Whether they were discussing how to tackle health care, pension reform or unemployment, legislators at kept returning to the same solution: more cooperation.
said elected officials need to reach across party lines more frequently to pass job legislation. said legislators need to sit down with unions to deal with rising pension costs. And Illinois Department of encouraged small business owners to offer suggestions for the institution of the Affordable Care Act.
"The number one issue that we face not only in Illinois but across the country is jobs and the economy," Dold said to the crowd gathered at the early last Friday morning. "The good news is that when I talk to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the number one issue is jobs and the economy as well."
The Chamber of Commerces from Highland Park, Highwood and Glencoe organized the event, which was presented by NorthShore University HealthSystem. moderated a panel that included Dold, Garrett and Hamos as well as Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Chief of Staff Andrew Moyer. was supposed to speak but did not attend.
Escalating pension crisis
Garrett discussed the state's rising pension obligations at last year's Legislative Outlook as well as this year's. Although the problem is not a new one, she said the time to address it is now.
"The pension issue has not just been a carryover from last year, it's been a carryover for the past decade," Garrett said. "This is the year I call 'Now or Never.'"
Garrett pointed out that local schools and universities "don't contribute much" to teacher's pensions, suggesting that increasing those contributions could help ease the state's financial burden.
"We do think that schools and universities have to have a dog in this fight," Garrett said.
The state senator also suggested that union leaders and legislators meet to tackle pension reform together. Highland Park resident and event attendee Pete Koukas said he didn't think this would work.
"The idea of getting unions and state regulators and legislators all to work together to resolve the pension problems is whistling dixie," Koukas said.
Creating jobs
The recently published jobs report showed that the country created over 240,000 jobs in January, making the topic of unemployment less morose than it was a year ago.
"We need to build on that," Dold said.
The congressman said that Illinois needed to create an environment that encouraged small businesses to hire more. He stressed the importance of bipartisanship and business regulations.
"We need regulations, but the regulations need to be smart regulations, not just more of them," Dold said.
Dold also lamented that some jobs bills are currently stuck in the Senate and said he shared a goal with President Barack Obama to double U.S. exports by 2014.
State vs. local financial burdens
asked the first question at the event, focusing on the state's budget problems. She asked the panel not to put the state's debt on municipalities that have already made difficult cuts to operate more affordably.
"We've done the heavy lifting," Rotering said. "Please don't turn around and add your burdens to our burdens."
After the event, attendee and said he planned to take Hamos up on her invitation to small business owners for feedback on health care reform. Anand said he was happy to get input from and ask questions of his legislators.
"I find it very productive to get the ideas across," Anand said.
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Now that she's leaving she decides "someone" should do something. I say we amend our State Constitution to remove Article XIII — General Provisions, Section 5. Pension and Retirement Rights: Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired. The GM and Chrysler Bond holders had contractual rights that were supposedly protected by the US Constitution and look what good that did them.
Sure! Let's take the burden off the State and put it on the local school levies. That way our Real Estate taxes will go up to pay for pensions and benefits the State guarantees.
My pension and our SS payments are not taxed by the State of Illinois even though the amount is fairly high. I once suggested to Karen May that there should be a means test for exemptions from State Income Tax. I would prefer that they get spending under control first but it doesn't make sense that working individuals making less income per year should have to pay taxes and we don't. Unfortunately, I'm quite sure that the current legislators would use any new income from that to increase spending and not to reduce debt, including the unfunded pension liabilities.
- I second that motion. All this talk about underfunded education is ridiculous. This is about financial survival for the State of Illinois. There is a technical term for the structure of our Illinois Pension Plan. It's called a "positive feedback loop". Those are bad and will eventually destroy whatever system they are running on. For example, when speakers start screeching during a speech... that's a positive feedback loop. The speaker talks -> the amplifier makes it louder -> the microphone picks up the louder noise -> the amplifier makes that noise even louder -> continue until either the amplifier, the speakers, or our ear drums fail The Illinois Pension Plan works the same way and will fail just as surely. Politicians make pension promises to the unions -> the unions use that money to buy political influence -> more promises get made to the unions -> the unions get even more powerful -> This continues until the unions get so wealthy and powerful that no one dares challenge them -> outrageous promises get made to the pension plan which can not be honored by the people stuck paying the bill -> the financial system screeches right before it fails Amend the Constitution, get government out of the pension business, and break the loop.
Want nice things? What are you talking about? When I want nice things, I go EARN THEM! I don't look to the government to take them from someone else and give them to me. I want a government that makes sense and won't enslave my children with cheap promises made today that will lead to bone crushing taxes in the future. Illinois is definitely going to hell, but Dan isn't leading the way.
If higher taxes lead to a higher level of education, a higher chance of success for my children and grandchildren, plus higher real estate values, I see that as a positive return on my tax dollars. The same with quality of life in a community based on the availability of leisure activities. Those things have to be paid for. They also add to the value of real estate in the community.
Gary, run for State Office. Frankly, there is much more ability to do things in Springfield than locally, where you are essentially limited to supervising implementation and you are subject to state and federal mandates or even as a federal office holder, where you are one among very many. In Springfield, you can write laws and watch and expose cronyism. I agree that the State Constitution is a significant barrier but its worse, frankly. Any repeal will be challenged in state court, and the presiding judge is receiving a state pension. When you get it passed, don't forget to go directly to federal court and file for declaratory relief that it is constitutional.
Unfortunately, I was not in a position the home-school either of them to those levels. Neither was I in a position to hire tutors to provide them with their educations. I had to depend on the Public School systems in Deerfield to provide their base educations. I believe those schools did very well by them. If "grandpa" reflects that you have children and grandchildren, I congratulate you on being or having been in a position that you didn't need Public education for you or the rest of your family. I guess we should apologize that you home schooled or hired tutors for your children's education and still had to pay real estate taxes or payroll taxes for others' educations.
When you ask people if they want government to be smaller, they usually say yes. But what people say they want and what they really want is often very different, and this dishonesty within ourselves is where the debate gets hung up. The argument regarding taking on the Taliban "one-on-one" is called reductio ad absurdum. No individual citizen is going to provide individual national defense, (besides, that is one of the enumerated powers of the Federal Government in the Constitution). What is also absurd, although not discussed nearly enough, are the numerous powers ceded to government by the citizenry by default. The fact is, the Constitution addresses this but is often ignored. The 10th amendment clearly states; "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." We have become so used to the Feds, or the State or the town doing everything short of wiping our noses, that we have become soft, lazy and dependent... and in our dependence, we have become servants to our government rather than the masters of it.
We should go after some big ones, where progress can be made: Medicare and corporate deductions. Medicare is not investment in the future; too much is being spent on seniors, through pensions and entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. Whether its state pensions or ordinary senior citizens, we are spending too much on that demographic. Chop, chop.
No one likes taxes, but would you fly on a plane without the FAA and air traffic controllers? You focus only on redistribution, and government does much more. Surprisingly, its redistribution efforts are a much smaller portion of government spending than most people who toss around the word "confiscate" ever choose to admit. My observation on the North Shore is that many who toss around the word confiscate benefit from the fruits of their successful parents' labors or at the very least, their parents' very ordered lives. Again, it is the sweet spot. How do we create fair taxation systems that promote fruitful labor? In some ways, the military is a wonderful mechanism for redistribution. Under our all volunteer system, the overwhelming majority of recruits come from the working class and all sorts of great skills are conferred and confers generous pensions, where this all started. Redistribution or vital government service? Black and white world views are not helpful in very grey worlds. I prefer the world view of the Bible story in which the owner of the vineyard pays the same to all the workers, no matter when they arrived. I believe my portion is fair. What others' receive shall not diminish my enjoyment of my fair portion or my obligation to support my country..
2011 Federal Spending 19.6% Social Security 16.1% Unemployment/Welfare 12.8% Medicare 8.2% Medicaid Total 56.7% , not counting the hundreds of other smaller social programs, and give-aways that masquerade as "green energy" programs, etc. 18.7% Dept of Defense We spend more than 3 times as much on redistributionist schemes than we spend on national defense. How much redistribution and confiscation are you willing to admit to?