* More from Speaker Madigan’s WGN Radio interview…
“The Rauner proposal would say, let’s change history. … Prior to (Franklin D.) Roosevelt’s election, the federal government wasn’t greatly involved in the management of the economy. But when Roosevelt became the president in 1933, the federal government became very active using the Federal Reserve and the Treasury and the Congress in managing the economy,” Madigan said.
“From 1933 until today, both Democratic and Republican presidents and members of the Congress have always worked to raise wages, raise the standard of living,” he said.
“Here in Illinois, the Rauner proposal is: Let’s change that history. Let’s not have the government working to raise wages and the standard of living. Let’s have the government to work and lower wages and the standard of living by bringing down the benefit level in workers’ compensation, taking away the right to bargain collectively if you work for a government and if you work in the construction industry, taking away a prevailing wage. That’s the proposal. And it would be a proposed change in history. I don’t support it,” he said.
I think the governor most certainly came into office wanting to change history. But that ain’t so easy without a compliant General Assembly.
Conversely, you could say that Madigan is blocking the door to any changes, some of which are needed.
- Sue - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:25 am:
Some would say the Governors of Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa have changed history for the betterment of their States. Madigan is drowning us with his history
- Chairman McBroom - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:28 am:
History is not on Madigan’s side. Illinois hasn’t had a balanced budget for the last 15 fiscal years. That’s the history we should be talking about. How about we try reform instead?
- Ole' Nelson - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:30 am:
Illinois needs change in a big way, but I prefer to keep Madigan’s history if the only other option is Rauner’s vision of the future!
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:30 am:
We all know Rauners master is Mammon
Matthew 6:19-24
In fairness Madigan serves himself.
- John Lester Senior - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:30 am:
Well so much for that talk of a balanced budget.
- Earnest - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:32 am:
Agree or disagree, it is nice to hear from the leader of Democratic Party of Illinois.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:33 am:
Corporate profit and advantage is the false God of our age
- T sowell - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:33 am:
MJM seems to see history only though the eyes of his most narrow base, AFSCME/SEIU employees and unionized trades. all told those folks might represent approx 14.5 % of the states population. He also is disingenuous in his historical interpretation. RTW has spread to 28 states all since 1933. Come on Mr. speaker you are supposed to speak for the entire state !
- Rogue Roni - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:34 am:
All the harping on a balanced budget. The most out of balance budget would be an improvement on what we’ve had the last two years.
- Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:36 am:
Mr. Madigan, just keep us on the same path to insolvency. It will all work out, right?
Public employee unions being coddled helps the private sector, of which the vast majority of Illinois’ population comes from. People are fleeing Illinois at an alarming rate. Time for a different direction.
- Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:37 am:
Corporate profit employees the vast majority of people on earth.
- Shake - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:37 am:
I Will Take Madigan’s Vision To The Future. Rauner Bye Bye “18″.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:38 am:
All this pain so that Rauner can offer up “reforms”
The sacrificial lambs
Higher Ed
State workers
Social services
Contractors
On the alter of Mammon
Make yourself low before his alter Ron
- cdog - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:39 am:
Raising wages and the standard of living is the way to try and preserve capitalism, but I don’t think myopic fiscal policy, and the government writing all the checks, is the only way.
We’ll see how the monetary policy of printing freighters full of cash works out; that experiment is still on going.
- Gruntled University Employee - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:39 am:
Corporate profit exploits the vast majority of people on earth.
There, fixed it for ya’.
- Red Rider - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:41 am:
If I get repaid for my operation soon I will get more than it cost, what a Governor
- Rocky Rosi - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:43 am:
From Chicago Trib today:
Dorothy Bowser, 25, said people assume that the affordability issue pertains only to people with very low incomes. But she said she has a college degree and a marketing job that pays $45,000 annually, and she still struggles to find affordable housing on the city’s North Side.
Bowser is currently in a $560-a-month studio in Uptown, but she says she doesn’t feel safe in the bottom-floor rental and would like more space. She can’t find one-bedroom units, even at $1,200.
“A woman shouldn’t have to get married or have a boyfriend so she can afford rent in a safe place,” she says 🤔
Something has to change!
- City Zen - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:43 am:
Since when can Illinois print money and, if so, would there be a more toxic currency?
- Winnin' - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:44 am:
It is time to ask Rauner:
What is your path to getting Illinois out of this morass? Point A to Point B.
Remember, during your campaign you never really outlined a plan.
Now, more than two years into your governorship, what is your specific plan to balance the budget and pay down the state’s bills.
Perhaps you could just admit failure and quit.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:45 am:
Honeybear, corporate profits allow that organization to grow and employ more people. If is a public company, the goal is to increase shareholder wealth.
Finance 101
- cdog - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:46 am:
If Madigan really cared about workers he would be a little more creative and have a bit more of an appearance of being a leader.
Now, at best, he seems to be an obstructionist with an agenda.
- Redraider - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:47 am:
Sue, you might want to take another look at Wisconsin. Highest poverty rate in 30 years, school teachers fleeing the State , and dead last of the 50 States in new business startups
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:49 am:
All discourse goes to the extremes: “All Corporations are evil doers” - “All unions are insidious”. Little wonder The ‘middle ground’ is shrinking to non-existence.
- Jocko - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:50 am:
CMB @ 11:28 Maybe it’s be, but “Reform!” has become the Republican version of “Calgon…Take me away!”
Bruce’s own chairpersons can’t find a single item to cut, We are 12 billion in debt, and ILGOP legislators are afraid of their own shadow. What’d I miss?
- VanillaMan - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:51 am:
Rauner doesn’t believe in government, except as a source of corporate income - as a customer. Rauner doesn’t see us as equal citizens, but as customers paying for services, the customers who pay, get served. Citizenship is worth a plug nickel in Rauner’s world.
We’ve equated self worth with our ability to buy. The more you have, the greater you are. The idea of government caring for equally hamstrings these feelings. Rauner feels no guilt, he donates enough to satisfy his conscience.
The GOP has embraced consumerism over citizenship. We used to only give the right to vote to property owners in our first years after Independence and the GOP has become comfortable with the idea of a 21st century class system.
Sigh.
We can’t be united when we stop believing in a government viewing all as equal citizens. We can’t teach consumer morals and stop teaching civics in our schools.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:53 am:
Good for Madigan, for beginning to speak out against Rauner’s wage-busting agenda.
Rauner has benefited immensely from the “status quo” he’s breaking the state to change–low state income taxes for decades AND that sweet public employee pension business.
Today I read about the Bradley Center pushing the plutocratic agenda by funding attacks on unions and trial lawyers in order to cripple Democrats and the power of their voters. That’s Rauner’s agenda.
We never need to hold Wisconsin, Indiana or any other red states as sole economic models. Colorado and Minnesota, among other states, are doing quite well.
- Ginhouse Tommy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:53 am:
Madigan doesn’t play well with others. He doesn’t like to share power at all. That’s part of the problem he has with Rauner. He puts on a good show but in the end he really doesn’t do anything that doesn’t interest him. This whole stalemate is about two spoiled children not getting their way in spite of what any radio or TV spots say. It’s al just smoke and mirrors hiding the truth.
- AC - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:53 am:
An honest question for Rauner supporters, what’s the strategy get to 30 and 60? What you view as needed spending levels and reforms are viewed by Democratic majorities as destructive. Those Democrats aren’t all fans of Madigan, but they agree with him on workers compensation, collective bargaining in the public sector and prevailing wage. Further, most of their voters believe in those things as well. So, how do you get a budget to the Governor for his signature when those Democratic majorities will never support what they view as destructive reforms that go far enough for Rauner?
- Ok - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 11:54 am:
Rich,
Can you be more specific on these needed changes from Rauner that you claim Madigan is blocking?
- PublicServant - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:00 pm:
Corporate profits are fueled by consumer demand. Lowering wages lowers consumer demand. Not getting their invoices paid, lowers corporate profits. Not properly investing in higher education prevents a state from maximizing the potential of its populace, lowering its GSP.
Finance 102
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:00 pm:
Raising property taxes, income taxes and sales taxes on middle class families lowers their standard of living and reduces their take home pay, which in effect reduces their wages.
High paying manufacturing jobs leaving Illinois also lowers wages for the people who lost those jobs.
Same sanctimony and tone deafness to anyone who disagrees with his point of view. Were injured workers on welfare before the 2005 workers com reforms that made Illinois not competitive?
- Signal and Noise - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:10 pm:
Madigan puts forth a solid and sober defense of his position, one that should appeal to the majority of voters who would not benefit from Rauner’s “reforms”. My only gripe is this should have been a louder and more cohesive message going back to 2015.
- Chicago 20 - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:13 pm:
- “corporate profits allow that organization to grow and employ more people”
Trickle down economics is a lie.
Corporations can not profit without consumers with disposable incomes.
The ‘trickle down theory’ is dead wrong
Wealth does not trickle down from the rich to the poor. Period.
That’s not Senator Elizabeth Warren talking. That’s the latest conclusion of new research from the International Monetary Fund.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/15/news/economy/trickle-down-theory-wrong-imf/
- don the legend - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:15 pm:
Madigan knows that w/c reforms, term limits that will take effect ten years from now and a property tax freeze that will cripple local governments cannot possibly be enough to result in his Raunerite party supporting and him signing the required massive tax increases.
Rauner will never support any agreement. He’s too far in now. It’s all or nothing until the election.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:15 pm:
Rauner as well as his supporters on this site frame it like this: stick to the status quote or accept Rauner’s reforms. How about a third options, some needed reforms but reforms that will actually grow the economy, help balance budgets and move the state forward. There hasn’t been any conclusive evidence put forward that Rauner’s reforms will do that and there’s the rub.
- Earnest - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:16 pm:
Not sure how to comment on his interview…
I’m a little disappointed there are no witty lines slamming Madigan for defending history and referencing the 1930s. /s
I’d rather hear Madigan selling a vision of the future than of protecting the past.
Nothing in his statements that reinforces a consistent, cohesive message for his party, unless you count, “protectors of the past,” which I’m not confident will be a winning one.
- Your Name Here - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:18 pm:
“But when Roosevelt became the president in 1933, the federal government became very active using the Federal Reserve and the Treasury and the Congress in managing the economy,”
“So I told Roosevelt, this will never work”
- Winnin' - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:19 pm:
Earnest,
Sometimes it is good to remember history when dealing with the likes of a Rauner, and a Trump, for that matter…in my humble opinion.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:19 pm:
PublicServant, see Lucky Pierre’s post. My guess is Public thinks it is better that more money goes to government(to fuel his pension) than is spent in the economy by taxpayers.
- Chicago 20 - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:19 pm:
- “some of which are needed”
Rich, can you elaborate on this?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:21 pm:
===can you elaborate on this? ===
I’ve done so many times.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:28 pm:
Chicago 20—–Who do you think supports the poor? Have you looked at the money and manpower that corporations provide to charities? Do you understand who writes those big checks to charities? Do you understand the taxes that employed corporate people pay? Do you understand all of the people employed by these corporations, providing them the buying power in a community?
Do you not understand how things work?
- Sgt. Rock USMC - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:29 pm:
Interesting that MJM would cite FDR’s influence and then refer to collective bargaining for public employees as if Roosevelt would support that notion. Historical records say FDR saw a difference between the public and private sectors on the matter, and was not in favor of public employee unions.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15445
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:29 pm:
“We can’t be united when we stop believing in a government viewing all as equal citizens”
Huh? We live in a state that protects public workers more than its private sector citizens.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:30 pm:
So well said Vanilla
Anonymous 11:45 is that what happens with corporate profits? More jobs? Nope that’s a total lie. Profits are stashed overseas in tax havens by the trillions. Wages have been stagnant for decades and jobs barely tick up. Plus the majority of these new jobs are for lower wages than the past.
I think it’s cute when people consider my challenges to “economic development” and “finance 101″ to be blasphemous.
Think about it.
Blasphemy against Mammon?
Yep, I don’t serve that God.
If you want to be condescending to me go ahead and explain
Wages and velocity of money
Offshoring and tax evasion
EDGE, EZ Zones and corporate welfare
Pickety’s evisceration of Laffer
Get back to me on those
- Ok - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:30 pm:
===can you elaborate on this? ===
I’ve done so many times.
….
Any link to help us out?
- Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:30 pm:
FDR was one of the best US Presidents in the history of the nation. His views on public sector unions were spot on then and now.
- Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:33 pm:
Anonymous 11:45 is that what happens with corporate profits? More jobs? Nope that’s a total lie. Profits are stashed overseas in tax havens by the trillions. Wages have been stagnant for decades and jobs barely tick up. Plus the majority of these new jobs are for lower wages than the past.
Not in most of the country honeybear, incomes are increasing and jobs are breaking records each month. Of course Illinois is doing terrible as we have a state government that cares more about its unionized public workers than its private sector citizens.
Just eliminate corporate taxes altogether and increase tax rates on individuals.
That is fair.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:34 pm:
===Any link to help us out?===
Use the Google. Pick a Rauner point, see what was written on the Blog.
Geez, Louise.
- Ok - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:39 pm:
Ow
==Any link to help us out?===
Use the Google. Pick a Rauner point, see what was written on the Blog.
Geez, Louise.
…….
Rauners points change so much. Surely term limits or workmans comp is not a needed change.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:43 pm:
How about we eliminate corporate tax loopholes.
You know that most corporate taxes come from small and medium businesses. Maybe we can deal. Eliminate corporate taxes for small business and close loopholes for large ones. Large corporations in reality pay almost nothing. In fact the state in a lot of cases pays them!
The recent tax proposal just for doing business in the state was merely to make large corporations pay something! ( sorry I forgot what it was called.
Go take that offer to Mammon and see what your Lord God says
- Winnin' - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:44 pm:
–”Interesting that MJM would cite FDR’s influence and then refer to collective bargaining for public employees as if Roosevelt would support that notion. Historical records say FDR saw a difference between the public and private sectors on the matter, and was not in favor of public employee unions.”–
Might I suggest that FDR may have felt a partnership with public employees and felt public service and public employment went hand-in-hand.
Perhaps FDR never foresaw the likes of a Bruce Rauner who sees public service employees as his enemies.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:46 pm:
Honeybear, you do realize that people who are employed by private and public companies and the companies themselves pay your wage.
Don’t you?
- IRLJ - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:46 pm:
Good to hear Madigan express himself succinctly.
Quite a gap, it shows, between Rauner’s and his political-world views.
Hard to see a bridge between them.
- Chicago 20 - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:51 pm:
- “I’ve done so many times.”
So you still believe worker comp benefits should be reduced to workers injured on the job?
- Annonin' - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:04 pm:
Capt Fax seems to prefer to avoid the WC reforms targeted at the insurance industry who are earning record profits. he meant to list this item but must be busy.
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:08 pm:
There is one undeniable fact about corporate profits.
Because our corporate tax rate is one of the highest in the world at 35%, companies do not repatriate overseas profits and the US collects virtually nothing in terms of tax on overseas profits.
Companies like Apple borrow money to pay their dividend because it is cheaper than paying the tax. Reducing rates and eliminating loopholes would most certainly bring more money back into the US so companies can invest here. Jobs are moving overseas not just because of cheap labor but also because of short sighted tax policies.
Another basic point, corporate profits are what funds a large portion of a lot of middle class workers retirement and savings through the stock market.
Healthy corporate profits raise the standard of living and retirement security for millions of Illinois families in the public and private sector.
Demonizing corporations as evil is dangerous. Look at the riots in Venezuela because they have nationalized the private sector and taken over private industry.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:10 pm:
Oh right, Mammon says that you pay my salary as a state government worker.
That is incorrect. Please pay attention.
The State of Illinois is my employer.
Once you remit your taxes, it is no longer your money.
The state of illinois pays me for my excellent care of the poor disabled and elderly.
You are not my employer
That being said
You do have somewhat of that relationship with elected officials. Those folks in a sense do work for you. You can fire them in a sense through election. But even then it’s different. You can’t go into Sen. Biss’ office and fire him. You have to vote him out if you live on his district
See what Vanilla said is totally true.
You know nothing of civics
You know only Mammons laws
The edicts of business
- Ahoy! - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:14 pm:
–Conversely, you could say that Madigan is blocking the door to any changes, some of which are needed.–
While people want to downplay it, Madigan is the one constant in our demise. That being said, If there was an offer on the table where the Democrats remove Madigan and the Republican’s remove Rauner, I think we would all win (except those two), but greater good and all…
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:19 pm:
So did Jesus say “blessed are the profitable”
Did Jesus say “care for the successful and privileged for they shall inherit the Kimgdom of God
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:21 pm:
Ahoy! There is a compromise!
I’d be good with that
- Ginhouse Tommy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:33 pm:
On the subject of higher wages, I was told by an accountant that there is a theory in accounting that says expenses will rise to meet income. The more money you make the more money you spend union or not. I’m sure there are more than that but it’s the only one i know of and it does make sense. Just sayin
- Chicago 20 - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:43 pm:
- “Who do you think supports the poor?”
80% of all charitable donations are from private individuals. The remaining 20% come from corporations, mostly at media events.
- Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:48 pm:
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
—Matthew 10:34–37
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:52 pm:
Chicago, many of those in the 80% group(if that is a correct number) are employed by businesses, small, medium and large.
But you knew that already.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:52 pm:
Oh bless your heart Ron you tried.
Go ahead dear and exegete the passage. What does it mean in our current context.
- Ok - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:57 pm:
There surely has been a lot of mourning going on under Bruce Rauner.
…….m.
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Proverbs 29:2
- Julian's Melange - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:58 pm:
Madigan = political calculus..always. Doesn’t give one iota for the working class. #baloneyseller
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:04 pm:
In reality Chicago 20 hardly anyone is supporting the poor. They are voiceless and marginalized in nearly every way. I work with and in the environment of the poor every day. I work in the third highest concentration in the state.
But they are not poor in Spirit and decency. Only about 3% are unproductive members of our society, to say it in the nicest way.
Jesus called us to love and care for them
Corporations see no profit in them and scorn them
Except for profit prisons
So no I rebuke your assertion that business cares for the poor
- Ok - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:11 pm:
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:24
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:24 pm:
Honeybear, you last post is totally inaccurate and, quite frankly, appalling. You should be embarrassed.
People I know give their time, talent and money to help people.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:38 pm:
@Julian. You would be wrong in your assertion. In one of his last posts on this site before he passed away Steve Schnorf said that one thing many people didn’t understand about Madigan was his sincerity in protecting the interests of your common average worker. Schnorf dealt with Madigan for years and would know what he was talking about.
- James Knell - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:41 pm:
Gee… if the Rauner agenda is the key to prosperity, why are all those U-Hauls headed to Texas and not Scott Walker’s Wisconsin? Or Indiana? Or Michigan?
And in this case, Mike Madigan is dead on. The rest of the industrialized world is moving toward social democracy. It’s not a coincidence the American oligarchs suddenly find they are aided by Russian and Turkish oligarchs. It’s only a matter of time until they have their own version of the Internationale.
They are way better at class warfare than average people, and have been since they gathered in Koblenz to defeat the French (and by extension) the American Revolutions.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:07 pm:
Goodness gracious anonymous 2:24 did I hit a nerve? I noticed you said “people I know” and not “I” give my time talent and money. Maybe you should join them, the people you know. It would help you gain perspective about the “people I know”. It might also help you with that guilt you are carrying.
- Chicago 20 - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:14 pm:
HB - It’s also strange it is “people I know”, not business’s I know, from which anonymous believes all things come from and should bear no regulation or burdens.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:29 pm:
HB, no guilt at all. I give money to my church and a number of charities every year. I give of my time donating blood, delivering food at Christmas time and ringing the bell for the Salvation Army among other things. My family is very involved with a number of charitable endeavors.
What else ya got?
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:58 pm:
Honeybear, I’m sorry, but I think you are painting with a broad brush this time. I’m aware of two Springfield-based businesses, both locally owned, that donate well over a million dollars each annually to local charities. Not 10 grand to the national United Way and goodbye, real cash money and services, with staff fully bought in, year after year. There are probably a dozen more local businesses and families here that do the same.
- wordslinger - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:21 pm:
I think there are obvious parallels in both the White House and Rauner Mansions to the reactionary times that began in the Harding years.
Anti-labor, anti-immigrant, laissez-faire capitalism…
Of course, back then the “bad” immigrants were the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholics, the Slavs and the southern Mediterraneans.
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:24 pm:
Arthur Anderson with all due respect. Private donations are not in any way shape or form cutting it. As a whole we are failing to address poverty in any meaningful way. I say this a one who is privileged and one who works in East St Louis. Literally on the front line serving. I left ministry to do this work.
Here’s my one of my big points
We cannot assuage conscience by thinking that money donations or charities are working and are sufficient.
Now almost 75%. My estimation mom and pop private charities are gone. GONE. The impasse has killed them
Notice Rich slowed down on them?
That’s because they just slipped away.
Only your Gala and Ball organizations exist
High overhead, large administrations, CEO’s with 6 figure salaries , corporate business model
Set up to provide lovely tax shelters for the wealthy and to corporations. (Yep I’m hitting Pritzker here)
It makes the privileged think they are “helping”
And sure it does. Not to demean any work
But it’s woefully inadequate
You need government involved
You need public policy
You need social policy
You can’t buy your way out of dealing with poverty
Inequality is increasing exponentially
51% of Illinois kids get a free or reduced priced lunch
Corporations are amoral and devoted to profit
Not improvement of our citizens
Rauner and ILGOP
Caused all this pain for corporate gain
FACT
That serves Mammon
- wordslinger - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:27 pm:
–southern Mediterraneans.–
Upon further review, southern Europeans, on the Mediterranean, i.e. Italians and Greeks, would be more accurate.
- Chicago 20 - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:46 pm:
Honey bear you are spot on.
Reminds me on how a Chicago billionaire appealed their property taxes and when that was exposed they set up a charitable Children’s museum. That children’s museum is now pays no rent in a publicly owned building while receiving $500,000 a year in parking revenues from a parking lot it doesn’t own.
- CrispyCritter - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 5:24 pm:
What work comp needs is more investigators to stop the fraud so the people with legit claims get compensated fairly and those abusing the system are stopped.
- Texas Red - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 7:01 pm:
Donations from America’s individuals, estates, foundations and corporations reached an estimated $373.25 billion in 2015, setting a record for the second year in a row, reports Giving USA 2016: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2015, released today.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 8:37 pm:
What say you Honeybear?
- Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 9:57 pm:
You come down here to East St. Louis for a day and tell me it’s enough. You go anywhere there is poverty and tell me it’s enough. Rest easy in your privileged world while you can. Inequality will take all but the extremely wealthy.
In the meantime. Come spend a day with me. I guarantee it will change your life, if you have the courage to make the journey.
- Texas Red - Friday, May 12, 17 @ 7:13 am:
Take a dollar give it to a well run charity and you can get 90 cents going directly into services. Send a buck to Springfield you will be lucky to get get 40 cents into direct services. No knock on Springfield per se , all gov’t entitlement programs are woefully inefficient.
- Texas Red - Friday, May 12, 17 @ 7:27 am:
==You can’t buy your way out of dealing with poverty
Inequality is increasing exponentially
51% of Illinois kids get a free or reduced priced lunch
In a free market republic with a constitutional form of Gov’t that enshrines the rights of the individual there will always be winner and losers. The alternative ??Venezuela where all are equal and they have no toilet paper !
- Anonymous - Friday, May 12, 17 @ 9:11 am:
HB, I would suggest talking to your US Senator Durbin, who is from ESL. Maybe he will help.
I would suggest talking to Pritzker, Kennedy, et.al.and see if they and all of their friends will help.