Illinois Review

Di Leo: The One Ring and the Red Flag Law

By John F. Di Leo - 

Most people enter politics for one of two purposes: to solve problems or to acquire power.

The hope, of course, is that these are tied together: that the reason for acquiring power is only to solve problems. Unfortunately, many in politics desire power for its own sake. Still, we Americans cling to the hope that we can usually assume the best of intentions in our political candidates, so we hope that their desire is truly to solve the problems of the day.

DiLeo: Donald Trump and the Problem of Tariffs

 

By John F. DiLeo - 

For over a year, the American business community has been disrupted by the current trade war. First the new tariffs on steel and aluminum from most trading partners – but then most significantly, the broadly-assessed new tariffs on products of China arrived, and shook the world.

We’ve seen wave after wave of China duties, until reaching the point at which most products from China – that’s both finished goods and components for American manufacturing too – are now another 25% higher-priced than they used to be. (and incidentally, there’s no reason to assume that 25% is the maximum. With 5.5 years left in the Trump administration, it’s entirely possible that we should think of 25% as a floor, not a ceiling).

Di Leo: President Trump Draws One More Arrow from the Quiver

By John F. Di Leo - 

One of the problems with the news is that it always requires some background information.  Without context, it is difficult to tell what’s really going on.

It may be reported that Israel fired on an apartment building in Gaza; that sounds horrible until you learn that terrorists based in that apartment building had been shooting rockets into Israel for weeks, making such retaliation necessary.

Or it may be reported that the average worker in some town is paid 30% less than you are for doing the same job as you; it sounds like  he’s being taken advantage of, until you learn that the cost of living where he works is 30% lower than where you are.

Context is particularly challenging in the world of international trade, since – even though we all participate in trade in some way, as manufacturers, resellers, or consumers – it’s not taught at all in school, and necessary background is never mentioned in news stories that involve it.

Rossi: The Growing Threat of Socialism in America

By Randy Rossi - 

Gallup just released a new poll that should scare the heck out of every rational and informed American. That poll shows that a growing number of Americans are embracing socialism.

In their new poll, Gallup reports that 43% of all Americans embrace some form of socialism while only 51% of Americans think that socialism would be a bad thing for our country. Incredibly, 6% have no opinion. If that doesn’t scare any rational American who has watched Venezuela collapse under socialism, what would?

Rossi: Legal Pot - the Last Nail in Illinois’ Coffin

By Randy Rossi - 

Dear fellow Illinoisans, have we all gone insane?

We have allowed our crooked politicians to almost destroy the once magnificent “Land of Lincoln” by our ignorance and voter apathy. Because of that ignorance and apathy, Illinois has become the most bankrupt state in the Union with the lowest bond ratings in America.

On top of that, we have seen more governors that we elected sent to prison than any other state! Even a high level FBI executive said Illinois is the most politically crooked state in America. And because of all that insanity and corruption, people and jobs are fleeing Illinois. And to make all that worse, our new governor wants you to allow him to change the Illinois Constitution so that he can tax even more of your money.

You know, he is the governor that took the toilets out of his house to pay less real-estate taxes!

Di Leo: Raising the Bar for the Democratic National Convention

By John F. Di Leo -

There’s a fascinating debate going on in Wisconsin.

Current state law requires that in order to have a liquor license, bars must be closed between 2:30am and 6:00am on Saturday nights, and between 2:00am and 6:00am the rest of the week.

But the Democratic National Committee chose Milwaukee to host their 2020 convention, and there are apparently many in the state who just don’t believe that twenty hours per day provide enough drinking time to manage the Democratic party’s national convention. They might need more.

Thorner: Beware state lawmakers pushing legalized pot

By Nancy Thorner - 

Public town hall events are currently being held throughout Illinois with one purpose: to advance legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults.

The Highland Park Library, hosted by the City of Highland Park, sponsored a town hall discussion Saturday, April 13, from 10-11:30 a.m. In the announcement blurb, individuals of all viewpoints were encouraged to attend to ask questions and learn all about the proposed cannabis legislation. About 100 attended. 

The panel included Representative Bob Morgan (D - 58th District); Senator Julie Morrison (D - 29th District); and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), sponsor of Senate Bill 7.  It has been two years since the Steans/Cassidy bill legalizing recreational pot was first introduced in Illinois.

Following brief introductions by Representative Bob Morgan and Senator Julie Morrison, Senator Heather Steans gave a Power Point presentation on Cannabis Legalization, designed to convince those in attendance that Illinois knows what it is doing, and that its recreational marijuana program will be well designed for positive results.  As Steans suggested, in some states legalization of recreational marijuana was achieved by referendum.  Doing it legislatively in Illinois is the better way, she said, as it will reflect the feedback received over the past twenty-four months.

Di Leo: Inspiration at a Conference Center

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on the free market, at Chicago’s McCormick Place

I like trade shows and conferences. I’ve attended a lot of them - and I’ve given speeches at a few - and I have always found them to be a wonderful microcosm of both society and the economy.

No matter how troubled a city or state may be, the trade show is a place to be re-invigorated about the potential in our own American economy and even in the world at large.

This week, for example, walking through the Housewares Show at Chicago’s McCormick Place, I was reminded of a number of wonderful issues that slip our minds from day to day, as we live out our busy lives. For instance:

Di Leo: Sparkling Wine and the Regulatory State

By John F. Di Leo - 

The kids are heading back to school, and a new Congress is taking their seats (well, technically, our seats, though many of them quickly forget that fact). This means the holiday party season of Christmas and New Year’s is finally over.

One of the things we do during party season is to select our beverages, both for ourselves and for our guests – and, as much as personal taste plays a role in that selection, the government plays a role as well.

How much government do we want?  How much government do we need?  What should our federal, state, and local legislatures demand of us?  And how should the executive branch – from federal departments and their agencies, to local zoning boards and liquor commissions – write the rules to enforce those demands?

Let’s look at that most basic of purchases – our choice of champagne – as we consider the question.

Di Leo: Perfect Timing for Corrections in International Trade

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on the latest summit in the southern hemisphere…

The heads of state of the USA, Mexico and Canada signed the new NAFTA 2.0 – the USMCA – early Friday morning in Buenos Aires, as they prepared to meet with more world leaders for the latest G-20 summit.   But despite that happy signing ceremony, it’s the rougher aspects of the trade wars of 2018 that weigh heavily on everyone’s mind.

Some would assume that these trade wars are all of Donald Trump’s making, but they would be mistaken. 

• Great Britain’s challenges in extricating itself from the European Union are of Brussels’ making.
• The American loss of much of our manufacturing, especially of steel but not remotely entirely of steel, is of the making of 50 years of union-and-statist American burdens.
• The flaws in existing free trade agreements are of their original negotiators’ making.
• And our special challenges with Mainland China today, as we lead the effort to try to reclaim the world’s manufacturing from a single country bound and determined to dominate the world economy, have too many causes to list (though that list must begin with American capitulations in the 1970s).

Two quiet issues – barely addressed in the news media on this side of the Pond – are the questions of whether the USA and Great Britain will manage to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement, and whether the USA and the European Union will do so as well.

From $15 per hour minimum wage to DACA support, women's group announces legislative priorities for 2019 session

SPRINGFIELD - With Democrats in total control of Illinois' three branches of state government, the leftist group "Women Employed" published their top priorities for Governor-Elect JB Pritzker to sign into law. In many cases, they seek the same legislation Republican Governor Bruce Rauner resisted over the past four years. 

The group's list of demands - from a $15 per hour minimum wage statewide to support for DACA recipients - will weigh heavily on Illinois business owners already paying some of the nation's highest property taxes. 

Women Employed expect to participate in enacting with a Democrat super majority in the Illinois House and Senate, and a Democrat in the Governor's Mansion the following:

Thorner: New documentary shows Google, Facebook pose real threat to democracy

Matthew & Michelle Taylor with Jim Lakely

By Nancy Thorner - 

Google and Facebook cross the privacy line and endanger American freedoms, two filmmakers told a capacity audience in Heartland Institute's Andrew Breitbart Freedom Center last Wednesday. The Creepy Line, an 81-minute new documentary, revealed what director Matthew Taylor and producer Michele Taylor found while filming their expose.

Every day more and more information is coming out on the issue. "In making the documentary the plug had to be pulled on July 31, 2018, despite so much that has happened after that date,” Taylor told the audience.

The Creepy Line reveals how Google searches and Facebook newsfeeds can bias opinions without the reader knowing by manipulating search engines and news feed, presenting a serious threat to America's democracy and elections.  

Di Leo: A Seat at the Table, and CNN's Embarrassing Presumption

By John F. Di Leo - 

As tempers flare in Washington this November, with the dust settling on late-night midterm results and vote fraud occurs in broad daylight… we see an unusual dispute in the news.  This kerfuffle is between a major news source – CNN – and the White House. CNN’s reporter, Jim Acosta, refused to shut his mouth when his time was expired, and even shoved an intern out of the way for just doing her job.  The White House had it with him, and revoked his press credentials - not CNN’s, just his.

The reporter made more of the story than it was, which is perhaps unsurprising, but his employer also made more of it than it was, which should be shocking.  An employer should have a better handle on how to deal with an employee who goes over the line, embarrassing his employer and his profession on international television. CNN even filed a lawsuit against the administration, claiming that it was a violation of the First Amendment for the administration to kick a reporter out of a press conference.

The First Amendment?   Really, folks?

Di Leo: Global Trade and the Challenges of Intellectual Property

By John F. Di Leo - 

As the Trump administration has focused heavily on trade this year, it has been instructive to note the weight that has been placed on intellectual property, in both the negotiations and the results.

The new USMCA treaty – the intended replacement for NAFTA – includes a whole chapter on intellectual property (IP).  2018’s wave after wave of punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, too, have been imposed in an effort to stem not only the loss of American jobs to China, but the loss of American how-to as well.

Even the new layers of 10% and 25% additional tariffs on raw materials of steel and aluminum, generally dismissed as job protection efforts, are actually designed, at least in part, to help keep the technology associated with such materials here in the United States.

Di Leo: NAFTA 2.0 and a Return to Focus

By John F. Di Leo -

Bringing it in just under the wire, negotiators representing Mexico, Canada, and the United States announced a new trade deal, to be named the USMCA, on Sunday, September 30, enabling the replacement for NAFTA for which many have long clamored.

With the agreement to switch to this new program, the three nations are taking some steps – however small – back in the direction of the goals that Free Trade Agreements have always promised to support, but which have been largely forgotten in the quest for their side effects.

Free Trade Agreements, in fact, are not designed to reduce taxes and increase inexpensive imports.  These may be benefits, certainly, for business and consumer alike, but they are really, primarily, just the incentives used to make some progress in obtaining the main goal: slowing or even reversing the ongoing loss of domestic manufacturing to third world competitors.

Ford blames Chinese tariffs for $1billion profit loss in 2017

Despite a reported net income in 2017 of $7.6 billion, the most since 2013, Ford CEO Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett said this week the Chinese tariffs cost the company $1 billion in profit loss last year.

“The metals tariffs took about $1 billion in profit from us -- and the irony is we source most of that in the U.S. today anyways,” Hackett said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “If it goes on longer, there will be more damage."

GOP Congressman Davis boasts four more union endorsements

Republican Congressman Rodney Davis (IL-13) sent out a press release Friday, boasting of now 10 unions that are backing his re-election in November.

Taylorville, IL - Ahead of Labor Day, four more unions have announced their support for Rodney Davis. The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), and the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois (AFFI) have all decided that they will back Davis for re-election. In June, six unions endorsed Davis. 

While Davis did not provide a direct quote in the press release, his spokesman Ashley Phelps pointed to Davis' support of unions and union-favored issues like Project Labor Agreements - issues Republicans have typically opposed over the years.

“Rodney’s support from unions continues to grow because the hardworking men and women in this district know he has their back. He has continuously supported them on pro-labor issues, like Davis-Bacon and Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and fought back against anti-union attacks from some in his own party. He has a proven record of standing with the workers of this district,” said Davis Spokesman Ashley Phelps. 

Di Leo: Media Hysteria and Historical Context in the NAFTA Discussions

By John F. Di Leo - 

Every time the President talks about trade negotiations, it makes the news. On July 18, he mentioned – for the umpteenth time – that he might prefer to break NAFTA up into two agreements, and the press went ballistic again.

We have hundreds of major issues in United States politics – taxes, unemployment, crime, foreign policy – and people can talk comfortably about them because they are always on the collective mind.   But trade is different; it’s only an issue once every generation or so.  So this is an issue with tons of misconceptions, not only in the electorate, but in the business community, and particularly the press, as well.

For example, the press goes crazy at the idea of breaking up NAFTA, as if having two individual Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) would be weird.  Do none of these reporters know that the USA currently has FTAs with 20 countries – yes, twenty – and there are only two multiparty agreements in the bunch? 

We have individual agreements – two-party – agreements with Chile, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Peru, Panama, Colombia, Israel, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, and Morocco.  They work fine.

Our only multiparty FTAs are NAFTA and DR-CAFTA, and the press acts as if that approach is the norm!  Well, it isn’t, and for good reason.

After Janus, new models for labor relations

Chicago teachers on strike. Rachel Docherty / Flickr.com (CC BY 2.0)

The U.S. Supreme Court took a significant step toward restoring individual liberty in the government-sector labor market with its recent Janus decision. The details of the case were outlined for the Acton Institute by retired federal Judge, Janice Rogers Brown. In brief, the Court ruled that henceforth no government employee would have to pay any labor union any fee as a condition of continued government employment. While the Janus decision is cause for liberty lovers to celebrate, it leaves in place an equally burdensome affront to individual liberty in government employment -- exclusive representation. It should be replaced by members-only representation.

More HERE

Di Leo: When the Rights of the Many are Trampled by the Rights of the Few

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on the nature of today's demonstrations…

Right at the beginning of the Bill of Rights, our Constitution clearly protects American citizens’ right to speak freely on political issues.  The First Amendment promises that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”

The Constitution doesn’t grant them an audience; it doesn’t promise that anyone will listen to them, or read their writings or join in their demonstration.  It just allows them to do it, and leaves it up to local and state governments to manage reasonable conditions, such as volume, hours, permits, and public safety.

Today, we have more public parks to speak in than we did in the Founding era, and infinitely more publication outlets, from newspapers and magazines to local print shops and websites.  We have thousands of cable TV channels and radio stations; we have podcasts and CDs.  The means of getting one’s message out – without inconveniencing anyone – are practically unlimited.

UPDATE: Janus ruling requires public sector union members to "opt in" (or will it?)

UPDATE x2: Illinois Review asked for an opinion from Liberty Justice Center on the debate. Pat Hughes, President of Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement Friday that indeed, unions will be forced to use "opt in":

We interpret the Janus ruling as a sweeping win for government workers. The opt in portion of Justice Alito’s opinion means exactly what it says - post Janus, governments should stop collecting union dues of any kind for any member or non-member. It doesn't matter whether or not someone previously opted in, the conditions upon which that happened - forced agency fees regardless of whether you opted in- made the decision making process for each state employee very different in a pre-Janus world. 

(On the side, we're told, additional litigation is expected and it is likely the courts will need to rule to clarify.)

UPDATE: There seems to be differing opinions on whether the Janus opinion will affect public sector union membership - especially in Illinois, not a "right to work" state. After our story was published with the above headline, we were contacted by CapitolFax's Rich Miller, who said our headline (Janus ruling requires public sector union members to "opt in") was wrong, that membership will not need to opt in. We rechecked several sources that say the opposite. 

Then Mr. Miller checked with an AFSCME Local 31 contact that expressed a differing opinion. We've inserted below: 

SPRINGFIELD - State employees will now need to "opt in" to public sector union membership after the seismic Janus vs AFSCME ruling the U.S. Supreme Court made earlier this week. As of Wednesday, union fees will no longer be automatically taken from state workers' paychecks in Illinois. Workers will need to affirmatively indicate if they want to be union members.

The case's plaintiff Mark Janus, an employee of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, sued AFSCME to gain his right to reject union membership and dues taken automatically from his paycheck each month. Janus argued he didn't agree with how AFSCME spent a portion of his dues on political campaigns. 

"I think this gives the individual worker in a public sector entity the right to make their own decision, and that was the basis for my case all along," Janus told Fox Business' Stuart Varney.

Chicago's Black Exodus

Chicago was once the black Metropolis.... now it's the home of the Great Black Exodus.

Di Leo: Free Trade, Fair Trade, and the Question of the Year

By John F. Di Leo -

International trade has always been in the news.  Business reporters talk about a trade deficit, politicians wail about jobs being exported overseas, and every so often, the government signs a new free trade agreement or trade promotion agreement (they are different things) with one or two or a hundred faraway countries.

But despite all this, international trade policy has not been at the forefront of the news cycle in a generation; not since the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement was voided 25 years ago, to be replaced by NAFTA, a three-party FTA between Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

Thanks to the election of Donald Trump, and his dogged determination that this country change its approach to trade, the issue is back at the water cooler again, and we can assume it will remain there throughout his presidency.

Rhoads: Confused Court Muddles Net Sales Tax

By Mark Rhoads -

A befuddled collection of both conservative and liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices thinks that they can help greedy state revenue directors collect more sales tax on internet shoppers.  They are wrong on several levels, both on principle and technical applications in their attempt to overturn Quill Corp. v. North Dakota 504 U.S.298 (1992) that held companies must have a physical presence in a state to be subject to sales tax for mail order and later internet sales. 

The odd group of liberal and conservative justices in the 5 to 4 majority were Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch.

Chief Justice John Roberts led four other justices in dissent. The minority wanted Congress to act.

But in an odd way, both the majority and minority have shown how ignorant they are about how online sales work and how they defy geography.

Republican-backed Farm bill moves to US Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Along party lines, all Republican members of Illinois congressional caucus supported H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, Thursday. No Illinois Democrats supported the the measure - including Cheri Bustos, whose 17th District includes substantial farming acreage. The bill now proceeds to the U.S. Senate for approval.

H.R. 2 reauthorizes and strengthens agriculture policy for the Department of Agriculture through 2023. It improves policies related to

• crop insurance,
• trade,
• regulatory reform, and
• nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Thorner: Trump works to shrink America's debilitating trade deficit

By Nancy Thorner - 

As noted in an article by Kimberly Amadeo, updated May 10, 2018:  The United States has the world's largest trade deficit. It's been that way since 1975. The deficit in goods and services was $566 billion in 2017. Imports were $2.895 trillion dollars and exports were only $2.329 trillion.

The U.S. trade deficit in goods, without services, was $810 billion. The United States exported $1.551 trillion in goods. The biggest categories were commercial aircraft and automobiles.

Worth noting is that we have the largest deficits with our top five trading partner (Census provides trade data by country for goods only, not services): 

• China- $636 billion traded with a $375 billion deficit.
• Canada- $582 billion traded with an $18 billion deficit.
• Mexico - $557 billion traded with a $71 billion deficit.
• Japan - $204 billion traded with a $69 billion deficit.
• Germany - $171 billion traded with a $65 billion deficit.

Di Leo: From Foreign Vendors to Local Banks: Tariffs and Regulations in the Crosshairs

By John F. Di Leo -

After three months of saber-rattling on the trade front – including the implementation of high duties on imported steel and aluminum, and threats of similarly high tariffs on a host of business and consumer products both from and to China – the dust appears to have settled for a while, with an announcement that China will work to import more from the USA, and a tentative agreement that a trade war would be bad for everybody. 

Within days, there were fresh discussions of new tariffs on other products that hadn’t been discussed previously - like cars and trucks – also based on the recognition that a weakened and minimized manufacturing sector isn’t just bad for the economy, it’s bad for national defense.

Di Leo: What Do Taxes Do For Us?

 

By John F. Di Leo - 

As you may have heard, Illinois has a pension problem.  

Now, that’s not Illinois’ only problem, of course. Illinois also has a crime problem, an education problem, a quality-of-life problem, a transportation problem, a public corruption problem, an unemployment problem, and a population shrinkage problem.  Frankly, there isn’t enough room in this column to list all of Illinois’ problem, but that’s a start.

The Chicago Fed – that’s the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve System – has proposed an idea for dealing with a part of Illinois’ pension problem. Since the problem is that many state and local government pension funds were criminally-underfunded for decades (on purpose, since Illinois politicians believe you can always just raise taxes later), the Chicago Fed has proposed a trial balloon: a thirty-year special assessment of an additional 1% of home values.  Only for thirty years or so.

Don’t worry that this proposal would only address the five pension funds administered by the state. The other 650 or so government pensions across Illinois, and all of Illinois’ many other problems, would remain unaddressed by this proposal… but at least those five state pension funds would finally be made whole.  In thirty years.  They hope.

Interest in manufacturing careers grows among Chicago area high schoolers

SCHAUMBURG, IL - The Technology & Manufacturing Association (TMA) held its 27th annual Precision Machining Competition Thursday night at Mazak Corporation's Midwest Technology Center where hundreds of precision machining projects made by Chicago area high school students were on display. Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti, TMA Leadership, parents, instructors and company representatives were in attendance as students learned how their work rated in comparison to their peers and explored possible job opportunities with area manufacturers.

"I want to encourage all of you to continue this dream you are starting because manufacturing isn't just about the talent or technical side of what you learn, there is a skill and an art to it. You are all artists - embrace that, grow into that and see where it can take you," TMA Chairman, Todd Beauchamp, said in front of the competitors, parents and instructors. "There are a lot of companies here that are looking for you and can utilize your craft."

Black conservatives call for end to Jim Crow era regulations

 

WASHINGTON DC –- Jim Crow-era regulations created for the express purpose of denying blacks economic opportunity are still on the books and must be repealed to promote black prosperity, according to the Project 21 black leadership network in its forthcoming "Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America."

Recommendations in Project 21's Blueprint meant to encourage employment opportunities for black communities are being released just after the U.S. Department of Labor' Bureau of Labor Statistics announced its April jobs report.

Di Leo: From Law School to Prison Ship: the Honorable Life of Elias Boudinot IV

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on one of America’s first presidents on the anniversary of his birth…

When Elias Boudinot IV signed onto the Treaty of Paris in 1783, in his capacity as President of the Confederation Congress, ending the War of Independence after eight long years, he did so not as a distant politician, but as one who had been in the thick of it from the beginning.

As a respected attorney, politician, and member of the establishment, Elias Boudinot was hardly anyone’s mental image of a rebel leader... but then, one could say that of so many of our Founding Fathers.  Boudinot is therefore a wonderful example of that very rare, and very special, class of principled visionaries who risked everything - their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor - to establish an independent country of freeman, our liberty secured by a brilliant system founded on constitutionally limited government.

When Elias Boudinot IV was born in Philadelphia, on May 2, 1740 AD, no one would ever dream that such people, in such a place, would ever be revolutionaries. Philadelphia was then among the largest English speaking cities in the world, the home of proud British subjects, truly enjoying the freedom that England allowed in its distant colonies… long before Kings George II and George III commenced their ever-increasing steps toward tyranny in the 1750s and 1760s.

Di Leo: The Potholes of Spring

By John Di Leo - 

Reflections on Illinois roadways and the speed bumps of the General Assembly...

When you or I walk outside in the spring, and see that the winter has left behind a few reminders on our driveways – a pothole, a chip, a crack – we check the finances, and perhaps we have the driveway completely repaved…

…But much more likely, we head to the local hardware store, pick up a bag of concrete mix or blacktop patch, and get to work on our hands and knees with our trusty trowels.

While fully repaving the driveway is certainly a “nice-to-have,” it’s hardly a necessity, compared to all the other demands on our overstretched personal finances. We prioritize. The mortgage comes first; the kids’ tuition, the spouse’s surgery, the car repairs, the property tax bill … all these rank higher in their demands on our checkbooks. 

So we just fix the driveway to make it passable, rather than spending money we don’t have to make it perfect. We just make it last another year.

Oh, if only our government felt that way.

Di Leo: The Soda Tax: A Single Victory, or a Blueprint for the Future?

By John F. Di Leo - 

In November, 2016, the Cook County Board of Confiscators created a new tax on most non-alcoholic beverages – punitive, astronomical, and unconstitutional.

Virtually everything that could be wrong with a government policy was wrong with this one, and the community reacted with unexpected force. County commissioners reported receiving more complaints about this issue than on any other issue in their careers. Despite a united front held by County Board President Toni Preckwinkle through the summer 2017 implementation, the resolve of her members soon withered as the real effects of the hated tax began to be felt. In the end, it was repealed after less than three months of actual collection, and will be gone completely when the clock strikes midnight on December 1.

The question for us is therefore, do we pat ourselves on the backs and enjoy the victory, or do we double down, and put the lessons of the beverage tax to work in other areas of public policy?

Beckman: What would we do without Hollywood?

By Hank Beckman - 

What would we do without Hollywood?

Not only does the movie and television industry keep us entertained with both its product and the endless spectacle provided by the private lives of some of its stars, it also functions as an early warning system against the imminent arrival of a misogynist, homophobic government.

Sometimes they even win awards for the service.

Thorner & Ingold: Grading Trump in the wake of Houston's Harvey

By Nancy Thorner and Ed Ingold - 

When you consider all the devastation that Hurricane Harvey left in its wake, it’s hard to believe that Harvey isn’t a registered Democrat.  For one thing, consider the fact that it hit Texas, one of the few reliably conservative states in the Union.

Next, when you look at the mess Harvey left behind, it closely resembles what we’ve seen in the aftermath of events involving Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Obama’s Inauguration Day celebration and the Never-Trump demonstration that left our nation's capital looking like it had been fire-bombed last January 20th.

Di Leo: The Democratic Party and the War on Work

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on Labor in America, on Labor Day Weekend

The Friday that began Labor Day weekend, 2017, brought with it a disappointing jobs report. While the economy is still growing, and the stock market is booming, the most personal statistic of all – whether a person is employed or not – is the most frustrating one to watch.

We should begin the discussion by considering the flaws of these statistics.  Unemployment and jobs are tricky things to measure, because a part time job isn’t the same as a full time job, one person’s home business isn’t the same as another person’s home business, and a minimum wage job that serves as the first rung of a career ladder is a world away from a job that pays the same but provides no advancement opportunities.

So – while the difference between a 300,000 new jobs month and a 156,000 jobs month is obviously huge – we should avoid getting stuck in the numbers and instead look at the big picture.

Rather than asking why aren’t more jobs being created, we should be asking why should they?

Di Leo: American Politics Enters The Bronze Age

By John F. Di Leo - 

The top marginal federal income tax rate in the United States – for businesses and for people who file as businesses – is 39.6%.

As a result, businesses do not grow as they should.  Businesses do not thrive as they should.  Businesses do not produce, or invent, or add on, or hire, as they would if their tax burden were lower.

International corporations therefore find that they must do more and more of their manufacturing abroad, where their profits are not so severely penalized.  And domestic corporations do not prosper… and would-be entrepreneurs do not start-up new enterprises here, because in the United States, today, success itself is penalized.

Di Leo: One Day at the Checkout Line, in the Age of Preckwinkle

 

By John Di Leo - 

Like many Chicagoans, I live in one county and work in the next one. So, sometimes I do my shopping near home, and sometimes I do my shopping at lunchtime, near wo

I'd rather not do it at lunch, frankly, because I don't have time for long lunches.  The modern economy requires people to stay at their desks and work full days, sometimes very long hours, so people are now much more likely to pack a lunch than in the past, or to just duck out for fast food and head back to the office.

The new Cook County beverage tax has kicked in, though, so some of us don't have a choice anymore. Instead of shopping at home in the evening, I shopped in DuPage county at lunch yesterday. This means that the sales tax on my purchase was just 7.5% instead of Cook County's 10%, and there was no penny-per-ounce beverage tax at all.

Di Leo: Illegal Aliens and the Challenge of Statistics

By John F. Di Leo -

Illegal aliens are in the news again this week.

With over 20 million in the country (and yes, that may be a conservative estimate), it’s actually amazing they aren’t in the news every week… but there has long been something of a media blackout on this problem outside of the times when the Democratic talking points focused on them, as when the Obama administration tried, again and again, to convince the nation to just give them all citizenship. (For some people, nothing is too outrageous if it involves a large enough voting block).

This week, the case that propelled the issue to headlines was of a rapist, robber, and addict named Sergio Jose Martinez, caught in Portland, still committing crimes after having been deported twenty – yes, twenty – times before.

Illinoisans, knowing we have over half a million illegal aliens in our state, and massive crime as well, must read such stories and ask ourselves: How many Sergio Jose Martinezes must we have of our own?

Di Leo: The Bastille, Mob Rule and Emptying of Prisons

 

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on big city life on Bastille Day…

Every year on July 14, the French celebrate Bastille Day, the beginning of the end for the Bourbon monarchy, and, ostensibly, the rise of the power of the people.

Even here in the United States, an ocean away, with only the slightest connection to the French people and culture, we enjoy the day as an unofficial holiday. We drink French wine, enjoy brie and crackers, and sing Le Marseillaise (in the original French, of course).  It’s an excuse for a sale, for a party, for a festival.  As long as we don’t dig too deep.

But when we do dig deep… when we do take a moment to think about what happened to France in the 1790s… we cannot help feeling the horror of an age in which a city lost control to madness… and if we dig just a bit deeper, we may find painful similarities to our own time and place.

Di Leo: Springfield – The City That Banned Capitalism

By John F. Di Leo - 

Perhaps we should begin by acknowledging the fact that the headline isn’t exactly true.  Springfield is a reasonably normal small town in the American Heartland, with a normal enough distribution of conservatives, liberals and moderates.

But Springfield is ruled by Chicago, the King Kong of Illinois politics, which, for all its good points (and yes, there are many), simply can’t help being utterly destructive to everything within reach.  And because of its size, its reach is far-ranging indeed.

So, while Springfield, as the seat of Illinois government, theoretically rules Illinois, Chicago’s powerful and virtually unanimous Democratic legislative delegation rules Springfield.

And the more desperate Chicago gets, confronted with fleeing residents, disappearing employers, and an increasingly impatient and demanding grubber list, the more Chicago acts like King Kong in the movies, smashing everything in sight, a danger to friends and enemies alike.

Di Leo: Money is Fungible ... Especially in Cuba

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on the Trump Administration's changes to our Cuba policy

In 1959, following six years of organized Marxist-Leninist rebellion, mostly run by Fidel and Raul Castro and their partner Che Guevera, the Battista government of Cuba was overthrown and Fidel Castro claimed dictatorial powers, which he eventually turned over to his brother Raul, in 2008.

The Castros spent their sixty years not only oppressing their people – robbing, raping, beating, imprisoning, torturing, and killing, as all communist governments do – but they also spent those years, particularly the years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, spreading violent revolution across the third world.  They spent thirty years as the might, partnered with the Kremlin’s money, leading revolutions in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia.

In all those years, many other formerly communist governments have changed people and philosophies. The Soviet Union broke up, and many of its former vassal states have embraced free markets and free people.  Several others outside the Former Soviet Union have as well… but Cuba never did.  Cuba is still run by Raul Castro, the mass murdering enforcer of the 26th of July Movement of the 1950s. 

Di Leo: A Look at President Trump and the State of the Nation, on his Birthday

By John F. Di Leo -

President Donald J. Trump was born on June 14, 1946, a day also celebrated as the birthday of the Continental Army (1775) and the United States Flag (1777).  It’s a good day to be a patriot.

At this writing, as he celebrates his 71^st birthday, Donald Trump has been in office for less than five months.  If the 100-day mark in a presidency is too early to judge a presidency, then so is this, so we mustn’t try.  There is still room for almost all possible outcomes at the end of his four years (or  eight).

It is, however, a reasonable time for some analysis of where we stand so far in this presidency, what the lessons of 2016 are, and what should brace ourselves for in the years to come. 

Thorner: Radical environmentalists blame Heartland Institute for Trump's Paris accord decision

By Nancy Thorner - 

In announcing his decision in the Rose Garden on June 1st to end the United States' affiliation with the Paris climate agreement, President Trump said:  

The Paris climate accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers…and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.

Manufacturer, State Senator and possible Ambassador to Kenya: Kyle McCarter

SPRINGFIELD - At the Illinois State Capitol, Senator Kyle McCarter is the only elected official that is also a manufacturer – one that knows from personal experience how state laws and regulations can positively (or negatively) affect small businesses. 

In downstate Lebanon, McCarter is known as the founder and president of Custom Product Innovations and Custom Coating Innovations, two manufacturing companies that employ 25 local residents.

Thousands of miles away in East African Kenya, McCarter and his wife Victoria are revered as the directors and key benefactors of a medical clinic, an elementary school and an orphanage.

And if that weren't enough, McCarter's name is now being circulated for consideration to be the United States' ambassador to Kenya.

Di Leo: Truth, Lies, and The Paris Accord

By John F. Di Leo - 

In 2015, one of the endless subsets of the United Nations – specifically, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC – gathered to write a retreat from modernity based on the junk science known as “man-made global warming,” or, more recently, since the discovery of the undeniably fabricated “hockey stick” model that originally justified the idea, “man-made global climate change.”

Thorner/O'Neil: Democrats and Leftist groups threaten nation's sovereignty, survival

By Nancy Thorner and Bonnie O'Neil - 

Having lost the House, Senate, presidency and most gubernatorial races, one would think Democrats would wake-up to the realization that the public rejected their Liberal message to consider what they might change to be more aligned with the American public.

That is not what Liberals have decided to do. What they have chosen to do instead may be a shocking revelation and possible wake-up call for many of our citizens. There is substantiated evidence proving specific Liberal leaders, a variety of special interest groups, and over one hundred Leftist, socialist organizations are all part of a conspiracy to create and fund a shadow government.

SEIU nursing home workers in Illinois threaten strike

CHICAGO — Representatives of more than 5,000 nursing home workers across 53 nursing homes in Chicagoland said Wednesday they plan to strike next week over "fair wages, staffing levels that ensure quality care for residents, and dignity on the job regardless of immigration status."

"Workers have been negotiating in good faith for a permanent contract for more than a year," Service Employee International Union (SEIU) said in a statement issues on their website. "Dozens of unfair labor practice (ULP) complaints have been filed against nursing homes for refusing to provide information legally required for good faith bargaining, as well as other violations of the National Labor Relations Act."

Di Leo: Even with an Angelic Subject like "Made in America," the Devil is in the Details

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on government procurement and the Buy American Act

President Donald Trump traveled to southeast Wisconsin to make a speech and issue a proclamation: that he would require that – on the big government spending projects of his administration – everything had better be Made in America.

Hopefully, no one will quarrel with the intent.

A country should be proud of its manufacturing sector, and if tax dollars are to be spent at all, the preference ought to be that they be spent giving business to their own companies, employing their own people, utilizing their own local resources.  It's important not only for the economy, but for national security as well.  Such an intention is good and honorable.

But we all know what the road to Hell is paved with, don’t we?

Thorner: The Role of Fossil Fuels in Keeping World Peace, Heartland's ICCC-12

By Nancy Thorner - 

Featured at The Heartland Institute's Twelfth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC-12), held March 23-24 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C., were eleven panel discussions over the two-day period.