69 Comments - OneMan - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:49 am: Interesting read, However, I do have some questions. Back in the 90’s (yes a long time ago), NIU had the largest CS program in the state, it didn’t even merit a mention in the report. I wonder where it ranks in terms of numbers today. Guessing the number by employer represents 2003- 2016 graduates, that would have been helpful on the graph. I would have been curious to see the breakdown by employer and school. - Galena Guy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:51 am: Not that Bruce Rauner has had anything to do with it. Heck, if it weren’t for his actions we might be #1. Sheesh….. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:36 am: What has been important to High Schools, here in Illinois to the specific, is that STEM is a serious path to start and continue through collegiate studies, getting STEM degrees, specific to this study, computer science. There is a vast difference in preparing high school seniors with reading, writing, and here with “arithmetic… and those same schools looking at STEM as seniors (and all high schoolers) see a path and degrees IN the field of science, technology, engineering… and math. It’s grest to see Illinois leading the way in STEM, specific to computer sciences. - dbk - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:46 am: Yes, this is good news - I see Illinois got a perfect score for its ESSA plan, too, which if nothing else shows that ISBE’s on the ball lately. It’s a bit surprising nobody’s (yet) chipped in about how useful all those CS grads would be if Amazon were to select Chicago. - Toast - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:48 am: A very large percentage of these grads are international students who take their education back home with them - not a big benefit to illinois other than the tuition money. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:48 am: I thought Bruce Rauner destroyed higher education in Illinois. Now I read this month about a retired Athletic Director from the University of Illinois with a $500K annual pension and great news about how Illinois awards the second most computer science. graduates in the country. Apparently the rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:56 am: ===I thought Bruce Rauner destroyed higher education in Illinois=== Any governor refusing to fully fund for a fiscal year the higher education of a state IS destroying higher education for that state. Higher education is trying and succeeding here despite Rauner. It’s to their credit that a governor who wants higher education ruined in this state, good things are happening. Budgetary moves as refusing funding is considered eliminating those programs or institutions by fiscal means. It’s not up for discussion or debate. Refusing to fund things in a budget is eliminating or moving to starve it as to end it. - More_Reading_Less_Bias - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:57 am: -LP- You will notice this data is from the 2016 graduation year. Rauner hadn’t had much of a chance to ruin higher education for those students. He was inaugurated Jan 2015, it typically takes 4 years to graduate college. You are actually congratulating Pat Quinn. Why has Rauner been lying about our demise? - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:01 pm: Since Higher Education has not been fully funded for decades OW I am sure you will spread the blame around, and give the legislature their comeuppance too. Ok never mind, you will never do that. Not paying for the actually required payment to SURS for decades is apparently fine by you. http://www.pionline.com/article/20151130/PRINT/151129917/illinois-surs-in-danger-of-running-out-of-money-to-pay-retirees-cio-says - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:10 pm: ===Since Higher Education has not been fully funded for decades … I am sure you will spread the blame around, and give the legislature their comeuppance too.=== At no time, in “decades” has any governor purposely, flat out refused to fund higher education. You want Rauner’s to mean nothing here, but like those vetoes you your, they mean everything. At no time has Rauner wanted, done, or persued the fully funding for a whole fiscal year for higher education. For that, Rauner required higher education to be destroyed and in that, decades not withstanding, Rauner stands alone. Vetoes, no matter your continued ignorance and deflection, make clear, Rauner wants the end of Illinois’ Higher Education system, and great news like this is higher education overcoming Governor Bruce Rauner. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:25 pm: Not claiming Higher Ed was fully funded any more are you? Gotcha At no time in the past 2 1/2 years has the Speaker worked cooperatively and professionally with the Governor to fix the problems with higher ed, especially the pension issues that are eating up over 1/2 of the current state funding. The Speaker stands alone in is refusal to fix higher ed in Illinois. Can’t say the same about the Governor and the Senate. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:29 pm: ===Not claiming Higher Ed was fully funded any more are you? Gotch=== No “Gotcha”, lol Not even close. Rauner has refused to fully fund higher education for an entire fiscal year. That’s not up for discussion, it’s not up for debate. It’s who Rauner is. ===At no time in the past 2 1/2 years has the Speaker worked cooperatively and professionally with the Governor to fix the problems with higher ed, especially the pension issues that are eating up over 1/2 of the current state funding=== (Sigh) If I choose I don’t want cable in my home, I cut it out of my budget, and then refuse to pay for it. Rauner has refused to fully fund higher education, using his veto, numerous times, to stop funding for higher education from happening. That’s real. That’s true. Rauner wants state universities closed. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:32 pm: LP, are you ever going to hold the Governor accountable for anything? You do realize what a fool you make him look like when you constantly peddle the “he’s just a victim” nonsense. == is apparently fine by you.== There you go again with your childish arguments. Don’t agree with the Governor? Well then you must believe everything is fine and dandy. Bull. And it is absolutely laughable for you to even suggests higher ed hasn’t suffered these past couple of years. Your dishonesty knows no bounds. Yes, Madigan shares blame. And so does the Governor. But you’re too dishonest to admit that. - Ron - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:39 pm: The usual suspects continue to blame multi decade disaster on a governor in office for all of 3 years. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:40 pm: No, Ron, we don’t. But forgive me for not drinking the “Governor is just a victim” kool aid. - Keyser Soze - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:42 pm: Will someone please send a copy of the report to Amazon? - Ron - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:55 pm: Will someone please send a copy of the report to Amazon?” They have it. - City Zen - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 12:57 pm: ==Illinois is now the second largest producer of computer science graduates in the country== Great news. In context, Illinois also has the 5th largest post-secondary population in the USA, so I’d expect us to be near the top. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:27 pm: Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:56 am: ===I thought Bruce Rauner destroyed higher education in Illinois=== Any governor refusing to fully fund for a fiscal year the higher education of a state IS destroying higher education for that state. Are the legislators who have not fully funded higher education for decades in any way responsible for the situation higher ed finds itself in where over 50% of state money now goes to pensions? Think we might want to reform that so there is more money for the kids? Can’t even admit when you say something completely outrageous and then change your mind in the same thread. Not even close? The difference is the Governor is trying to fix this and all of the other issues in Illinois and the Speaker will not change any of his disastrous polices. The Speaker is doing what he always has done. Work cooperatively and professionally with his special interests to the detriment of the state. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:33 pm: - Lucky Pierre - Rauner vetoed numerous times full year funding for higher education. In budgetary parlance, you starve and/or refuse to fund anything via budgetary monies… that executive via veto is starving, cutting, or ending that program, agency, or governmental operation. That’s how it works. That’s how it’s always worked. You want the Veto for “stopping” the tax increase. Ok. Same as the veto refusing to fully fund higher education for Illinois’ universities. That’s… how budgeting and vetoes… work. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:40 pm: See what happens to higher education funding when the Speaker will make no changes to what he has been doing for decades because they would be politically difficult and expects the problems to magically solve themselves? That might cost him his power that has allowed him to make a 7 figure income in his other part time job. Thats how Springfield works - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:42 pm: - Lucky Pierre - Governors own their Vetoes. That’s it. That’s how it works. No one forced Rauner to Veto, Rauner made a choice, and that choice is to destroy higher education… with Vetoes. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:50 pm: No reforms will destroy higher education over decades. Unless you think 50% of all state money going to pensions instead of higher education is sustainable. Madigan has also made a choice, no reforms because they upset his special interest groups. If he was concerned about the young people in this state (who attend these institutions) and if we are lucky, be the taxpayers who pay for all of his decades of overspending, he would advocate for reforms. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:53 pm: And if the Governor was concerned about anything he’d figure out how to govern within the confines of the political realities he’s been given. Instead he (and you) would rather claim victimhood status whether than admit he has had anything to do with the the train wreck that has been Illinois since he has been in office. Like it or not the albatross is around his neck for the past couple of years just as much as it is around the Speaker’s neck. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:55 pm: And no the problems didn’t just pop up overnight but the Governor has certainly not made them any better. Unfortunately your dishonesty prevents you from acknowledging that fact. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:55 pm: - Lucky Pierre - People understand Vetoes, Rauner is counting on people understanding vetoes. That’s why Rauner vetoing every full year, fully funded appropriations for higher education… people understand… Rauner vetoed higher education to destroy higher education. You know it’s true, because you believe that veto against a tax increase needs you to believe Rauner vetoed higher education to destroy higher education. Why? That’s how Vetoes work. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 1:59 pm: What exactly are the political realities? The Speaker will not budge one inch to fix Illinois? The Governor is not a victim, the citizens of Illinois who rank our state 50th in trust in state government are. Illinois has only been a train wreck since Rauner has been in office? You must be new here. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:02 pm: - Lucky Pierre - The veto Rauner used, no matter what happens in 1818, 1918, or 2017… Rauner owns his own veto. Your drivel? Stop. If you want to say Rauner’s Veto to stop the tax increase isn’t worth anything, and Rauner didn’t try to stop the increase, then keep up all that ignorance including vetoes aren’t owned by governors. Otherwise… just stop. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:13 pm: Where did I say Rauner does not own his veto? The Speaker also owns his 4 decades of cooperation and professionalism and the results speak for themselves. He is incredibly wealthy and powerful and Illinois is broke. The majority of Illinois blame him more than any other politician for Illinois failures, and the refusal to compromise on anything other than permanently raising taxes. Most people don’t consider pointing out that inconvenient fact for loyal Democrats like you drivel. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:21 pm: I’m not a Democrat, good try. You vote in Democratic primaries, that’s who you are. If you say Rauner owns this veto, than Rauner is purposely destroying higher education. That’s it. You say Rauner owns this veto, than Rauner chose to destroy higher education. As Chancellor Jones pointedly out, it was the past 25 months of damage Rauner’s Veto made possible that has hurting of higher education. Rauner chose with vetoes to destroy higher education. You say Rauner owns his vetoes here. Then refusing to fund something is a governor, budgetarily, wanting it gone. Thanks. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:34 pm: Destroying Higher Education is not fixing it and standing in the way of those that propose to do so. As you say it has not been funded fully for decades but the Speaker will not make any changes. So by definition the Speaker has slowly destroyed higher education over the past few decades because he has not fully funded it, because doing so would jeopardize his gravy train. That is also why term limits are so popular. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:40 pm: ===As you say it has not been funded fully for decades but the Speaker will not make any changes.=== I said none of that. This is all the phony you have. And no, a Veto is an act only a governor can do and choose. Not the same. Only Rauner wanted higher education desyroyed. Doesn’t being a phony all day get tiring? You’re less honest than Rauner. Rauner knows he’s destroying things, but pretends he’s not. You know Rauner isn’t pretending, and you still fib. Yikes, that’s just some serious phony. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:54 pm: So you still are peddling that Higher Ed was fully funded before Rauner was inaugurated and the legislature is a willing partner in fixing Illinois? Talk about phony - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 2:56 pm: Rauner refuses to fund higher education. It’s not for discussion or debate, deflection or denial. Vetoes tell the story, Chancellor Jones tells the rest. Rauner should go to the universities and face students… - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 3:11 pm: LP, pension issues are clearly not in your wheelhouse. First of all, the “pensions consume 50 percent of revenues” is overstated by at least 2 times. The issue is the same it has been for years; pension funding requirements grow faster than State revenues. Secondly, that cherry-picked quote about SURS not being able to pay benefits in ten years was based on a specious assumption that the State would stop contributing. That hasn’t happened yet and there’s no reason to assume that’s going to happen. SURS would have been better served by seeking a statute change to make the UI Athletic Department to pay the full cost of its employees’ pensions instead of writing such foolishness. - Steve Jobs - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 3:15 pm: 3,300 computer science degrees in a year isn’t a lot considering in 2015, there were about 60,000 grads with a half-million job openings. Let’s not start backslapping. STEM and, specifically computer science, isn’t part of the core of education in Illinois. When every student is taking computer science and coding classes, THEN let’s say Illinois is on the right track. That said, most of these grads have better opportunities in Silicon Valley, one of the “other” tech hubs the article referred to, as if Chicago was a tech hub on the same level. Illinois has too many companies that still think tech is “I.T.” - Steve Jobs - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 3:21 pm: We hire a lot of computer science grads (obviously) and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s grads are some of the best on earth, BUT if you were giving honest advice to a computer science grad (or anyone for that matter), you would say exit and flee Illinois sooner than later since the economic, political and entrepreneurial environment is still too old-school. Does not mean one can’t be successful at a venture or job in Illinois, but the chances are higher elsewhere. Maybe Rahm and Bruce should take all that Amazon HQ2, Obama Library and Lucas Old Art Crap incentives and put it instead toward what will matter. Or just keep doing the same old, same old. Think different. - Rufus - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:04 pm: If these grads are any good at all — and it will be a stretch (you learn so much on the job) — a piece of advice - Don’t go to work for Deloitte - The implementer of the State’s ERP. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:11 pm: Arthur perhaps accounting is not your wheelhouse. Were you on the Enron account, that was another Ponzi scheme. The truth is that more than 50 percent of Illinois’ $4.1 billion budget for state universities is spent on retirement costs – making it easy to understand why there’s not money out there for much else. Rather than keep tuition low, Illinois colleges and universities have taken the flood of federal and state monies available to higher education over the past two decades and spent it on a massive increase in administrative positions and exorbitant executive compensation. That growth and those higher salaries have dramatically increased the cost of university pensions, causing the state to redirect a majority of its higher-education funds toward retirement costs. The state is now spending more money on retirement costs than on university operations. A decade ago, retirement costs made up only 20 percent of the state’s total higher-education spending. Today, that percentage has ballooned to 53 percent. As spending on retirements rose from 2006 to 2015, state spending on higher-education operations fell by over $150 million. Higher-education costs are out of control in every state, but Illinois adds an untenable pension crisis to the mix of too many administrators and budget bloat. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/pensions-vs-higher-education/ - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:12 pm: ==What exactly are the political realities?== That he has to work with a Democratic General Assembly. That he has to work with Speaker Madigan. Stomping your feet about it isn’t going to help. ==Illinois has only been a train wreck since Rauner has been in office?== There you go again. I don’t believe I’ve ever said that. What I’ve said, and what you absolutely refuse to ever recognize, is that the happenings since he has been in office fall just as much on his shoulders as everyone else’s. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:14 pm: I’m pretty sure quoting the IPI when talking about state pensions isn’t a real good place to start if you want to talk honestly about pensions. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:17 pm: Do not let - Lucky Pierre - deflect, with long winded ignorance, that Bruce Rauner is the sole Illinois Governor to refuse to fully fund higher education. That’s since 1851. Rauner wants universities closed. - Lucky Pierre - doesn’t want that discussion… as successes like these in STEM are universities succeeding in spite of Rauner. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:34 pm: Perhaps the other political reality is that Democrats haven’t realized they don’t have total control of state government like they did before 2015. They too have to work with the other party. Other than permanently raising taxes and changing a flawed school funding formula created by Chicago Democrats, where have they moved? Don’t let Willy obfuscate and deflect pull the wool over your eyes, Higher Ed has not been fully funded in decades. The teachers blogs agreee. What source do you want to cite on Higher Education and pensions and how it was all going so well before Rauner was elected? Similarly, in our recent report on pensions in the state of Illinois, we noted Illinois taxpayers are now contributing more toward teacher pensions alone than for all of the state’s public colleges and universities combined. https://www.teacherpensions.org/blog/10-states-spend-more-employee-retirement-costs-higher-education https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/opinion/higher-education-in-illinois-is-dying.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&referer=https://t.co/AS3gygXBlL How about a teacher’s opinion blog that also understands math and ponzi schemes https://www.teacherpensions.org/sites/default/files/Bellwether_TP_Illinois_Final.pdf - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:37 pm: LP, you haven’t been around here long enough to a) know the genesis of my handle (Clue: Filan/Blagojevich bad bookkeeping) or b) think you can get away with cherry-picking dubiously sourced quotes twice in the same post. Demoralized beat me to the punch. That IPI report ain’t worth the paper it’s printed on. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:45 pm: ===Don’t let Willy obfuscate and deflect pull the wool over your eyes, Higher Ed has not been fully funded in decades.=== LOL Rauner’s vetoes and distinction with two years of no budgetS says otherwise. Good try thou… - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:45 pm: ==flawed school funding formula created by Chicago Democrats== Umm, I think the last school funding formula change was in 1997. That would be when we had a Republican Governor, a Republican Senate and a Democratic House. Not saying it was a perfect formula. But your little blame game doesn’t exactly work in that case. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:49 pm: They had since 2002 to fix that flawed school funding formula didn’t they? What took 15 years? - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 4:52 pm: lol. You really are a piece of work LP. Give me a freaking break. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 6:15 pm: New York Times and teachers pensions.org are dubious sites? - Just learning - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 6:32 pm: Lucky Pierre what is your game plan? You are like a child learning to play with the big boy toys. We can all read and copy & paste..so what. You have some freaky obsession with OW. I think you are a wanna be Willy. It’s ok to have an opinion but you are overbearing and make yourself look inept. I enjoy learning on this blog and rarely speak. Maybe you should learn more before you play. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 7:29 pm: So it is I who have the obsession with OW even though he somehow feels the need to rebut every single post I make parroting Susana Mendoza’s claim that during her time in the GA all of the budgets she voted for were balanced except for pensions. That is the reason why 25% of our taxes currently go to pay just the interest on the pension debt -9.1 billion dollars a year and rising - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 7:39 pm: ===So it is I who have the obsession with OW even though he somehow feels the need to rebut every single post I make parroting Susana Mendoza’s claim that during her time in the GA all of the budgets she voted for were balanced except for pensions.=== That is totally false, purposely untrue, and lacking fact to deflect your own failings. Where have I quoted Mendoza? This is ridiculous. Be honest. Try to be honest. Bruce Rauner has yet to fully fund higher education by his own signature, and further, Rauner is the lone governor since 1849 to fund higher education - universities at a level of zero. Perspective? In 1849, there were no state universities. You are failing, like Rauner failed Illinois. Thank goodness higher education here overcame Rauner’s crippling vetoes. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 8:53 pm: Willy you said every previous Governor has “fully funded higher education” Any impartial observer would consider SURS pension payments to be part of higher education budget because it is part of the employee compensation, that should be paid every year. Very similar to our pension expense that is a part of the overall state budget which again should have the actuarial pension payment every year. There were several years during the Blagoevich years where we borrowed to make the ramp pension payment not the actuarial payment or just flat out skipped it. Politicians who brag about surpluses or balanced budgets that don’t account the missing pension payments are being intentionally dishonest like you are about “fully funding” higher education. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:02 pm: ===Any impartial observer would consider SURS pension payments to be part of higher education budget because it is part of the employee compensation, that should be paid every year.=== The IPI report isn’t recognized as either impartial or honest. That being said, every governor but Rauber had some sort of budgetary device, except Rauner. That means Rauner is the first governor never to to fund Department of Aging, Department of Agticulture, all agencies, all at zero. Also, this year, Rauner’s signature didn’t fund higher education. Rauner’s funding for higher education this fiscal year? Zero. Vetoes matter. If they didn’t, Rauner wouldn’t had worked so hard to keep his Right to Work Veto. Rauner is the lone governor in the history of Illinois to not only purposely not fund state universities fully for a fiscal year, Rauner for three consecutive fiscal years has no full signatory funding for higher education. It was up to the bipartisan General Assembly to save higher education from Rauner’s purposeful de-funding with another veto. Thank goodness for the override. The universities know, as you do too… Rauner wants stste universities closed. The continued vetoes tell everyone so. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:16 pm: How about teachers pensions.org or New York Times? Are they impartial or honest? They say the exact same thing as IPI about pensions because it is true. The bottom lime is you advocate continuing what we have done that has got us in the hole we are in. Go along to get along. Much easier for Jim Edgar than in the current environment given the state of our finances. Absolutely no honesty about the budget from the democratic side of the aisle, they are promising more spending not austerity. Gullible voters will lap it up at there peril. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:21 pm: ===Gullible voters will lap it up at there peril.=== For at least the the 3rd time. If you tell me voters understand Rauner vetoing the income tax hike, the voters will understand vetoes that refuse to fully fund higher education. Rauner’s vetoes have funded state universities for a full fiscal year at a level of zero… … like the Department of Aging, like the Department of Agriculture… You want vetoes to matter. Here’s where they matter. To the Times, bad or less than honest investigation into things, be it the Times or IPI, is still not an honest look at anything, here it’s your ridiculous pension thought. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:41 pm: LP, just stop. The NYT piece was not factual reporting, it was an opinion piece. Do you understand the difference? It pains me to defend him, but Rod did not “skip entirely” any pension payments, not that Filan didn’t want to try. FY 2004 and one-fourth of FY 2003 were paid from bond proceeds, and FY 2006/07 contributions were reduced $1billion each rather than cut education. Learn the facts before pontificating. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion that SURS contributions should be counted in the higher ed budget. The current public policy of the State is not to do so. Would you recommend that we do the same for K-12/TRS and State Agencies/SERS? Finally, what would you like to cut from the budget in order to get to actuarial funding, as we aren’t going to be increasing revenue any time soon-do you know how much this costs? - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:41 pm: Yes the Governor vetoed the budget because it was not balanced there are no reforms in it, just a permanent income tax hike. Wonder why 36% of the House and 25% of the Senate since 2015 already have changed or will do so by the next election? Raising taxes and not reforming does not bode well for reelection. Only a partisan Democrat , and I guess a Republican from Oswego who only bashes Republicans, would actually believe only permanent income tax increase and no reforms will fix Illinois. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:49 pm: ===Yes the Governor vetoed the budget because it was not balanced there are no reforms in it, just a permanent income tax hike=== Then things like monies for the state police? Rauner vetoed that. Monies for Higher Ed? Rauner vetoed that. Paying social services? Rauner vetoed that. Anything good the budget funds, like higher education and ratings like this? Rauner vetoed that. ===Wonder why 36% of the House and 25% of the Senate since 2015 already have changed or will do so by the next election? Raising taxes and not reforming does not bode well for reelection.=== Then we don’t need term limits, if that’s such a big change lol ===Only a partisan Democrat=== You? Only pulling Dem ballots? Hmm… ===and I guess a Republican from Oswego who only bashes Republicans,=== Not true, good try. I’m sure Mendoza, Frerichs, Pritzker, Biss, Kennedy, would disagree I only “bash” Republicans, and that criticism is seen by you as bashing is tiresome. I’ve also praised Republicans. Those retiring, those who made a difference, the Leaders too, Durkin, who I support over Proft, both Brady and Radogno, praised them when it was deserved, encouraged when I thought it would help. You have nothing - Lucky Pierre - but the dishonesty of the Rauner talking points, even after they’ve been refuted. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:51 pm: Thanks Arthur for the thoughtful reply. You are right I am certainly no expert on the Blagoevich years. The problem is there is absolutely no acknowledgment of the other side or party. Factual news reports are dismissed because we don’t like what they say, even though teachers pensions.org would not appear to be a right wing propaganda site. The finances of Illinois are perilous and should be a huge concern for all who live and work here, as well as our elected officials. Sadly, our elected officials have failed our state for decades but too many did not have to decency to retire so another generation could fix their mess. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 9:59 pm: All of those Democrats Oswego Willy admits to bashing, but no mention of Speaker Madigan, Lou Lang , John Cullerton or anyone else who has been in office for decades. Just brickbats for a few candidates or those in office for a year or two. HMMM seems about right. The new ones are easy targets, the guys who have been in office for years and are responsible are ignored. You are consistent, only Rauner and the newbies get criticized. As if they are the reason Illinois is in the shape it is. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:07 pm: ===All of those Democrats Oswego Willy admits to bashing, but no mention of Speaker Madigan, Lou Lang , John Cullerton or anyone else who has been in office for decades.=== (Sigh) I’ve dinged you and Cullerton on the ridiculous unconstitutional pension plan. I’ve gone after the Speaker with the sham votes, same as I did with Goldberg, ironically, where I can’t stand the techniques, but I understand the methods. You can google if you like. It’s not about me. Making it about me ignores that Rauner vetoed higher education funding and news like this … is good to hear, that in spite of Rauner trying to tear down Higher Ed, good things are still happening despite him. ===Just brickbats for a few candidates or those in office for a year or two. HMMM seems about right=== You just told us all Mendoza is to blame for decades of her bad votes. Brady was a “Careerfella” ===The new ones are easy targets, the guys who have been in office for years and are responsible are ignored. You are consistent, only Rauner and the newbies get criticized. As if they are the reason Illinois is in the shape it is.== See, Brady, Durkin, Cullerton, Mendoza, Madigan… It’s not about me. Good try thou… - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:13 pm: Willy you had a Kinsley gaffe, you accidentally told the truth. You don’t criticize Madigan and only criticize Cullerton when he goes against pensions. Game set and match - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:15 pm: ===You don’t criticize Madigan and only criticize Cullerton when he goes against pensions.=== No. Good try. The Cullerton Plan is just that. You keep asking why Madigan won’t vote on the Cullerton Plan. Has it occurred to you it doesn’t solve things in a constitutional way? You know very little what you think you know. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:29 pm: Arthur Greg Hinz from Crains actually gives Filan some credit for the pension arbitrage from the Blagoevich years Mr. Filan’s idea—which won bipartisan support from a wide range of folks who’d rather not talk about it now—was to gamble that the state could borrow at one interest rate and invest the proceeds at a higher rate (see the PDF). He considered the gamble worth it, since at that time both borrowing rates and the stock market were at low levels. The hoped-for spread, arbitrage, would be pure profit. The state’s timing was exquisite. Over the next four years, according to figures supplied by Mr. Filan that others verified, the average return on investments by the state’s pension funds was 16.6 percent, 10.6 percent, 11.6 percent and 18.6 percent, in that order. Those returns were well above the average 5.07 percent interest rate Illinois paid to borrow the $10 billion. The pension funds built up such a cushion that the POB money was even at the depths of the 2008 recession, and it has come back strong since. Illinois took a gamble that turned out to be worth it. Compared with where it would have been had it simply put in the usual annual payments, the state is $8.55 billion ahead, says Mr. Filan, now a senior consultant at Chicago-based financial restructuring firm Development Specialists Inc. And the retirement systems, though still underfunded, have 41.1 percent of the assets needed to pay promised benefits, better than the 35.9 percent they would have had without the POB. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140906/ISSUE05/309069982/did-blago-get-something-right - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:33 pm: “I’m sure Mendoza, Frerichs, Pritzker, Biss, Kennedy, would disagree I only “bash” Republicans,” Have they ben running Illinois since the 1970’s? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:37 pm: ====Have they ben running Illinois since the 1970’s?=== Durkin, Radogno, Oberweis, Brady, Cross… Have they? Go to sleep. Try again tomorrow. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 10:57 pm: Durkin was in high school in the 70’s Radogno was elected in 1997 Jim Oberweis elected in 2012 Senator Brady elected 2002 Tom Cross- seeing as he is from Oswego you would know he would have been in college in the 1970’s. Hardly running Illinois - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 14, 17 @ 11:12 pm: - Lucky Pierre - Go to sleep. I’m mocking you. Stop. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.