Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Question of the day
Next Post: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: This just in…
Posted in:
* The Chicago Tribune’s editorial board conducted a survey of 45 CEOs of what it says are “top Illinois-based public companies.” The survey was conducted over the past six weeks and the results were compiled by Market Shares Corp.
To say these CEOs are pessimistic would be an understatement. The Trib decided to show numbers of CEO responses instead of percentages, but I’ve added some highlights to make it slightly easier to read…
* How do overall Illinois economic conditions compare with nearby Midwestern states? Much/somewhat better: 6 About the same: 9 Somewhat/ much worse: 28
* Within the next couple of years, how much confidence do you have that Illinois state government will solve its fiscal problems? A lot/some: 1 Not sure: 1 Very little/none at all: 41
* How effective are Illinois tax credits and other state and local incentives in attracting and retaining businesses? A lot/some: 13 Very little/not at all: 30
* How much progress is Illinois making in funding its public employee pension and retirement benefits? A lot/some: 1 Not sure: 5 Very little/none at all: 36
* How much progress is Illinois making on public school reform? A lot/some: 10 Not sure: 1 Very little/none at all: 32
* How much progress is Illinois making on curbing corruption in government? A lot/some: 6 Not sure: 2 Very little/none at all: 34
* How much progress is Illinois making on transparency in government? A lot/some: 8 Not sure: 3 Very little/none at all: 29
* The state temporarily raised taxes to reduce its budget deficit shortfall and pay overdue bills. How much do you think this will help reduce state budget deficits? A lot/some: 7 Very little/not at all: 36
* Is the state tax rate your company pays today fair or unfair? Fair: 16 Unfair: 24
* And except for Rahm Emanuel, they don’t particularly care for Illinois’ other major leaders…
What grade would you give the state’s political leadership for fostering a favorable business environment in Illinois?
* Pat Quinn, Governor Excellent/good: 3 Not sure: 1 Fair/poor: 37
* Rahm Emanuel, Chicago mayor Excellent/good: 28 Not sure: 3 Fair/poor: 10
* Michael Madigan, House speaker Excellent/good: 2 Not sure: 2 Fair/poor: 37
* John Cullerton, Senate president Excellent/good: 4 Not sure: 8 Fair/poor: 28
* Tom Cross, House minority leader Excellent/good: 8 Not sure: 14 Fair/poor: 19
* Christine Radogno, Senate minority leader Excellent/good: 7 Not sure: 17 Fair/poor: 17
* Again, these CEOs are very pessimistic about the state’s future…
* How will Illinois economic conditions in the next 12 months compare with the last 12 months? Much/somewhat better: 2 About the same: 20 Somewhat/ much worse: 21
* Do you agree or disagree that now is a good time for your business to expand its investment in Illinois? Agree: 13 Disagree: 30
* Do you believe the Illinois economy will grow at a faster rate than the nation, at about the same rate, or at a slower rate than the nation? Faster: 0 About the same: 14 Slower: 29
* How much are Illinois state taxes an impediment to making business investments in the state? Very little/not at all: 8 A lot/some: 34
* Yet, despite all that pessimism and negativity, a significant number of them have done and are planning some sort of expansion…
* This year, how much did your company expand its Illinois workforce versus last year, if at all? A lot/some: 16 Very little/no change: 17 Reduced: 10
* How much is your company planning to expand its Illinois workforce next year, if at all? A lot/some: 13 Very little/no change: 21 Reduced: 10
Of course this last set of numbers could be a whole lot better, but considering the international economic situation the responses were a bit more positive than I thought it would be, especially factoring in the almost universal disdain these people have for the state government and the state’s future.
Your thoughts?
* Related editorials…
* Making Chicago, and Illinois, competitive: Some companies offset these drawbacks by screaming for help until politicians come running with special tax deals and other bribes (invariably at the expense of other companies and individual taxpayers). The flip of that: Other companies don’t scream, they just relocate to more business-friendly states. Or they don’t even come here in the first place. Look at how painfully unresolved our taxpayer debts, our government retirement costs, our tax disincentives and our often underperforming public schools remain.
* Business to pols: Shape up: Gov. Pat Quinn tried to do some cheerleading last week, telling an audience at the City Club of Chicago: “We shouldn’t get down on ourselves. We shouldn’t sell ourselves short. We have a great state, great workers and great companies.” Governor, the leaders of those great companies, the people who hire those great workers and pay taxes in this great state — they want more than cheerleading. They want results.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:00 pm
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Question of the day
Next Post: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: This just in…
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
I think it’s cool that you used blue font to represent the optimistic responses and red font to represent the pessimistic responses. Subliminal reflection of the nation’s politics?
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:26 pm
CEOs are the primary source of this poll. They are working from first hand knowledge. They don’t survive on abstract theories from professors. They don’t survive on political BS. They either produce or die.
They are very pessimistic and that is really bad.
The spin stops here.
Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:27 pm
===Subliminal reflection===
Nah. Just the easiest to read.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:28 pm
I actually tried a green font for positive at first, but it didn’t work.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:28 pm
the survey reflects on radogno and cross what a lot of republicans think of their leadership in general which is not great. Neither are good on tv-radogno almost always has a scowl that makes her look like someone just stole her dog, and neither have presented any kind of compelling vision or message beyond chicago corruption and taxes which obviously isn’t enough. They’re not connecting.
Comment by Shore Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:40 pm
We should change our name to State of ill.
Comment by Wondering... Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:43 pm
Did the Tribune ask these CEOs if they were expecting bonuses this year? More than last year, the same/little change, or less than last year? This question correlates nicely with another unasked question: did your business make profit last year? Do you expect to make a profit next year?
And Vman, I’d point to the last two questions as the real story here: More companies grew their workforces last year and are planning to do so again versus those who reduced workforce. Not great, but hardly evidence that the sky is falling, despite the pessimism expressed elsewhere in the survey.
Things are horrible in Illinois. Most companies expect to grow here. That tells me that threats to leave Illinois for greener pastures are empty. Somebody should call these bluffs, starting with CME and Sears.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 2:50 pm
I wonder if we should ditch the tax incentives and incentives and just have a lower tax structure and lower cost of doing businesses.
Majority of these responders say that they are not very useful and about the same amount say that the tax system is not fair to their business.
How about ditching the incentives while repealing the personal property replacement tax?
Comment by Ahoy Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:00 pm
An interesting corollary would be to ask 1000 small business owners in a representative selection of sectors and from across the state these same questions.
Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:11 pm
Disheartening news, with bad future implications.
One small caveat given my experience with several Illinois CEOs: I bet at least some of the CEOs who said Illinois state tax rates are “unfair”, don’t even know that their own companies are not fully paying them, (without asking their CFO’s). State taxes are just not top of mind for most of them.
Still, perception is reality here. Large-company leaders participate more or less in their own political culture, where all taxes are “unfair”. That doesn’t mean this isn’t a real serious problem to deal with.
Comment by walkinfool Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:15 pm
@Cinci: You’re exactly right once again.
The smaller companies actually have the tax problems that many of the big corporations avoid, but no one ever asks them — though they create the bulk of our employment and innovation.
Comment by walkinfool Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:21 pm
I hate surveys that offer “fair” as an option and then combine it with a negative. One of the definitions of “fair” on dictionary.com is the following “marked by favoring conditions; likely; promising: in a fair way to succeed.”
So when you ask a question and give fair as an option and then lump fair and poor together I just don’t care for the output.
Comment by The Captain Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:23 pm
How many of these ceo’s are members of the civic federation?
Comment by foster brooks Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:31 pm
Yet, the governor will tell you he’s doing everything necessary to make things right, like he told Zorn last week…
“I think I’m doing the repairs necessary after 10 years of trouble in the governor’s office. We’ve passed ethics laws, campaign finance reform, passed the workers compensation law they said couldn’t be passed this year. We passed education reform that Arne Duncan said was the model for the country. We’ve passed a job recovery bill and invested in our infrastructure. These are hard things. What’s the sense of being governor if you don’t take on the very difficult challenges and take them on head on, and not in a timid way? We have done all the hard things and we’re doing more.”
How do you reconcile these differing views? Is one or both sides way off?
http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2011/10/quinn-too-many-people-in-office-are-worrying-about-the-next-election-instead-of-the-next-generation.html
Comment by Wensicia Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:32 pm
==CEOs are the primary source of this poll. They are working from first hand knowledge. They don’t survive on abstract theories from professors. They don’t survive on political BS. They either produce or die.==
Lots o’ straw men packed into your statement, wrapped up with a nice little rhetorical flourish at the end.
I recall just last week Crain’s, not exactly the cradle of progressive journalism, with a cover story that IL’s business climate, including tax burden, was favorable compared to its neighbors, including the much beloved Indiana.
Crain’s provided metrics to support their headline. You infer that pointy-headed intellectuals are at odds with CEOs without a scintilla of data to back it up. As usual.
Comment by The Doc Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:52 pm
The way the last questions were framed, the answers could mean nothing more than that some of them finally hired back a few people laid off at the absolute bottom in 2009… can’t say it suggests any actual expansion or intent to expand their operations.
Comment by Marty Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 3:54 pm
“CEOs are the primary source of this poll. They are working from first hand knowledge. They don’t survive on abstract theories from professors. They don’t survive on political BS. They either produce or die.”
Or get corporate welfare. One of those three.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 4:20 pm
I have always found comments from this group, many of whom I disagree with, as well thought out and interesting comments on a variety of topics. However, today, I am struck by the “head in the sand” attitude of a number of you. Easy to blame CEO’s on compensation issue, and I might even agree with you on some to many. However, business is apolitical. Their primary focus is profit and it has to be. Everything from insurance, salaries, benefits, and future business growth is from profit. When something interferes with that, such as taxes, fees, onerous business regulations and the like, they have no choice but to move to better business climate(s). @ 47th ward: Daring someone to leave by drawing a line in the sand is a dangerous game. Be careful what you ask for!
Comment by LisleMike Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 4:36 pm
Like 47th, I am also tired of businesses getting special breaks. My solution is to SOLVE THE PROBLEMS. Eliminate subsidies. Eliminate tax breaks. Reform pensions. Reform workers comp in a MEANINGFUL fashion. Broaden the base. Lower the rates. It all has to be done as a package…
Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 4:48 pm
To take Cincy’s idea a bit further, ask the same questions to 1000 random people who have been small business owners at any time in the past few years, and start with this question: “Are you still in business?”
Comment by Liandro Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 4:59 pm
LisleMike,
I’m not daring anyone to do anything. CME is asking for a tax break. I’m opposed to giving them one. I think the evidence is pretty clear they are doing very, very well here. I hope they stay even if they don’t get a tax break and that they continue to prosper here, as they always have.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 5:18 pm
“Are you still in business?”
Actually, the question should be two fold:
First: Is your current headcount (employees) (a) Same (b) Less (c) Greater than it was six months ago. This puts you outside of Christmas.
Secondly: Do you see yourself remaining in business in six (6) months? Giving a percentage is an acceptable answer.
Comment by Judgment Day Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 5:19 pm
IMO, the biggest issue we have is the reception from other States that these CEO’s are saying they are getting. IL is becoming a primary target of the poachers, because the other states think we’re easy pickings.
We’ve got to do something about that, and sticking our head in the sand isn’t getting us there.
That’s the biggest problem.
Comment by Judgment Day Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 5:28 pm
We in this State should be across the board ashamed for electing the dolts we elect year after year. We keep electing misfits, what makes you think they will listen or give a damn.
We the voter better wake up to who and what we are
electing.Our once proud State need our help.
Comment by mokenavince Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 6:02 pm
Driving back to Illinois through the south, I heard of a radio station of local companies that were adding employees. They made it sound patriotic to hire American and local.
I liked it - would like to see Illinois and local towns replicate.
Also - Illinois cities could be recognized for leading in employment growth, in addition to their major employers.
Comment by Capital View Monday, Oct 24, 11 @ 10:52 pm
On the question of corporate subsidies…
There are two philosophical poles on tax policy—have a very broad tax base with very low rates, or a narrow base with lots of exceptions, which requires high rates on those who pay. Of course there’s an almost infinite range of options in between.
Any economist will tell you that the former is better.
However, if you are in competition with others to offer the best deal, you may find that the taxes under the “broad base/low rate” scenario are still too high for targeted competition. In which case you either accept that you don’t compete in that game, or you are forced toward the “narrow base, high rate, lots of exceptions” pole.
Pols prefer the latter because it lets them do things that look good and generate tangible “thank yous.” Economists will tell you all the reasons why that’s bad policy, but they don’t have to run for office.
Comment by Marty Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 10:19 am