by Illinois’s flagship university refuting everything he says. http://www.ler.illinois.edu/labor/images/PWL_full%20report_lttr%20format.pdf http://www.ler.illinois.edu/labor/RTW_policy%20brief_spreads05.pdf Last year during a meeting with Rauner’s campaign managers, I handed them copies of both studies and their response was that these issues weren’t part of his agenda. As we’ve suspected, that was a lie. Now that he’s pushing the issue I hope he and his staff will take a look at the work the University of Illinois has done to demonstrate the devastating impact repealing prevailing wage and/or ending free-bargaining would actually have on the State’s economy. - RNUG - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:45 pm: == Finally Out == Lots I didn’t include. For example, if you include local government, IMRF covered workers are another 174,000 … and their are major groups like police and Chicago teachers, that are also not included in the numbers. - Norseman - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:45 pm: Yes, to the victor belongs the spoils. However, I don’t recall, at least until I got axed in March, the number of folks let go under the Blago transition being as large as what is being reported. A lot of folks were picked off later as the years went by. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:49 pm: =thousands of dissenters and organizations that will oppose him= I seriously hope you’re right about that. Lots of people love to whine but are too timid or lazy to do much about it, even when it’s their own livelihood that’s attacked. - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 4:53 pm: If any of the economic geniuses out there can explain exactly how in a consumer-driven economy you promote growth by workers making less money, I’d be much obliged. Because if you care to examine the post WWII bull run in economic growth, it coincided with that of the rise of household income and the consumer society, derived largely from collective bargaining, crop insurance, rural electrification and water projects, and government backed standardization, regulation and securitization of home mortgages. The New Deal layed the foundation and the WWII spending stimulus primed the pump. - Bill White - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:01 pm: Wordslinger - You must have missed the memo that proved Keynes wrong. /snark - Mouthy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:04 pm: ===I seriously hope you’re right about that. Lots of people love to whine but are too timid or lazy to do much about it, even when it’s their own livelihood that’s attacked.=== My biggest gripe as a union leader. I felt that many of the rank and file looked at the union first as “get me as much money and benefits as you can” and secondly as “job insurance”. Job insurance also includes the 5% of the membership that took up 95% of my time defending their rotten work habits. They never knew how many times I wished I was on the other side of the table laying into them for being jerks…but I digress.. - Raunerbot - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:14 pm: The STATUS-QUO days of how things have been controlled, and operated under, in Illinois are over. Decisions being made will be for the benefit of all Illinoisans…not just those with political connections and who are controlled by unions. People who don’t think this is what the taxpaying voters want need only to look North to Wisconsin. A BLUE State had their fill of mismanagement and out of control unions. Recall attempts of Governor Scott Walker failed miserably…and now people across the country are considering him for President. Interesting days ahead indeed. - A. Nonymous - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:15 pm: Fraser Institute is yet another right-wing “think tank” mouthpiece funded by, you guessed it, the Koch Brothers. Their claims are not surprising given their political leanings. ….Why is it that reporters don’t bother to point out the nature of the “sources” that politicians use? It would seem relevant in this case that the mega-millionaire Governor’s source is a conservative echo chamber funded by anti-union billionaires. - walker - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:21 pm: Rauner should be ashamed to use such dreck in making his arguments. I hate “analyses” by politically-driven advocates, calling themselves “institutes.” Is that 1.8% growth due to “right-to-work” laws, the same 1.8% growth the same states claim because they lowered taxes? Or the same growth they claim they would additionally get if only they had a flat tax structure (like Illinois”)? Or the same roughly 2% growth in the “blueprint”? - BlameBruceRauner - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:22 pm: RECALLLLLLLLLLLLLL! - Jocko - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:38 pm: ==Unions gave a “lotta money”== I’m picturing candidate Rauner in a worn Carhartt, hat in hand, with union bosses closing the door on him. BTW - Where are the compassionate slides? Him hugging Stella and Pumpkin? - Rowdy Yates - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:41 pm: I remember that political ad that Bruce’s wife Dianne made where she said that “Bruce is going to drive them nuts. Really.” So—it isn’t like nobody was warned. He probably isn’t going to “shake up Springfield” as much as he is going to “shake up the unions leadership”. No matter how you cut it, he has a whole lot of people that agree with him or else they wouldn’t have elected him as their governor. And Rauner knows better than anyone that he has the vast majority of Illinois voters backing him on his union play. The unions just aren’t used to being told that they are no longer “The Power” in Illinois state politics any longer. The old lion was neutered, defanged, and declawed last November 4th. It will take them awhile to recognize that and learn to live with it. - Anon - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 5:58 pm: Is it “employee empowerment” now rather than “right to work”? Gotta keep the rhetoric right(wink). Seems his plan “empowers” the state’s workers to get lower wages and less benefits. Who’s coming up with this new rhetoric? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 6:04 pm: ===No matter how you cut it, he has a whole lot of people that agree with him or else they wouldn’t have elected him as their governor.=== The election is over. It was in all the papers. Maybe it’s you who needs to get over it. ===And Rauner knows better than anyone that he has the vast majority of Illinois voters backing him on his union play.=== You base this fact on what, your opinion? lol ===The unions just aren’t used to being told that they are no longer “The Power” in Illinois state politics any longer.=== If the Unions aren’t the power, no need to go after them. See, your Fox News talking points sound real swell, but Rauner hasn’t done one thing yet. It’s been talk, and you don’t talk about the 98 pound weakling when you’re Governor. ===The old lion was neutered, defanged, and declawed last November 4th. It will take them awhile to recognize that and learn to live with it.=== The election is over. Governing begins. You’re wotkd Serbs fun and simple. String two, three talking points, and an animal to pretend that the “Lion”, who has no power, is a lion but isn’t a powerful lion, maybe, but lions are fierce and kool but… Where’s all that Ronald Reagan talk, that was at least comical, not comical and delusional with talking points. - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 6:31 pm: Raunerbot, I think taxpaying Illinoisans who look north to Wisconsin will wonder why Walker and his GOP Assembly went after collective bargaining while leaving the highest individual and corporate income taxes in the Midwest for four years. Never got around to that “outrage.” Loves that money. - DuPage Dave - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 6:35 pm: Rauner has declared war on working people. The idea that working for low wages and no bargaining rights is equivalent to “empowerment” is a bad joke. If Rauner was not a person whose career has been based on fleecing people out of their hard-earned money, you might be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The really sad thing is some people believe this baloney. If only workers made less money, everything would be great!! We could be just like Kentucky, or maybe someday even Alabama!! - ABC Lawyer - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 6:53 pm: The Union spin on the last election was telling. They claim to have increased their turnout by 4-6% overall. Too bad 40% of their membership went Rauner according to exit polls. When you talk about Unions Willy, you need to distinguish between Union leadership and membership. Villanova from Chicago with all of his various pensions does not relate well with a construction worker unemployed from December to March. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 7:01 pm: ===When you talk about Unions Willy, you need to distinguish between Union leadership and membership.=== Leadership and members alike will be hit all the same… Every time I heard a Union state employee say they were voting for Rauner, it was a failure of education. If you vote against your bettet self you deserve what you get. I have no sympathy for the Unions, members or leadership. Elections have consequences. If the members can’t see what the leaders try to warn them, it is what it is. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 7:15 pm: Dave, private equity is a big boys’ game. No one gets “fleeced” there. If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t put your money down. - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 7:21 pm: Bill White, FDR wasn’t much of a Keynesian, as Keynes himself complained, often and vociferously. There was some emergency relief spending, but much of the New Deal was was pay-as-you go infrastructure and insurance programs. Massive borrow and spend didn’t come until the necessity of WWII. The true Keynesian was FDRs great admirer, Reagan, whose run of economic growth was fueled by historic deficit spending in peacetime as well as expansion of the money supply after the Fed-manufactured recession to kill inflation. That bill was paid in the Clinton years when budgets in balance or surplus literally led to the United States discontinuing the long bond. The 30-year T-bond was reintroduced in 2005 to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare prescription drug coverage and the Bush tax cuts. You can look it up. - CapnCrunch - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 8:05 pm: “If any of the economic geniuses out there can explain exactly how in a consumer-driven economy you promote growth by workers making less money, I’d be much obliged….” I’m neither an economist or a genius but see Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen. They have juiced the economy by a couple of trillion dollars over the last few years without materially affecting median household income. - Jorge - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 8:08 pm: Darnit Slinger you beat me to it. - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 8:16 pm: Cap’n, if you have a point, why dont you expand on it. I’m a little confused. - CapnCrunch - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 8:17 pm: “The New Deal layed the foundation and the WWII spending stimulus primed the pump.” That is certainly true but the war also destroyed the economies of Europe, Japan, and China thus eliminating foreign manufacturing competition for about a quarter of a century. There was a huge demand for durable goods that had gone unsatisfied during the previous four years and only American industry was available to satisfy it. The UAW had their way with the Big 3 car makers. Pick one and threaten a strike. It was a choice of agreeing to terms or lose the market to the other two. The beginning of the end of that strategy was the arrival of the first Japanese import in the early 1970s. It would be all downhill from there for unions. Hard to believe in 1945 that we would one day have German and Japanese companies building cars in the US. As for other manufactured goods, until foreign labor costs plus transportation approach US labor costs, it seems like we will be hard pressed to compete. The problem was further aggravated this week as Europe and China devalued their currencies. - CapnCrunch - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 8:31 pm: I was trying to make the point that it is possible to grow the economy without raising wages. That, of course, was not what the Fed intended. It was a criticism of Fed policy. They have created about $4 trillion of new money and unless you own your home or stocks you are not a lot better off. - Jorge - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 8:34 pm: Capn, try again. the Swiss devalued their currency. The Euro just agreed to print more money. I m still waiting for inflation 6 years after Hayekians Said it would happen. - CapnCrunch - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 9:14 pm: Capn, try again. the Swiss devalued their currency. The Euro just agreed to print more money. I m still waiting for inflation 6 years after Hayekians Said it would happen. -Jorge- It used to take 1.2 Swiss Francs to buy a Euro. It now takes only 1 Franc. Is that a devaluation? I was in Italy in September. It cost me $1.32 to buy a Euro. Today it would cost me $1.13. Europe, Japan, and China are devaluing their money because they want to export more goods. This is a dangerous game. - John Birch - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 9:29 pm: First they came for the Unions,and I said nothing. Then they………………. . - Union power - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 9:34 pm: Unions give a man a good life for his family and maybe a chance for his or her kids to get a better education - Bill White - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 10:35 pm: I can readily accept that Reagan was a better Keynesian than FDR and yes WW2 kinda forced FDR’s hand on massive spending. More recently, the juiced economy has resulted in massive piles of idle cash in the hands of the super-ultra-wealthy. Kinda like at the end of the board game Monopoly - one player has all the cash, properties and hotels and everyone else is bankrupt. Game over. - justthefacts - Tuesday, Jan 27, 15 @ 11:21 pm: “Don’t force people to unionize.” Nobody in Illinois is forced to join a Union, Rauner is lying about this. First of all the majority of workers have to vote to be represented by the Union. If that happens, you have to sign a membership card to join the Union and become a member. The Union is bound by law to bargain wages & benefits and represent all workers (even those who voted no) in the bargaining unit; the non-members have to pay fees to cover these costs. Those who become Union members pay dues in addition to the fees. Being a dues paying member allows you to vote in Union elections and run for Union office. In right to work states, the Union is still required to represent all employees in the bargaining unit however non-members are not required to pay fees. Essentially non-members go from being fee payers for the services the Union is obligated to provide on their behalf to free riders. Needless to say, this undermines the power of the Union to negotiate better wages, benefits, and working conditions. - IDOT GUY - Wednesday, Jan 28, 15 @ 7:45 am: justthefacts, At IDOT, all people in union coded positions pay “fair Share”, ie 2.5 times their hourly salary a month whether they join the union or not. Teamster membership is another $1. The fair share still goes to the union whether you pay the extra dollar to be a member or not. So, technically, you have a choice whether to join, but you have NO choice on paying fair share of 2.5 x your hourly wage a month. - Carhart Representative - Wednesday, Jan 28, 15 @ 7:54 am: December 2014 states with highest unemployment rates 35 ILLINOIS 6.2 41 SOUTH CAROLINA 6.5 RTW 42 TENNESSEE 6.6 RTW 43 ARIZONA 6.7 RTW 43 LOUISIANA 6.7 RTW 43 OREGON 6.7 46 NEVADA 6.8 RTW 46 RHODE ISLAND 6.8 48 GEORGIA 6.9 RTW 49 CALIFORNIA 7.0 50 MISSISSIPPI 7.2 RTW Not exactly helping those economies boom. Meanwhile, right to work keeps wages suppressed for union and non-union workers alike. - Wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 28, 15 @ 9:06 am: There are some sinister Manchurian Candidate machinations going on here. The real Bruce Rauner spent all of 2014 insisting that right-to-work legislation was not on his radar. “Pushing any specific labor regulation is not my priority at all,” candidate Rauner was quoted by the Illinois Radio Network on Oct. 17, 2014, in regards to right-to-work. And if you go all the way back to your Jan. 13, 2014, Cap Fax, Rich Miller recounts all the ways candidate Rauner was adamant that right-to-work was not something he was terribly interested in. Obviously, candidate Rauner has been kidnapped and replaced by a fiendish double who is turning his true priorities upside down. What other explanation could there be? That Rauner spent more than a year lying about his intentions? - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jan 28, 15 @ 9:08 am: He won’t be convinced. He is richer than you, so he thinks he knows how to make our state economically grow. He won’t listen. What he is doing is demonstrating an inability to realize that Illinois is not Texas, and won’t be - ever. Bruce Rauner needed to find an economic solution for a BLUE state as a solo RED governor, and he believes he can force Illinois into doing what it will not do. Consequently, Rauner will be the loser. We are not Wisconsin. We are not Florida. We are not Oklahoma. Chicago is not Indianapolis. Governor Rauner doesn’t respect those differences, and has hired of team of people to turn Illinois into Indiana. It won’t happen. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 28, 15 @ 9:16 am: ===Bruce Rauner needed to find an economic solution for a BLUE state as a solo RED governor,=== Pick. A. Lane! You told me Bruce Rauner is “light blue”… Remenber? lol. Which way is the wind blowing today - VanillaMan -? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.