UPDATE: Republicans unanimously opposed the tax hikes.. That should be a big “no duh.” In Illinois, though, it is a relief and a surprise.
Good. The Ds own this.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin will aggressively court jobs.
Chicagoania
Call Now to Stop the Illinois Tax Hike
These are the six Republicans who are still reported as potential votes for the tax hike.
Roger Eddy (217) 558-1040
Ronald Wait (217) 782-0548
Dave Winters (217) 782-0455
Bob Biggins (217) 782-6578
Dale Risinger (217) 782-1942
Larry Bomke (217) 782-0228
Details here: Six Springfield Republicans May Sell Out Party To Pad Their Future Pensions.
Contact your state senator or representative if you have not already done so. Tell them you are opposed to any tax increase.
UPDATE AT 4:15 pm cst: “Within the past hour, the Illinois House Revenue Committee voted out on a 7-5 party line vote a bill which will raise individual tax rates to 5%. Corporate rates will rise to 7%. We expect a vote on the House Floor on this bill within the next two hours.”
CALL NOW if you have not done so.
“You can stop Illinois from having the highest tax rates in the world.”
The Illinois tax hike has not passed yet.
“Illinois Democrats don’t have the votes yet to pass their economy crushing, job killing, freedom stealing 75% tax increase. Governor Quinn, House Speaker Madigan and Senate President Cullerton came to an agreement last week on the proposed tax increase, but they’ve been unsuccessful in convincing enough Democrat members of the House and Senate to support this man caused disaster.”
I wrote about this a few days ago. I figured it was a forlorn hope. But I was wrong.
They don’t have the votes. So far. The lame duck session ends tomorrow. It may actually be possible to stop this thing.
If you have not contacted your state representative and senator, please go to the link, get their contact information, and (politely) tell them that you oppose the tax increase.
The solution to the mess in Illinois is recognizing our limits, cutting spending, and creating a decent climate for growth and job creation.
The solution is emphatically not hammering the taxpayers and making our already uncompetitive state even worse.
It is not too late. It can be stopped. Help stop it.
Infrastructure and the meaning of “Investment”
In the field of accounting traditionally assets were “hard” assets, like land, cash on hand, factories, and other similar items. You could “touch” an asset, and you saved up capital in advance and then “invested” it into projects that would expand your capacity to do business or do it cheaper than your competitor (improvements). This “traditional” view of assets came under attack in the 2nd half of the 20th century, as accountants pointed out that brands had value (the classic example – the “Golden Arches” at McDonald’s). As the economy moved more towards services, the public accounting firms also noted that people did not have value in this model; the famous line was “all my assets go out the door each night”.
The traditional view of government was that they 1) built things like roads, bridges, schools, and jails 2) provided critical services like police, fire and military protection. In this manner citizens could see with their own eyes the value of the taxes that they were paying to the government; with it came roads, schools, and essential services.
Analogous to what occurred with accounting practitioners, those lobbying for higher taxes, which mainly go to transfer payments to favored constituencies, re-defined what an “investment” means. An investment used to be something tangible, like a highway extension or a new school; but now it is an investment in people, meaning that you as a citizen are in effect paying for a transfer payment to someone else.
It is astounding to see the degree to which the “traditional” view of government investment has been crowded out by the new view of investment being a transfer payment to someone else. In the City of Chicago we see the rotting, rusting hulk of the “L” tracks over our head every day, with holes in the streets and bridges and the only things that are new are the buildings erected with private funds that comprise our skyline.
Meanwhile in China they are building ENTIRE CITIES the size and scale of Chicago FROM SCRATCH. Now that is the traditional view of investment; power plants, roads, bridges, and all manner of hard assets to boot. It is amazing to think of what they are constructing there vs. the pathetic state of our infrastructure in the United States. And yet our government spends much more, but we direct it into transfer payments to other citizens or for retired government employees, rather than those “old school” ideas of traditional investments.
This rhetorical sleight of hand has gotten out of control; we need to re-label transfer payments as transfer payments and investments to be those things that actually serve the population for the future. This is not to say that all money spent on education and health care isn’t an investment; it IS when those individuals gain significant and useful skills that they can utilize for the economy. But overall, the building of even a highway or power plant is now beyond the pale even with government spending far higher than the historical norm; transfer payments have been re-defined as investment. Just look at those rusting “L” tracks to prove it.
Cross posted at LITGM
Tribune Images and The Media’s Relationship with the Military
If you are in Chicago and get an opportunity to walk along Michigan Avenue you should pay attention to the Chicago Tribune headquarters. In the outside of the building they have stones embedded from historic locations worldwide. In the interior lobby they have statements engraved in the foyer.
The Chicago Tribune building was built between World War One and World War Two. They have the motto of the First Infantry division, made famous in the first world war
No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great
The history of the division can be found here at Wikipedia. In brief, they were part of the US forces that blunted the German offensive in 1918 when the other Allies (French, British) were crumbling, leading the victory at Cantigny and moving on to other costly battles through the remainder of 1918 until the armistice. During WW1 this division and their bravery and sacrifice were portrayed well by the media, indicated by the fact that this motto was carved on the wall and generally the public would not view this as an obscure fact.
The second quote would be obscure today even to most individuals reasonably acquainted with military history. As a teenager I read Blair’s “Silent Victory” which was an account of the US submarine offensive against Japan in WW2 so I recognized it.
Take her down
Was the command made by the captain, Howard Gilmore, of a US submarine on a mission when his sub was severely damaged by a Japanese gunboat. The captain was wounded and still on the bridge; this order was essentially his death sentence because he was not going to be able to get into the sub in time to avert the Japanese ship. Gilmore received the highest US military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his bravery.
At its time the newspaper and radio were powerful forces for communication, as well as movies which took the place of television today as a visual medium. The US forces were portrayed well in combat and the media helped to promote the true heroism displayed by our soldiers.
It is interesting to think, today, if anyone can name any divisions’ motto or cite specific acts of bravery by individual US soldiers. While people go to great pains to say that they support the war, the media does not work the war into everyday stories as far as heroism, and Hollywood is even worse, focusing on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction rather than the day-to-day heroism of our soldiers on the front line. It isn’t a co-incidence that most of the movies about Iraq (are there any about Afghanistan, except for the excellent Restrepo?) have been flops (with the exception of the Hurt Locker) but we know no one in Hollywood is learning.
Cross posted at LITGM