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« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2017, 01:19:09 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 6-22-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Additionally, as the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) notes26, pension reform has been staring state lawmakers in the face for 20 years. But objects at rest tend to remain at rest, and nothing brings out the inertia in government-union-backed elected officials like suggestions of public pension reform. Hence, the state’s staggering pension debt today.
Gov. Rauner campaigned on lowering the state’s income tax. Butting heads with the Democrat-controlled legislature, however, has led to nearly three years of budget gridlock. Illinois has not had a full-state budget since Rauner’s election in 2014, instead passing stop-gap measures — just like Big Brother at the federal level.
As Investor’s Business Daily notes27, “Not surprisingly, the Democrats would like higher taxes to fill the budget holes. … At the heart of it all is the so-called Blue State model of governance of the Democratic Party. It views government as an ever-expanding and always-available ATM to meet all needs, social and otherwise, with a ready supply of taxpayer cash.”
Yet as Margaret Thatcher noted with her typical wit, governments that apply the socialist approach of viewing taxpayers’ money as government’s money “traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”
Unfortunately, it looks like Illinois hasn’t fully learned this lesson. Instead of continuing to hold fast to the principles he’s pledged allegiance to for three years, just yesterday, Rauner caved, offering to hike the state income tax by 32%, expand the sales tax, and add a new tax on cable and satellite TV.
The Wall Street Journal pulled no punches in a scathing editorial28, calling Rauner’s move a “capitulation” and “a political defeat by any definition.”
Even worse, as the Journal notes, Rauner’s offer doesn’t include critical fiscal reforms and doesn’t fix the pension crisis.
What will the state get for the capitulation? According to IPI29, not much. Even with the tax hike, the state will likely be back in deficit by 2020. The Journal echoes this gloom, noting that while Rauner “may come out the political loser … the citizens of Illinois will suffer the most.” For that, it must be noted the real blame lies with the Chicago Democrats who really run the state. Rauner simply found the Chicago Machine to be too powerful.
While some are raising talks of a federal bailout, IPI’s Ted Dabrowski rightly warns27 this is a terrible idea: “A federal intervention on that scale would permanently damage healthy competition among states for people, jobs and ideas.”
Indeed, if lawmakers can run a state into the ground and then go to Uncle Sam for help, quickly lining up behind Illinois would be states like New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. (You’ll notice they’re all Democrat states.) Then there’s Puerto Rico, the Democrat-heavy island that aims to become the 51st state30 in hopes of receiving such a bailout. But make no mistake, taxpayers in “flyover country” have little interest in rescuing these states from their own stupidity.
That’s why Illinois’ lesson should be a lesson for all states. Decades of recklessly overspending taxpayer dollars and overpromising cushy pension benefits for government workers are bound to catch up with you.
That’s one set of Mega Millions numbers you can count on.
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MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
SCOTUS Protects Speech, Offensive or Otherwise32 — A win for The Slants, a win for the Redskins, and a win for every other American who enjoys Liberty.
Mike Pence Stands in the Way of Impeachment Gamblers3 — Democrats are stuck in a no-win situation, and are explaining away their failure with a new bogeyman.
Ossoff Outspends Handel, Then Bemoans Lack of Campaign Finance Reform33 — Then again, he’s following in the great tradition of big campaign spenders like Barack Obama.
The Skittles Rainbow’s Sour Flavor34 — No matter how tolerant and inclusive leftists try to be, it’s never enough for other leftists. The joke’s on them.
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
R. Emmett Tyrrell: James T. Hodgkinson: Just Another Well-Intentioned Progressive35
Larry Elder: Minimum Wage Laws are Destroying Jobs — Just as Predicted36
George Will: Let Us Plunge Toward Our Fast-Unfolding Future37
For more, visit Right Opinion38.
OPINION IN BRIEF
R. Emmett Tyrrell: “Truth be known, the American Left, and that includes most of the MSM, has become quite morbid in its fascinations. The whole way it talks about poverty, the environment, immigration, race — practically any social problem — is morbid. I look at The New York Times and The Washington Post every morning. They sit there on my breakfast table. Rarely does their front page not feature what the political philosopher Kenneth Minogue called a ‘suffering situation’: several starving Africans; a corpse or two from some hellhole; an impoverished Appalachian family with at least one child, his head shaved because of cancer or some other horrible malady; a gay couple that has suffered a setback. I could go on, but you get my point. The MSM is obsessed with misery, social strife and — dare I say it — political correctness. As long as these values dominate and there is no mitigating alternative, the public had best be armed.”
SHORT CUTS
Insight: “You can’t give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad — in fact, to do anything it wants.” —Harry Browne (1933-2006)
For the record: “Fully one-third of Pelosi’s 193 House Democrats now come from just three states, the usual liberal suspects of California, New York and Massachusetts, not the crucial Heartland. Pelosi’s entire leadership team is also coastal, and like her, linger on in their mid-70s.” —Andrew Malcom
Friendly fire, part I: “The DNC & DCCC has [sic] NO idea how 2 win cause they have no message, no plan, no leaders, won’t fight & hate the resistance.” —Michael Moore on Twitter
Friendly fire, part II: “It’s not going to work for us just to have an anti-Trump message. … In the last election, Donald Trump, frankly, had a message that resonated with people. … What we didn’t talk about enough, consistently, was about jobs, the economy, and fighting for people who want better times ahead.” —Rep. Cheri Bustos
Friendly fire, part III: “The Democrats are nothing now but words and fantasy and hallucination and Hollywood. There’s no journalism left. What’s happened to The New York Times? What’s happened to the major networks? It’s an outrage. … I think it’s absolutely grotesque the way my party has destroyed journalism.” —Camille Paglia
A broken clock… “I’m bothered by the lack of emerging evidence about the underlying crime, that there was actually collusion or coordination between the Trump White House. … I’m just afraid we’re being swallowed up by the politics of scandal, when there’s less and less evidence that they actually colluded.” —NY Times’ David Brooks
Political futures: “The Democratic Party is going to be torn apart by the Left and the centralists. Now, the Republican Party is also being torn apart between the centralists and the hard right, but they’ve rented a candidate. The candidate has rented a party, and they will probably without much fuss get behind Donald Trump, I would assume, assuming he runs for re-election.” —Michael Bloomberg
And last… “In the accelerated churning of today’s capitalism, changing tastes and expanding choices destroy some jobs and create others, with net gains in price and quality. But disruption is never restful, and America now faces a decision unique in its history: Is it tired — tired of the turmoil of creative destruction? If so, it had better be ready to do without creativity. And ready to stop being what it has always been: restless.” —George Will
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
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