That’s nice, now what about a plan?
Wednesday, Jun 22, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A “goal” is one thing, a “plan” is something far different…
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says he has a goal when it comes to trade.
The Chicago Democrat says he wants to double the state’s exports by 2015. His office said the value of Illinois’ exports surpassed $49 billion last year.
Doubling that won’t be easy. But just talking about it won’t make it so.
* From Gov. Quinn’s press release…
llinois Export Week, which runs June 20-24, features a series of seminars designed to help educate business owners on export opportunities. The Illinois Export Awards recognize companies that have achieved excellence in exporting and organizations that have provided substantial export assistance to Illinois companies. Governor Quinn presented 17 companies and organizations with awards at a luncheon on Tuesday.
Illinois Export Week events feature top leaders from Illinois’s export business community. Caterpillar Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman was the keynote speaker.
“Last year Caterpillar exported more than $13.4 billion in products from the United States—more than a third of that is from Illinois — two figures that would have no doubt been higher had the U.S. fully embraced trade liberalization,” Oberhelman said. “Simply put, many of our 47,000 employees in the U.S. and 23,000 employees in Illinois depend on trade.”
* Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Rick Scott wrote a letter to CME Group’s chairman and the media feels the need to call it news…
Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott is urging CME Group Inc. Chairman Terrence Duffy to move the Chicago-based futures exchange to his state after Mr. Duffy complained recently that this year’s hike in the Illinois corporate taxes may drive the company out.
“I will not rest until the business tax is completely phased out in our state so that both Florida and companies like CME Group can thrive,” Mr. Scott said in a June 16 letter to Mr. Duffy.
Mr. Duffy told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting earlier this month that CME was considering other locations because the state had increased the corporate tax rate to 7% from 4.8% and he was frustrated that some companies are avoiding the brunt of the increase through loopholes.
Scott is about the only US governor more unpopular than Pat Quinn.
* And this is rich…
Florida is home to other financial services companies, including online stock and options brokerage firm Tradeking, the founders of which chose the state for its base of operations ahead of its launch in 2005. The increasingly electronic nature of trade made it feasible for the company to run from Florida as opposed to financial hubs in Chicago or New York, according to Don Montanaro, chief executive.
The company has 92 employees, and 40 of them are in Florida.
Read the full letter, which is pretty standard stuff, by clicking here.
* Other biz-related news…
* Madigan and other attorneys general meet with banks on foreclosure practices
* Banks Will Be Sued If Foreclosure Talks Collapse, Two States Say
* Al-Qaida member invested with local firm, U.S. says: An al-Qaida member with access to Osama bin Laden invested almost $27 million with a Chicago-based futures broker, an amount that has fallen to less than $7 million because of bad investment moves by an associate
* Lisa Madigan: An experiment too expensive for consumers
* White launches prepaid tuition plan inquiry
* Casino set to open in Des Plaines
* Campaign for Rockford casino begins Thursday
* Jury’s still out on Groupon’s benefits to businesses
* Home sales, prices in the Chicago area rose in May vs. April
* Illinois Soybean Association is Governors Export Promotion Agency of Year
* Tinley Park man to hit 60 years working at Ford Motor Co.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 11:21 am:
“The Chicago Democrat says he wants to double the state’s exports by 2015. His office said the value of Illinois’ exports surpassed $49 billion last year.”
“Last year Caterpillar exported more than $13.4 billion in products from the United States—more than a third of that is from Illinois”
Cool. All Illinois needs to meet that goal is 15 more Caterpillars.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 11:29 am:
I’m not sure what Quinn’s talking about here. What influence does any governor have on international trade?
- Dan Johnson-Weinberger - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 11:43 am:
International visitors count as exports (foreigners buying our things) so an overlooked component of increasing our exports is increasing the number of international tourists in Illinois.
One way to help do that is to make it easier for them to travel. And that means a high speed train connecting O’Hare to the Loop to Downstate.
There are other strategies to induce foreigners to spend more time and more of their money in our state, but a high speed train at 220 mph would shrink the state and make tourist attractions far more accessible than they are today.
- illinicpa2 - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 11:46 am:
Will exports include residents because we have been exporting those for the last several years ? I am fear that business will choose to leave the state and take their exports with them.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 11:55 am:
“One way to help do that is to make it easier for them to travel. And that means a high speed train connecting O’Hare to the Loop to Downstate.”
No offense Dan, but is there a cheaper, less risky financial way to do that?
- Dan Johnson-Weinberger - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 12:15 pm:
There are cheaper ways. But how you overcome the 3.5 hour drive from Chicago to Springfield without a train? I dont know. I think it is telling that France (with a strong and growing tourism/travel sector of its economy) continues to invest in high speed rail to pull in visitors and then keep them in the country longer by sending them around into different regions cheaply and efficiently. They just winked the world’s biggest PPP for a new Bourdeaux high speed rail line to connect SW France with the bullet train network. It’s worth 7 billion euros or so and will be built in six years. The private financier is coming up with about half the money (mostly government-backed debt) and taxpayers are coming up with the rest. The private consortium takes the risk of less revenue and ridership and also keeps all the ticket sales for 30 years or so.
Senators Durbin and Kirk are leading the national debate on federal policy on PPPs with their competing bills both introduced in the last week. I’m convinced our transportation infrastructure will be financed differently in the next decade and when we build high speed rail in our state, it will be with a private consortium of some kind.
Bit of a tangent….
There probably are some low-cost tactics to keep foreigners in our state for a longer period of time, to address your point. I’m not sure what they are.
- radio guy - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 12:59 pm:
I agree with Dan–tourists want to go get their Lincoln on, and be able to get back to the Loop in time for dinner.
- Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 1:06 pm:
You choo-choo guys are really funny.
This will help exports how? Perhaps allowing residents to flee faster……
- Irish - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 1:29 pm:
One of the seminars offered during Export Week is
” Obligation of Government to pay it’s bills so vendors can use the money to invest in growing their businesses or to keep themselves solvent.” Needless to say PQ did not sign up for that one.
One of the other seminars is “If you’re not paying your bills you are BORROWING what you owe from whom you owe it.” None of the GOP signed up for that one.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 2:00 pm:
Irish, rather than berate the GOP, how about this: “Don’t spend it if you don’t have it.”
Then you wouldn’t have to borrow to pay for what you couldn’t afford to spend.
- Mighty M. Mouse - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 6:52 pm:
==Scott is about the only US governor more unpopular than Pat Quinn.==
Rich, do you just make stuff like that up, or do you at least have something like poll results (pseudo-facts) to back it up? I doubt it. Probably just a nice, gratuitous shot. Why not tell us how you REALLY feel?
But upon reflection, I think you did. Your statement dissing Quinn’s popularity has nothing to do with his ablility to get more VOTES than his opponents, the conventional measurement of a politician’s popularity. Rather, it’s just your way of saying that YOU don’t like Quinn, and then making that sound a whole lot more important than it is. Right?
And after I gave you SUCH a huge compliment less than 24 hours ago! Who’d have thought…
- Small Town Liberal - Wednesday, Jun 22, 11 @ 10:39 pm:
MMM - I’m a huge Quinn supporter, and I’m pretty sure Rich is in touch with the polls on this one.