At the risk of understatement, Illinois is not a well-governed state. Greedy (and hypocritical) politicians have taxed and spent the state into a fiscal hole.
- It ranks in the top 10 for unemployment.
- It ranks in the bottom 10 for Tax Freedom Day.
- It ranks a lowly #34 for economic freedom.
- It ranks in last place for fiscal conditions.
- It ranks #36 for overall economic liberty.
- It ranks third from last the Governor’s Report Card.
Wow. No wonder people have overwhelmingly voted that it is the state most likely to go bankrupt.
As illustrated by the collection of links, there certainly is a lot of data to support the notion that Illinois is in a downward spiral.
But sometimes an anecdote can help drive home the point. The Wall Street Journal just published a story about the county in Illinois that has suffered the largest decline in population of anyplace in the United States.
What struck me most about the report was that it “buried the lede.” More specifically, it’s not until the 17th paragraph that we learn about the factor that is probably responsible for a big chunk of the out-migration.
This must be the journalistic equivalent of “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”
Though I’m sure the other factors listed in the article also are relevant.
I’ll close with some speculation about an oft-seen pattern in blue states, which is the way rural areas and poor urban areas keep falling farther and farther behind well-to-do suburbs and wealthy downturn business districts.
Is it random results or a consequence of policy choices? Do politicians in California only care about preserving quality of life for coastal elites? Do politicians in Illinois merely care about Chicago and its suburban counties? Do politicians in New York not care about upstate residents?
I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I do know that people are voting with their feet to escape the states with the most-punitive tax policy.
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Image credit: Jeff Sharp | CC BY 2.0.
