25 Comments - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:15 am: “@RonSandack: I’m frustrated 2, but taking steps towards reforming IL more important than short term budget stalemate.” Make no mistske, The Owl knows. This is purposeful. It is designed to bring pain. Unions must be destroyed, no budget until terms are met. Rauner owns this $33 million. Governors own. Espiy when… “@RonSandack: I’m frustrated 2, but taking steps towards reforming IL more important than short term budget stalemate.” … says it all. Right Owl? Exactly right. - 47th Ward - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:17 am: Wait, we’re borrowing $33 million per day just because Rauner wants union families to earn less money? Seriously? On what planet is that even remotely acceptable? - Norseman - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:17 am: “Small price to pay if we can eliminate collective bargaining and prevailing wage.” faux Rauner - @MisterJayEm - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:18 am: The price of the governor’s union-busting monomania. – MrJM - Joe M - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:23 am: I assume that the daily spending of $33 million more than the State is taking in, doesn’t include such non-expenditures as the $2 billion Higher Ed budget - or the $2 billion more in social services waiting to be funded, plus another 2 or so billion that is in the budget, but hasn’t been funded either. - Anon 221 - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:25 am: “Short term pain for long-term gain,” Bruce Rauner. Lather, rinse, repeat… - DuPage Moderate - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:37 am: It’s not about the union families - although structural change is needed. As my property tax bill rises 10% every year, I have to ask the Unions, what’s the end game? If the Unions won’t negotiate, and the pension obligations are kept in place, where does that leave us in 20 years? Honestly - what’s the end game if the status quo is to be accepted? Maybe I’m not smart enough but I don’t see one that ends well for anyone. The numbers just don’t work. However, the cynic in me (and why is there reason to be anything other than cynical toward this Springfield disaster), seems to think that everyone in Springfield and associated with state government understands and recognizes the problem and knows the end game is garbage, but they’re just trying to hold onto their political power as long as possible. Nobody down there is looking out for the well being of the State and the future of the state - just looking out for what’s theirs…and it’s disgusting. - Langhorne - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:40 am: Shameful There will be no “winners”, just damage, but they refuse to recognize that. Looking forward to the next budget message - Norseman - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:56 am: === Honestly - what’s the end game if the status quo is to be accepted? === Nobody is accepting the “status quo.” The problem is agreeing on how to change the “status quo.” The political and legal issues are too vexing for our current leaders. - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 11:56 am: –Wait, we’re borrowing $33 million per day just because Rauner wants union families to earn less money? Seriously? On what planet is that even remotely acceptable?– Planet Tribbie Edit Board, home of “fiscal conservatives.” desperate for a sugar-daddy buyer a la Sheldon Adelson to save their phony-baloney jobs. - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 12:03 pm: Jeez. If Illinois won the Powerball, that wouldn’t even buy us two weeks pre-tax. - From the 'Dale to HP - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 12:44 pm: DuPage Moderate, I fail to see the connection between unions and your property tax bill. Please explain. - Cassandra - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 1:07 pm: I don’t believe the unions can bargain away pension rights already earned. Why do we keep talking as if this were an option. As to future pensions, there must be a reason why there is so little discussion of eliminating defined benefit pensions for future state employees. Too expensive? We’ll have to pay. Not forever, tho. Unless our political masters get to feeling generous again, always a possibility, there is, sad but true, an end to the Tier 1 population and its pension rights and costs. - steve schnorf - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 1:07 pm: I don’t fail to see the connection. Unions drive public construction costs, local government labor and pension costs and other things in municipal and county budgets. In my mind that is undebatable. They are certainly bot the only drivers and not necessarily the biggest drivers. What is debatable is whether they are drivers that need to be further controlled, and if so, how and by how much. - Joe M - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 1:21 pm: Mr. Schnorf, its also undebatable that paying workers anything at all drives public construction costs. If union wages are too high, then how much are you suggesting that workers get paid? You must have a figure in mind. Just wondering. - The Dude Abides - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 1:22 pm: I don’t think going back to the days when there were no Unions or worker protections is the answer. If you are not familiar with the poor working conditions of the past, which led to the collective bargaining movement in the first place, you can use google or another search engine and find out in a few minutes. How are we going to expand our tax base by reducing salaries of thousands of average wage workers in the state? I think the idea of local government consolidation has merit but the Governor has already sabotaged his own bill by adding the anti worker provisions. - steve schnorf - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 1:31 pm: Joe, please re-read my comment, try to underline where I say union wages are too high, realize that it’s not there, don’t bother to apologize - Joe M - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 1:59 pm: Mr. Schnorf, I think Worslinger summed it up when he said: –Wait, we’re borrowing $33 million per day just because Rauner wants union families to earn less money?- - DuPage Moderate - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 2:04 pm: ‘Dale to HP: If you don’t see connection between public unions and my property tax bill, I’m not sure you can be helped. - RIJ (formerly PolPal56) - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 2:21 pm: There is no “reform” that can be done to public pensions. The only possible reform now involves how Ilinois fully pays those pensions. Any time spent even daydreaming about reducing the pensions of current employees and retirees is wasted time. - Qui Tam - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 2:51 pm: The important thing is that we aren’t taxing high-end services, so the “right” people are being protected. - Angry Republican - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 3:01 pm: I did the math and think a $12B deficit for FY2016 sounds much more ominous than $33M a day. If I could short state of IL stock, I would. - Judgment Day - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 3:14 pm: “There is no “reform” that can be done to public pensions. The only possible reform now involves how Illinois fully pays those pensions. Any time spent even daydreaming about reducing the pensions of current employees and retirees is wasted time.” ———— You never say “Never”. Reason I say that is everybody needs to watch what plays out with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their debts. That’s going to be a federal government fight, and there’s a lot of thought out there that any Federal assistance plan is going to require a LOT OF COMPROMISE (if possible), and there’s a real possibility that many of those changes could also be applied to states and local governments outside of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. There’s going to be winners and losers in that fight. Very much like watching a slow motion rolling train wreck. The results there could easily affect public sector pensions. Just saying. - and - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 5:25 pm: Judgement Day, we should all feel great when the federal government bails out the hedge funds for buying PR debt for pennies and getting the full face amount.. - Southern Illinois Hoopdee - Monday, Jan 4, 16 @ 9:05 pm: The governor can abandon the non-budgetary union busting measures and then we could start to see bipartisan compromise to deal with the structural problems. Problem is, we may have already passed the point where that can happen. Logic would dictate this approach, but as many have said, Rauner isn’t looking at this logically. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.