* Press release…
– Governor Rauner today discussed the administration’s efforts to cut the red tape in state government and make Illinois more competitive with surrounding states at the Illinois Competiveness Council Forum.
“Excessive red tape has been a barrier blocking small business and entrepreneurs from wanting to grow and expand in Illinois,” said Governor Rauner. “That’s why we created the Illinois Competiveness Council nearly six months go to see where we can streamline and improve the restrictions in government.”
Governor Rauner signed an executive order last year to form the Illinois Competiveness Council and undertake a comprehensive review of the Illinois Administrative Code. The governor has directed the agencies working with the Illinois Competitiveness Council to reduce regulations by 20 percent. The Council led by U-Jung Choe will work with agencies from those areas to reduce regulatory burdens and cut the red tape.
“We are deeply committed to this mission. We will listen to all suggestions, make immediate changes when possible, and do all we can to advance Illinois’ economic climate,” said U-Jung Choe, chairwoman of the Illinois Competiveness Council.
The Council solicited assistance from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University to analyze the Illinois Administrative Code to best understand where red tape existed, where to cut it, and how to improve Illinois’ business climate. Illinois’ current administrative code is significantly larger than a majority of states, according to the analysis by the Mercatus Center. Illinois has more than 259,000 restrictions that make up more than 15 million words.
Additionally, the Mercatus Center found that most regulatory restrictions were in five areas: public health, environmental protection, social services, professional occupations and transportation.
* From SourceWatch…
The Mercatus Center was founded and is funded by the Koch Family Foundations. According to financial records, the Koch family has contributed more than thirty million dollars to George Mason University, much of which has gone to the Mercatus Center, a nonprofit organization. […]
The Mercatus Center is an “associate” member of the State Policy Network, a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country.
* Anyway, if you click here and go to about the 10-minute mark, you’ll see Gov. Rauner talking about how state spending has increased while state employment has remained flat. And then he says…
And they say, well, we need more regulations to force companies to pay people more.
No. It’s not gonna happen. Companies will just leave. That’s what they’re doing, they’re voting with their feet.
And they say, we don’t want to compete with Texas, they don’t have regulations there, their workers, you know, they need more protections down, they don’t have enough protections in Texas.
Well, you know what? Texas workers, factory workers make way more than factory workers in Illinois. Why? It ain’t because regulations are forcing their pay up, it’s because it’s a booming, healthy competitive economy with companies competing to hire workers. That’s why. And that’s the answer to long-term prosperity for the people of Illinois. And that’s the key to a better future for our children and our grandchildren, which is the reason I decided to be governor.
Setting aside the obvious minimum wage argument for now, click here for the BLS definition of production workers. Now, click here for the BLS Illinois page and you’ll see the median wage for production workers is $15.95 per hour. Click here and you’ll see that same median wage in Texas is $15.62 per hour.
Illinois has a higher cost of living in general than Texas, so those TX workers are putting more in their pockets. But do they make “way more” in Texas?
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Following is the response of SEIU Healthcare Illinois Communications Director James Muhammad to news that Gov. Bruce Rauner today voiced opposition to raising the Illinois wage floor, even as momentum grows to raise it to $15, via House Bill 198:
“When he opposes raising the wage for Illinois workers, Bruce Rauner continues to describe his belief that labor should be cheap and that workers are not central to the health of our economy. He paid for his many mansions via the profits from cheap labor and yet he wants to deny any economic security to the working families of Illinois? This is wrong and hypocritical.
“The Rauner budget impasse has slowed growth in Illinois and the quickest way to put money back into the economy is to give a raise to the 2.3 million Illinois workers, more than 40 percent of the workforce, who make less than $15 per hour and who would benefit from passage of House Bill 198.
“As Gov. Rauner dismantles education, healthcare, social services and all the tools that helped grow the Illinois middle class from the bottom up in the first place, we hope he abandons his trickle-down opposition to raising the wage floor for the women and men who work hard while others, like him, reap the profits of the sweat of their brow.”
* Related…
* Democrats push for minimum wage increase: Rep. Litesa Wallace, D-Rockford, said the state has to “pick up where employers leave off” through government programs and subsidies. “I am really tired of working poor people being the bogeyman in the way that we talk about this,” Wallace said. “Let’s change the narrative, because you’re receiving welfare too.”
* Editorial: Find a way, lawmakers, to give Illinois residents a pay raise: Illinois residents who make the minimum wage are overdue for a raise. The same is true for Americans across the nation. Workers are more productive than ever, but you wouldn’t know it based on their wages. In the last four decades, their pay has lagged far behind their contributions in the work force. The disparity helped make “income inequality” a catchphrase of the decade.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 2:50 pm:
Nothing like a guy who made 150 million dollars last year for doing nothing telling us we’re all overpaid.
- Annonin' - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 2:57 pm:
Here is a heartwarmin’ story about how it works in a state with less regulation ( and where you can marry your lst cousin)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-23/inside-alabama-s-auto-jobs-boom-cheap-wages-little-training-crushed-limbs
Excerpts:
Employees work ungodly hours, six or seven days a week, for months on end. Pay is low, turnover is high, training is scant, and safety is an afterthought, usually after someone is badly hurt. Many of the same woes that typify work conditions at contract manufacturers across Asia now bedevil parts plants in the South.
In 2014, OSHA’s Atlanta office, after detecting a high number of safety violations at the region’s parts suppliers, launched a crackdown. The agency cited one year, 2010, when workers in Alabama parts plants had a 50 percent higher rate of illness and injury than the U.S. auto parts industry as a whole.
In 2015 the chances of losing a finger or limb in an Alabama parts factory was double the amputation risk nationally for the industry, 65 percent higher than in Michigan and 33 percent above the rate in Ohio.
The pressure inside parts plants is wreaking a different American carnage than the one Trump conjured up at his inauguration. OSHA records obtained by Bloomberg document burning flesh, crushed limbs, dismembered body parts, and a flailing fall into a vat of acid. The files read like Upton Sinclair, or even Dickens.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 2:57 pm:
And you know what, I remember the Decatur PowerPoint,
… and you know what, Rauner doesn’t want higher wages,
… and you know what, Rauner wants current wages now lowered,
… and you know what, you better believe Rauner believes he’s right,
… and you know what, if Rauner wins in 2018, 2019 will be worse than now, if that’s possible,
… and you know what, if you wear a Carhartt, and it’s dirty, and you vote for Rauner again, that’s on “you”,
… and you know what, the more people “hurtin’…”, the better Rauner likes it,
… and you know what, Rauner thinks he can fool enough people to get to “this place”,
… and you know what?
Rauner is counting on being right.
- Deft Wing - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 2:59 pm:
His oration skills are exemplary. As Mona Lisa Vito would say, “Ooh, you’re a smooth talker, Brucey.”
- Blue Bayou - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:01 pm:
We now come to the eternal question of whether Rauner is LYING or STUPID.
Can he not look up facts to see if they are admittable as evidence? Shouldn’t the person responsible for making decisions for everyone have a basic understanding of the facts?
TX also has one of the worst uninsured rates in the country.
https://www.texmed.org/uninsured_in_texas/
If IL is on the move to become TX in terms of quality of life, then it is in big trouble.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:01 pm:
I don’t know about downstate, but my young daughter and her friends live in the Chicago metro area and are able to get entry level positions for around $15 right now.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:03 pm:
Dear Workers,
I won’t raise your taxes, until I lower your wages and make your workplace unsafe.
Sincerely,
Out of Touch Billionaire
- Rogue Roni - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:07 pm:
Why are we keeping the lie going that everyone will be working in a factory? Those days are dead. We should be preparing our workforce for the 2000s. Not the 1900s.
- Blue Bayou - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:09 pm:
@Ducky
You can keep more of your income if you can find a way to afford private university becuz I’m going to crater all the affordable options.
Love,
Bruce
- Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:11 pm:
===Employees work ungodly hours, six or seven days a week, for months on end. Pay is low, turnover is high, training is scant, and safety is an afterthought, usually after someone is badly hurt.===
In other words…corporatist nirvana.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:12 pm:
Annonin’ my sincere thanks for sharing. What a horrifying story, but one that needs to be told. I have to wonder if Alabama’s terminally corrupt State Government plays a role in the unsafe working conditions.
I’m darn glad my car was assembled in Mexico with a Canadian-built engine. It’s All-American, though.
- Anon221 - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:17 pm:
“Illinois’ current administrative code is significantly larger than a majority of states, according to the analysis by the Mercatus Center. “
And Illinois, itself, is significantly larger both in geography and population than a majority of states. So the point is???
“Illinois has more than 259,000 restrictions that make up more than 15 million words.”
A, and, the, is, are, with… conjunctions are words with function! And, BTW, how long did it take to do the Word Count???
“Additionally, the Mercatus Center found that most regulatory restrictions were in five areas: public health, environmental protection, social services, professional occupations and transportation.”
PFFF… safety…smafety!
- PublicServant - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:20 pm:
Rauner, takin’ his queue from the Kochs and utilizing/funding their astroturf-roots organizations proves his motivations are based on extreme right ideology and not mainstream Republicanism. His ultimate goal is to so destroy the public infrastructure of Illinois that bankruptcy at the state level be allowed by the Feds. His MO has always been to destroy whatever was under his purview and using Illinois to achieve state ability to walk away from bills would be a wet dream to him and the Kochs would elevate him to their plutocrat hall of fame.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:23 pm:
And you know what? If Rainer was a fiscal conservative that had honest disagreements with opponents, so be it. But he is a one track jabber-jaw with no ability or desire to accomplish things for the common good. Only a billionaire has to work at trying to sound Ike a ‘ commoner’.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:23 pm:
Right there. That’s the real Rauner. He only cares about companies. Make life better for companies and their profits.
He doesn’t give a tinkers dam about anyone else.
Matthew 18:24
Happy Easter Governor Rauner
- RNUG - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:26 pm:
== His ultimate goal is to so destroy the public infrastructure of Illinois that bankruptcy at the state level be allowed by the Feds. ==
Makes you wonder if there is some kind of bragging rights contest between the various “GOP” Governor’s on who can actually accomplish that? All this may be over a stupid bet for something like a case of expensive wine? /s?
- The Dude Abides - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:33 pm:
Speaking to a difference audience Rauner said that he was for more higher paying jobs. Back in 2015 talking to the asphalt pavers he said that you’re paying too much for labor, you need to get more bang for your buck. Don’t pay attention to what he says when giving speeches, watch what he does. His goal is to suppress wages and do all he can to weaken or eliminate the rights of workers.
As OW quipped in his earlier post, if you wear a dirty Carhartt jacket to work this Governor is not for you!
- Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:34 pm:
===All this may be over a stupid bet for something like a case of expensive wine? /s?===
Or a crisp one dollar bill…
- Vole - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:34 pm:
Every man for himself libertarianism coupled with every gain for the “self-made man” capitalism.
This seems to be the Rauner/Mercatus/Koch creed.
How you make democracy work with this?
- Nick Name - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:35 pm:
“The Mercatus Center was founded and is funded by the Koch Family Foundations.”
And that’s all you really need to know. What a sham.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:36 pm:
People are already fleeing Illinois. Look at job and population trends of us versus our neighboring states. If we make the place more expensive, they will just flee at a faster pace.
- Norseman - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:37 pm:
=== Additionally, the Mercatus Center found that most regulatory restrictions were in five areas: public health, environmental protection, social services, professional occupations and transportation. ===
Well duh!
Regulations are viewed as the big bad boogieman eating our jobs. Aargh! Well at least Rauner isn’t pulling the idiotic Trump stunt of requiring two rules be repealed for every new one proposed.
Regulations are necessary to implement legislative mandates enacted to protect the health, safety, rights and finances of the public. While it’s reasonable to continually review regulations for effectiveness and need. Blindly repealing them because they may cause extra cost to a business is insane. For example, would you really want to save a hospital money by eliminating the requirement for a backup generator?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:56 pm:
==“The Mercatus Center was founded and is funded by the Koch Family Foundations.”
And that’s all you really need to know. What a sham.==
The Koch family also helps fund PBS. Is that a sham, too?
- Chicago 20 - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 3:59 pm:
“The Mercatus Center is an “associate” member of the State Policy Network, a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country.”
Of which the non/partisan Illinois Policy Institute and their associated news services are proud members.
Their motto should be; If you keep repeating lies, eventually they will become true.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:01 pm:
==Blindly repealing ==
If by “blindly” you mean each agency meticulously reviewing its rules (many of which are outdated or redundant), seeking input from the public and businesses as to real world impact of the rules, evaluating them as to whether they’re really necessary, then going through the long, extensive JCAR process to gain their approval to amend or repeal them, then sure.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:03 pm:
===If by “blindly” you mean each agency meticulously reviewing its rules (many of which are outdated or redundant), seeking input from the public and businesses as to real world impact of the rules, evaluating them as to whether they’re really necessary, then going through the long, extensive JCAR process to gain their approval to amend or repeal them, then sure.===
So, in short…
“They purposely made sure to hurt labor as much as they possibly can”?
Oh, that sounds way better… lol
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:06 pm:
==For example, would you really want to save a hospital money by eliminating the requirement for a backup generator?==
Should a start up business, (two specific examples mentioned today) say a person wanting to start a moving company, or a doctor wanting to expand his practice into a new town, be required to show there is a “need” for such a business, allowing existing businesses to protest such an application ton protect their monopolized territory, to gain a license?
- Norseman - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:10 pm:
=== Should a start up business, … ===
I’d respond, but I have a rule about responding to people who are too lazy to pick a name.
- PublicServant - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:13 pm:
===The Koch family also helps fund PBS. Is that a sham, too?===
Throwing a few bones to an organization that they want to eliminate public funding for actually is a feint, but I’ll go with sham as a close 2nd. Thanks for asking!
- Sue - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:23 pm:
Just what we need in Illinois- raising minimum wage for employees who don’t have the skill set to justify a higher market determined wage rate. Make Illinois even less competitive then Indy or WS or Iowa. SEIU will be content to drive more re jobs out of Illinois as long as their declining members get more money. Rauner needs to veto anything that comes his way which lessens our business environment
- Nick Name - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:24 pm:
“===The Koch family also helps fund PBS. Is that a sham, too?===
Throwing a few bones to an organization that they want to eliminate public funding for actually is a feint, but I’ll go with sham as a close 2nd. Thanks for asking!”
You took the words right out of my mouth, Public Servant.
- Former hillrod - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:26 pm:
In order to significantly lower wages the first thawing that must be done is to crush organized labor beginning with public sector unions. Once AFSCME falls, the domino effect will continue.
- Former hillrod - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:27 pm:
Thing not thawing. Dang autocorrect.
- Former hillrod - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:32 pm:
If Rauner would somehow prevail and is able to implement the last, best and final offer, don’t think for a New York minute that this is the end of the story. It’s merely round one. Round two happens if he gets re-elected and it will probably be much worse.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:42 pm:
This stuff always makes me think a class based civil unrest is just around the corner. Not even kidding
- Nick Name - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 4:46 pm:
“That’s why we created the Illinois Competiveness Council nearly six months go to see where we can streamline and improve the restrictions in government.”
“Illinois has more than 259,000 restrictions that make up more than 15 million words.”
“Additionally, the Mercatus Center found that most regulatory restrictions were in five areas: public health, environmental protection, social services, professional occupations and transportation.”
Anyone else notice his gaslighting tactic of referring to regulations as “restrictions”?
Also, what’s the causal relationship between regulations and wages?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 5:17 pm:
““===The Koch family also helps fund PBS. Is that a sham, too?===
Now you understand why there hasn’t been any PBS programming on any focused man-made climate change topics or the science involved with climate change.
It’s the Koch factor. Money buys everything.
- Anon221 - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 5:38 pm:
Per Koch, PBS, and Climate Change:
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/blogs/ombudsman/2015/12/11/global-warming-koch-and-nova/
- PENSIONS ARE OFF LIMITS - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 7:03 pm:
Texas=Bad. Should not measure IL vs. TX,
- Texas Red - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 8:07 pm:
Honeybear- without those companies that you think Rauner loves - you’ve got no jobs
- Norseman - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 9:04 pm:
Texas Red, without the public sector those companies would:
- have no roads or transportation system to get their products to market, or obtain source materials;
- have no educated workforce to know how to make their products or keep their books;
- have no money or inventory because nobody is there to keep them from getting robbed or burglarized;
- have no healthy workers to make the products because they’re sick from contaminated food or communicable diseases; and,
- …
The moral of this story is that there is a needed symbiotic relationship between the private and public sector.
- Art - Thursday, Apr 13, 17 @ 10:14 pm:
We are getting killed up here in Lake County. Jobs going over the border. Drive up 94 and see all the new concrete tilt ups going up just over the border. Minimum wage increase will just accelerate this push. We can’t have our own high priced space bubble and expect to pay all these excessive public sector bennies that the private sector does not get. Basic economic Math is not an opinion.