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The state of Illinois has received low to middling grades in a new report on its economic health.
The report by Growth Economics was commissioned by the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce and released at the end of August.
According to chamber president Doug Whitley, the premise for the report was to establish a benchmark to measure against for future reports.
“This report is intended to be as much of a wake-up call as anything, simply to say, ‘Take a look at where we stand and if you don’t like where it is, what are we going to do about it?’” Whitley said.
While the report gives Illinois a pretty good grade in workforce preparedness, it hits hard in certain key indicators. The state slipped from 6th to 16th in per-capita disposable income; from 10th to 13th in per-capita state Gross Domestic Income; and ranked 49th out of the 50 states in regulatory environment.
“We need people to wake up and recognize that you have to pay attention to the economy,” said Whitley. “A lot of our governmental issues can be corrected if the economy is growing, providing jobs and hitting on all cylinders, but the Illinois economy has been slipping. One of the things we noted in this report that was particularly dramatic was the decline in per-capita income in our state, compared to where we used to be. We used to have the sixth-highest per-capita income in the country, and we’ve slipped to 16th. That’s unacceptable, and people need to wake up and recognize what’s going on. That’s a huge slide, and it’s got tremendous implications for the quality of life and the wealth of the state. We used to be the 6th wealthiest state…now we’re 16th,” he added. “What happened in between?”
According to State Sen. Frank Watson, a Republican from Greenville and Senate Minority Leader, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the leaders of the House and the Senate have taken this state in the wrong direction - and have hurt its ability to compete.
“It’s a populist issue to be against business,” Watson said. “It’s a populist thing to say, ‘Let business pay. If business pays, we don’t.’ Well, that’s ridiculous. That’s ludicrous. That’s the philosophy that we have right now in Springfield, but when business pays, everybody pays. Costs are passed on to the consumer. You can’t just continuously whack the business community and ask them to pay more and then not expect a report like this to come out.”
Another cause, according to Watson, is the regulatory hoops that Illinois agencies require businesses to jump through. Watson points to the ethanol industry as an example. He says that Illinois used to be the No. 1 state in the nation in the production of ethanol but has been surpassed by Iowa and Nebraska, with Missouri coming up on its heels. Watson blames the Illinois EPA, regulatory policies and the costs of licensing and permits for that decline.
Watson says the state has made some strides in becoming more competitive - the medical malpractice legislation that was passed in 1994, for example. However, the Cook County Circuit Court has found portions of that law to be unconstitutional and the case is now before the Illinois Supreme Court, so that progress could be undone.
Making matters even worse, according to Watson, is the dysfunctional government that Illinois has been subjected to for the past six years.
“We’ve seen nothing get accomplished because the Democrats can’t get along,” he said. “They won’t sit in the same room together. This whole state has kind of been held hostage by the three leaders of the Democratic Party in Springfield: the [House] Speaker, the president of the Senate and the governor. If there was a bipartisan effort to try to get things done and if everybody was required to sit in the room and get it worked out, I think you would see more positive results.”
Whitley, who recently announced his interest in running for governor in the 2010 election, has laid out an agenda for improvement:
-- Build a stronger compact between employers and educators to prepare children for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
-- Create an environment where people who do research and development decide to create companies and jobs in Illinois, rather than heading for the coast.
-- Expand Illinois’ ability to be part of the global economy.
-- Enhance Illinois’ strengths. And, change government’s attitude toward business.
But State Rep. Jay Hoffman, a Democrat from Collinsville, calls the whole report into question.
“In my opinion,” said Hoffman, “when you have the president of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce announcing an exploratory committee to run for governor, it calls into question any of the authenticity of any of these types of studies. I think the objectivity of the executive director is a bit skewed when he announces that he might run for governor. I take this report with a grain of salt,” he added.
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