By: Diane Benjamin
Who are vote for matters.
I’m pretty sure Bloomington means Bloomington-Normal. This report is as of 6/30/26. Unemployment is up .2%. This area lost 900 jobs since last June.
The State of Illinois is even worse. Persecuting businesses means they leave (and have). Illinois lost 7,000 jobs in one year and you are voting for Pritzker in November? He destroyed jobs with over 60 tax increases in 8 years.
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Can’t find a job? Blame the ruling party in Illinois that continues their anti-business policies. The unemployment rate is up close to 1%.
Nothing new here… Money (capital) always flows to where ever it is treated best!
No worries, socialism will save you as you see the democratic party being consumed by socialist ideology. Illegals a foriegners voting and taking over as the democrats embraced them fleeing socialist countries to set up more socialism. True Americans better get out and vote sensibly for the true AMERICAN CULTURE or wake up some day in the near future and it will be too late.
Yeah- you could definitely blame some aspects of Illinois’ government for that. There are a lot of taxes- czn lead to business leaving. Pritzker has also paid down a lot of debt and overseen a number of credit rating boosts, and reduced the liability in some of our pension systems).
You could also blame the federal government. Trump’s tariffs have been passed along to consumers, leading to higher prices, reduced consumer activity, and businesses going under. It’s also reduced the amount of American agricultural output that other countries have purchased from us. Bad for farmers- why Trump is trying to give them federal tax dollars (to the tune of over 10 billion dollars in the reconciliation bill) to make up for their lost income. Based on how you’ve defined “socialism” those payouts fit the bill. Waiting for you to call out Trump for his socialist interference in free markets.
Also, higher gas costs due to Trump’s war in Iran and overall energy costs due to AI data centers (which Trump also supports) hasn’t helped either.
Plenty of blame to go around- both towards the state for making it burdensome to run a business and the federal government for meddling in markets and jacking up energy costs.
Credit rating is still horrible
Forgot, pension debt is now worse.
Credit raring still not great, but much better than when Pritzker took office. 10 credit upgrades and highest rating in 20 years. He inherited a horrible situation and has made it objectively better.
Penaion debt has hovered between 140-145 billion. When he took office it had been growing at a steep rate. Hes curtailed that growth. The funding ratio has gone from 40% to 48%. Since he’s been governor, weve consistently been making all required payments, too. Something we weren’t doing before he took office. Also, yeah, there’s still a lot of debt. He inherited a disaster there too, a situation which he has also objectively improved.
We can argue about whether the rate of improvement is as fast as we’d like to see, but we’re better off since Pritzker took office.
Meanwhile, the larger economic climate has declined since Trump took office. Best measure: ask your neighbors how they feel about their grocery bills and the cost of gas. Republicans have full control of the federal government and have overseen things get worse since they took over.
Blame the republican Madigan blocked. Sure
@other side – Detecting a trend here.
Local topic addressed by Diane – Response from a Democrat (or should I say Socialist)- BUT TRUMP! –
Whataboutism diverts the discussion from local politics to another deranged rant.
1-800-TDS-HELP
Please call.
Can you specify what in my “rant” is deranged or not accurate. I actually enjoy talking about issues and problems. You seem to just respond with “but TDS” when you dont have a response or can’t argue a point. I brought facts- you seem to be unwilling (or more likely unable) to respond.
So the local issue (s): Unemployment ticked up a small amount .2%, but is still under the national average. Additionally-small, but worthwhile to talk about, job losses in the community.
If its TDS to bring up the effects of tariff policies and the Iran war on our economy here, then it’s equally Pritzker Derangement Syndrome to blame it on state policies like the gas tax. They both impact our economy. However, rather than accuse you of PDS to shut down the convo, I actually engaged you on state issues. But rather than address the federal issues, you resorted to “but TDS”.
If its fair to bring state policies into the equation, national policies are fair game, too.
If you want to keep it local, though, which Diane doesn’t (she tries to use the data to attack state government), it doesn’t tell us anything specific about our region. Our economy is unique from most metro areas in that it relies on several huge employers (State Farm, ISU, Rivian). If one or teo of those employers have any type of internal reshuffling it can cause a job bump or loss of a few thousand jobs, which is what shows in that. So, without more information, about what jobs were lost or gained, its hard to explain. Its also tough to judge that data without knowing if the labor force itself grew or contracted.
And in terms of population loss, Illinois isn’t bleeding people at an enormous rate like you guys try to make it sound (100,000 people or so a year is not a mass exodus). The collar counties and Chicago area are doing just fine. Most of the losses are downstate, where farmers have been disproportionately impacted by the tariffs (less of a market foe their crops) and reliant on Trump’s subsidies. And in terms of the impacts of those subsidies, lest you accuse me of TDS, you can look towards the notoriously left-wing CATO Institute and National Review for arguments illustrating how they have harmed gamers and led to the rest of us propping them up with our tax dollars.
Bloomington raising water rate 100% and spending probably $100 million downtown plus Normal spending $40+ million on a tunnel means people have less money to spend which hurts the local economy. Add the ever rising property taxes and the disaster is written in advance
Agreed the underpass is stupid. The rising water rates and (what will be) ever growing infrastructure costs, are more a function of the ways we laid out our towns and communities. That’s not a political issue- towns all over the country we’re designed the same way regardless of.the political leanings of who was in charge. Infrastructure costs and maintenance costs will balloon over the next 50 years in communites- both rural and urban. You should read Strong Towns (Center-right authors) about this issue. Its a good read.
And like I said above, Im happy to talk local and Im happy to talk issues with you. Unfortunately, it seem like lots of MAGA folks get triggered anytime someone asserts that some of Trumps policies might be problematic. Stop being such snowflakes, people.
Infrastructure took a back seat to the Coliseum and BCPA. Could be $200 million between them
So let me guess people are leaving Illinois because of president Trump.
I am sure he has everything to do with our state and local taxes being among the highest in the country. Annnd let’s see gas tax was what 17 cents a gallon when Pritzker came into office but now what over 50 cents a gallon but I guess that has nothing to do with the price of gas.
Last time I looked Illinois is pretty much controlled by democrats but hey TDS GIVES ME A REASON TO BLAME THE PRESIDENT FOR EVERYTHING I DON’T LIKE IN THIS WORLD!!
JB paid some debt down using federal COVID money. JB has refused to lower gas taxes at the pump, now highest in the nation 50 cents a gallon. Farmers have been screwed over by huge increases in farmland property taxes that the left ignore. No mention of the huge amounts of taxpayer dollars given to pay for Biden’s war in Ukraine…
JB has 60 tax increases to his credit but doesn’t understand why people leave
Since JB took office, Springfield lawmakers’ pay has risen 50% with the super-majorities blessing. Property owners have seen their property taxes skyrocket by 50%. The super-majority has refused ANY attempt at property tax reform in Illinois! Can’t blame that on Trump.
Yes, the pension crises in Illinois has improved slightly. Almost all of that improvement has been the result of a rising stock market under guess who… Donald Trump!
Democrats control EVERY statewide elected office in Illinois, plus a super-majority to do whatever they want. It is time they started getting the blame for the mess in Illinois!
JB and his sanctuary state policies are also responsible for the Americans that have been killed in Illinois by those dangerous illegals that have committed crimes in Illinois and been released back into our communities and I am sorry but that scumbag could not even recognize the family that was in his presence that had a young child in Illinois killed by a person in our country illegally. His lack of character speaks volumes!
And it’s rumored that he has presidential aspirations how sad.
I’d like to have back all the money the Prickster has spent on the illegal population. Just imagine how much he could have brought down the debt had he not chose to run it through the gauntlet of (where did it all go) every “caring” politician and their cronies on the way of getting there. Yeah the good ole boys club does still exist. Welcoming in the explotation of the cartels smuggling human beings for profit and sex slavery, ripping familes apart before they even get to the border. Stuffing Chicago with so many illegals that a housing crisis develops like we’ve never seen before. Yeah there’s more. Alot more.