By: Diane Benjamin
Here’s the latest craze in Bloomington-Normal: If you can’t afford local housing prices, government has a responsibility to help you.
Nothing about personal responsibility. Nothing about doing whatever it takes to support yourself. Wealth redistribution is the obvious answer. It’s immaterial if a permanent underclass of people living on subsidies is created at the expense of responsible people.
The local League of Women Voters is moving forward to find developers to build affordable housing. Subsidized housing. Evidently there is a large group of people with mental health problems and disabilities that can’t afford housing in Bloomington-Normal. Add the single parents with 3 kids who spend too much on housing and obviously it’s your fault since you are expected to help out.
Listen to the WJBC League interview from last month: http://stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=711&c=3781&f=5036123
The League wants more vouchers for people needing subsidies to take to potential landlords. The landlords love them because they know the rent will be paid. Nobody cares about the people funding the vouchers. That would be you.
Think about your kids. If you do your teenagers wash you will ALWAYS be doing it. If you clean their rooms, you will ALWAYS be doing it. Ditto with cooking, paying for gasoline, and funding their fun. Parents like this create permanent dependents not capable of taking care of themselves. Great parents gradually force their kids into responsibility.
The League of Women Voters wants some adults to never grow up. Providing an ever-expanding social safety net means they never have to.
Last month I posted the debt per person in Bloomington and Normal:
http://blnnews.com/2015/11/24/more-bloomington-stats/
http://blnnews.com/2015/11/24/more-normal-stats/
Bloomington: $1,621
Normal: $1,723
That’s minor compared to the debt you don’t know about. According to usdebtclock.org:
National debt per citizen: $58,256
Illinois debt per citizen: $11,371
If you live in Bloomington – you are obligated to repay $71,248 of debt your government has accumulated.
If you live in Normal, it’s $71,350.
But wait! That’s not even close to the total debt you are in. Your government has promised all sorts of future benefits now totaling more than $100 TRILLION dollars. The almost $19 Trillion of actual debt the feds have accumulated looks like peanuts in comparison. That unfunded liability (just to the feds) amounts to $839,881 per taxpayer.
The vouchers the League of Women Voter’s want to hand out only add to the debt you are already in.
Government compassion is killing the country. Parents who don’t teach their kids to be responsible create permanent dependents. Government wants your money to take care of them. The League of Women Voters think you should too.
Expect a proposal in Bloomington soon to build subsidized housing.
In case you forgot, this isn’t how America was founded. There was no safety net for immigrants early in the 20th century. They arrived legally and frequently broke. They created their own American dream through hard work. People helped each other, they refused government handouts.
Benjamin Franklin would never have agreed:
“I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
Can somebody tell the League of Women Voters to quit thinking with their hearts and start using their heads? Their “compassion” is destroying the future. Copy the Bloomington and Normal City Councils.
Nah I think the redistribution of wealth hits it on the head. If these the League of Women Voters were truly compassionate, they would invite the poor into their own homes.
Plus it’ll create more living places for all the Syrian “refugees” our mayors want to bring to IL….but not into their own homes or neighborhoods….because *compassion*
The League of women voters are probably receiving money to promote Obama’s agenda. The organization is a left wing progressive group that pretends to be non partisan. All their positions from gun control. , climate change, Obama Care, court system, voter id, affordable housing are all in lock step with the democrat party. The League also served as the main frontline propagandists trying to trick Americans into accepting the failed League of Nations. They now call for a more powerful robust United Nations. The League is not to be trusted. They are left wing hacks.
Don’t leave out that Republicans are also members.
Actually the immigrants did have a safety net. They usually lived together in the same areas of the city based on their country of origin. They took care of each other which was ther safety net. It’s a lot more motivating to get back on your feet when you can see you neighbor sacrificing to help you out.
My opinion is that it should be a requirement to work (which used to be the case but Obama significantly reduced). The government could find plenty of things for people to do if they cannot find a job in the private sector. I’m more than happy to help out people who are working or unable to work.
I knew someone who worked at a local place part time and lived in the public housing across from the B/N YMCA. They had no ambition of getting a full time job to earn more. If they did that they would have to move out of the housing. This person was physically capable of finding better employment.
So us working get to support people like this. Give me a break. I can see a need for affordable housing for senior citizens and those who aren’t able to work and I mean a real reason too. That’s another problem, loafers claiming disability.
I know when I had an apartment at Waukesha, WI in a really nice building they kept a certain number of units open for subsidized housing. That must be a money maker for the apartment owners.
I agree that government subsidies enable government dependance. The League of Women Voters would be better off spending their time lobbying for a more favorable business environment in Illinois which would provide better paying jobs–like manufacturing rather than service related, minimum wage positions. Bloomington’s sales tax is regressive leaving less income to pay for rent. Comparing Bloomington, Illinois with Bloomington, Indiana is ridiculous. Illinois businesses and jobs are moving to Indiana and elsewhere. The League of Women Voters and the governing body of the City needs a basic understanding of economics.
Here are some statistics regarding housing in the two Bloomington cities.
http://www.city-data.com/housing/houses-Bloomington-Indiana.html
http://www.city-data.com/housing/houses-Bloomington-Illinois.html
The unemployment rate in Bloomington, IN is 4.30% with job growth of 3.32%. Bloomington, IN sales tax rate is 7.00%. Income tax is 4.45%.
http://www.bestplaces.net/economy/city/indiana/bloomington
The unemployment rate in Bloomington, IL, is 5.60%, with job growth of -0.22%. Bloomington, IL. Sales tax rate is 7.75% (increasing to 8.75% Jan 1, 2016). Income tax is 5.00%.
http://www.bestplaces.net/economy/city/illinois/bloomington
Do they have 3 golf courses, s coliseum, a BCPA, and a zoo?
Florida is looking better and better with each day Renner is in office. I like Bloomington but I don’t have to live here. There are better lower cost places to stay. It is not a problem to move away.