People are moving from high-tax Democrat-run states to states that are more welcoming to businesses and individuals.  The way Illinois is run shows many reasons why.

In Illinois, the legislature schedules adjournment by May 31, and their salary is $69,464 per year.  They also get substantial pensions and other benefits with a few years of service.  They also get an extra salary if they are a leader or head of a committee.  The Legislature is very generous to itself.

This year, they are scheduling adjournment by early April so they can campaign.  My guess is that their opponents don't get taxpayer-paid time off to campaign.

They will probably have fewer than thirty scheduled legislative days this year for their salary.  They will make as much for a few days in session as the median family makes in Illinois in a year.

According to the Census ACS 1-year survey, the median household income for Illinois was $69,187 in 2019

The Democrats can actually get things done with just their two leaders.  They control what goes in and out of committees and what is voted on.

In the state House, Democrats have 73 out of 118 seats or 62%.  In the state Senate, the Democrats have 41 out of 59 seats or 69%.

But the power is never enough for Democrats.  They draw district maps to get rid of Republicans.  Somehow, Eric Holder and others haven't sued or complained about Democrats who draw their maps. 

Illinois Democrats' Map Aims to Grab 2 G.O.P. Seats in Congress

Eric Holder to Lead Democrats' Attack on Republican Gerrymandering

The Illinois Constitution requires a balanced budget, yet Illinois has run up hundreds of billions in actual debt and unfunded pension and health liabilities.  The reason federal, state, and local entities have so much debt and unfunded liabilities is that they essentially borrow to balance their budget.  They also cater to unions to promise unsustainable benefits.  The taxpayers are their least concern.

Fiscal watchdog Truth in Accounting crunched the numbers for Illinois and gave the state an F grade in its latest Financial State of the States report. The report showed Illinois had just over $36 billion in assets available to pay bills totaling more than $272 billion, leaving the state needing $236 billion in additional assets to pay its bills. (source)

Kiplinger determined that Illinois is the least tax-friendly state of all, yet the greedy politicians want more.  They talk about the need for people to pay their fair share, yet there is never a concern that they only take the government's fair share. 

Kiplinger report finds Illinois' sales, income and property taxes on middle-income families rank among the highest in the nation, making prospective residents think twice about moving to the state. 

Illinois is the "least tax friendly" state for middle-class families in the U.S., according to a new Kiplinger report.

The annual state-by-state tax analysis found a middle-income couple with two children in Illinois pays some of the highest taxes on income, sales and property in the nation, earning the Land of Lincoln the lowest rank of any state.

The analysis determined Illinois' 4.95% flat state income tax rate is tied for ninth-highest levied against middle-class taxpayers in the country. Illinoisans pay the seventh-highest combined state and local tax rate at an average 8.83%.

Kiplinger notes that burden on the middle class grows substantially when you consider Illinois residents already pay the second-highest property taxes in the nation.

Nearly half of Illinoisans have thought about leaving the state, citing high taxes as their No. 1 reason. Kiplinger said it could also be making prospective residents think twice about moving to Illinois.

We will probably hear that Illinois will have a serious ethics bill.  People must be very naïve to believe that these politicians give a damn about ethics after Illinois has been a state for over 200 years.

The media always talk about getting rid of greed and corruption and having ethical politicians.  That would be much easier if they didn't support, campaign for, and bury truthful information on politicians who are corrupt and unethical.

For example:

Journalists should never support a billionaire who was willing to commit fraud to save $300,000 in property taxes by taking toilets out of one of his many mansions.  He clearly cared more about his money than the children, other taxpayers, or paying his fair share.  If he was willing to commit fraud to save a pittance of his money, what else would he do?

Journalists should never support a person for senator or president that they knew took political favors from criminal political operative Tony Rezko.  The media never cared about Obama's corruption and unethical activity while they sought to destroy McCain and Palin.

Journalists should never have supported the Clintons, who took massive kickbacks and set out to destroy women who dared tell the truth about Bill's history of sexual abuse.  How many women and young girls were physically and mentally harmed by powerful men like Bill, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein because the media were so busy campaigning for and protecting the Clintons?

And they never should have supported Joe Biden, who larded up his family wealth with kickbacks from Ukraine, Russia, China, and who knows where else.  The media not only didn't care, but also intentionally hid the truth of the corruption from the public.  Their interference in the 2020 election was extremely harmful to our democracy.

The media have known about the corrupt political machine in Illinois for a long time and mostly look the other way to hide the truth from the public.  It is no wonder that so many residents of Illinois are taking the opportunity to get out to more honest, welcoming states.

Illinois, as a sanctuary state, is more welcoming of people who came here illegally than it is to legal residents.  When will the media work for the people instead of for the corrupt powerful?

Here is a great article about the corrupt political machine in Illinois and how involved Obama was.  It came out before the 2008 election, and the media didn't care.  It is a shame the public has to suffer so much because of the media's willful blindness.

POLITICS: Obama and the Integrity Gap: The Machine

D. The Machine

Chicago politics, of course, have been famously corrupt and totally dominated by the Democratic machine since beyond living memory. (In Illinois at the state level, corruption is endemic and bipartisan: "four of the last nine governors have been indicted on charges of corruption, and three were convicted"). This is the city where top aides to Mayor Daley were convicted in May 2006 of federal felonies for rigging hiring in city jobs. It's a city where an alderman who pleaded guilty in August to a "general practice" of shaking down real estate developers was caught on tape saying "Most aldermen, most politicians are hos.". (A Rezko-linked alderman, in fact, who is the daughter of a Rezko-linked housing developer once represented by Obama's law firm * * - small world, indeed). It's not an uncommon sentiment (several aldermen found it necessary to hold a press conference stating that they were not, in fact, hos).

The Chicago machine is nothing if not an equal opportunity honeypot; machine corruption and its close cousin, racial/ethnic politics, has endured over decades as different ethnic and racial groups have taken their turns running the city, all the while doling out favors within their wards. The current machine is topped by Mayor Daley, two decades in office and the son of the city's most notorious mayor; at the state level, it envelops Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich.