I'd like to see us deed Illinois and New York to Canada, and California to Mexico. Just think how much better our lives would be.

...and Northern Virginia to Maryland.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
According to Chellim's chart, Ill. has an A- rating? Holy cats! What does it take to get an F?

Note that that chart was prepared by Standard and Poors who also thought a whole lotta those mortgage portfolios a few years back were also solid investment quality.

I live about 60 miles west of Chitown. We avoid it like it was chernobyl. Springfield is easily one of the worst capitals in the union and has allowed chicago to rule them all. Ive lived in DeKalb County my entire life (short a few years for school) and am sickened by all the drugs and crime that have gotten out of control thanks to bus routes now including chicago and surrounding shitholes. I think route 88 is now called the heroin highway. Every weekend the police reports are the same, jamal, shaniqua, and sharice arrested for drug crime x and live on whatever shit street, chicago but were here for the weekend. I wouldnt allow my daughter to attend NIU. Shes been begging us to move to iowa and were pretty darn close

quote:

Originally posted by trickedtrix:
...DeKalb County...I think route 88 is now called the heroin highway...

I travel west from DeKalb on Rt 38 all the time. It's not the least uncommon to be behind a vehicle doing a steady 5mph under the speed limit, a trick first reported near Miami, used to avoid being stopped and searched by the police.

Whenever I see it, "Smugglers Blues" plays in my mind.

A couple cops took early retirement from a small town west of DeKalb because they didn't want to risk doing traffic stops any more.

That's all it took to get them to quit? A few black guys driving through town lol?

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
IL will likely be the first state in American history to declare bankruptcy. I have no sympathy. Here's a good story that reflects the issue and shows why IL is broke and TX is not:

The Governor of Illinois is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites...

That is why Illinois is broke and Texas is not.

Not if that applies to IL today. The gov is a Republican trying to fix things. He's up against Mike Madigan and his merry band of Dems.

Rauner is trying to fix things (balanced busget, term limits, property tax freeze, to name a few). Things are still stalled in Illinois because Democrats dominate the General Assembly. Rauner is first governor that has stuck to his guns and not eventually kowtowed to Madigan and his cronies. Rauner isn't getting much grassroots support either because there are too many people that only care about getting their share of any free stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigboreshooter:
I'd like to see us deed Illinois and New York to Canada, and California to Mexico. Just think how much better our lives would be.

Disagree. Giving up land is a terrible idea. We need to drive the left wing commies out, not allow them the keep what they stole.

isn't California bankrupt and begging the feds to pay for little things - like that dam in Oro and other stuff - while they continue to pay for free tuition and services for illegals

So... a guy is standing outside the casino... begging for money to buy some food.
So I say, "If I give you $10 to get a bite to eat, how do I know you won't go inside the casino and gamble it all away?"
His eyes get big, he grins... and says "OH I GOT GAMBLING MONEY!"

I read the other day that Powerball is about ready to cut Illinois off from playing/selling lottery tickets.

I was born and raised in Southern Illinois and got the hell out of there in 1976. Even in the small towns the politicians and good ole boys bleed the cities dry with their abuse of power and nothing ever gets done. This is not something new...

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
That's all it took to get them to quit? A few black guys driving through town lol?

I suspect there's more to it, of course, that's just what I was told by a village employee. Things seem "complicated" in that town, and I really don't know who to trust.

That being said, the town can't even afford to replace their nearly 20-year-old squad cars, let alone buy vests and AR's for everybody. The Chief is carrying a 40-year-old S&W he bought when he worked somewhere else. Think about that cop who just got out of Marianjoy, they had to do fund raisers for him, and his town is better-off than the one I'm thinking of.

At least Chicago hasn't gotten that bad, yet.

Rauner's speech -- well, at least it was short. Less than 5 minutes, I think, content near zero. No details of his budget recommendations will be given to the Great Unwashed, I guess.

Chicago Tribune:
What to do with a broken Illinois: Dissolve the Land of Lincoln!

John Kass

Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper.

But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people's money.

Those "other people" include taxpayers who've abandoned the state. And now Illinois faces doomsday.

So as the politicians meet in Springfield this week for another round of posturing and gesturing and blaming, we need a plan.

And here it is:

Dissolve Illinois. Decommission the state, tear up the charter, whatever the legal mumbo-jumbo, just end the whole dang thing.

We just disappear. With no pain. That's right. You heard me.

The best thing to do is to break Illinois into pieces right now. Just wipe us off the map. Cut us out of America's heartland and let neighboring states carve us up and take the best chunks for themselves.

The group that will scream the loudest is the state's political class, who did this to us, and the big bond creditors, who are whispering talk of bankruptcy and asset forfeiture to save their own skins.
John Kass's modest proposal for the dissolution of Illinois: Carve up the failed state and let the rest of the Midwest have it.

John Kass's modest proposal for the dissolution of Illinois: Carve up the failed state and let the rest of the Midwest have it. (Ryan Marx)

But our beloved Illinois has proved that it just doesn't deserve to survive.

So why not let our friendly neighbors like Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky just take the parts they want?

As you can see by the excellent "Kevorkian Illinois" map that accompanies this column, this plan is visionary.



The alternative is hell. Illinois hasn't had a state budget for years. The state continues to spend money it doesn't have, and the state's credit ratings have dropped, increasing the cost of borrowing more money we don't have to keep the rotten shebang going.

Bills pile up; Moody's Investor Service says taxpayers are on the hook for $251 billion in unfunded public union pension liabilities.

Boss Mike Madigan, king of the Democrats who control things, wants tax increases but no real structural reform to bring stability to The Venezuela of the Midwest.

And the whispers of bankruptcy won't help the average (remaining) taxpaying chumbolones like you and me who don't want to leave our homes but who'll get stuck with the bills.

Since our neighboring states are doing better, taking Illinois jobs and businesses and Illinois workers and taxpaying families, they might as well just take the rest of Illinois, too, dammit.

Wisconsin can have Chicago and begin calling it "South Milwaukee."

Naturally, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will fight this. He needs a job. And he'll most likely beg his friends at The New York Times and the Washington Post to write angry editorials to save him. And these will be full of concern for the republic and those dispossessed Midwestern salt-of-the-earth taxpaying Americans, as if.

Sadly, Wisconsin probably won't want Rahm, either. So to spare hurt feelings, I propose carving out 40 acres around the mayor's home so Rahm might be prince of his own country:

Rahmonia.

And Cook County Board President Toni "Taxwinkle" Preckwinkle will fight it, too, so she needs something to soothe her ambitions:

A grant of land as large as a case of the soda pop she taxes, so that she might stand on it and proclaim herself Queen of Taxwinkletopia.

If there are portions of Illinois that the other states don't want, they may be left as federal territory, a wilderness where only the strong survive and peasants and friendly propagandists kneel and beg for crumbs. You already know the name of this wasteland:

Madiganistan.

And in return for taking care of our politicians, Wisconsin will probably demand assets. Like the Milwaukee Cubs. The Beloit Blackhawks. The Sheboygan Bulls and the Fond du Lac Bears.

Indiana may want a large curvy slice of the former Illinois, so the state will be shaped more like a basketball. This will please Hoosiers to no end.

And Indiana also gets the Indianapolis White Sox and the hottest soccer team in America, the Indianapolis Fire.

Why not? Indiana is a great state, with friendly people and Mitch Daniels and Kilroy's in Bloomington.

Iowa can have part of the west. Missouri may also get a small piece. Kentucky can take southern Illinois, considering many on both sides of the border share Kentucky DNA, as did Abraham Lincoln.

A colleague told me he had reservations about sharing Illinois with the Bluegrass State.

"I wouldn't give Kentucky anything because A) it's the South and the former Illinois needs to stay in the Midwest, and B) their state government is a mess, too, with a governor who refuses to talk to certain reporters."

But beggars can't be choosers. If Illinois is dissolved as planned, we won't have a say in anything.

And though some in Kentucky might not respect "the media," the state does have excellent bourbon. I would allow Kentucky to send me countless barrels of its fine sipping spirit so that I might hold it in escrow, to make sure everything goes as planned.

I promise to sip their bourbon and light a cigar, and hum a few sad bars from that song of the former Illinois that no one sings anymore:

By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois

O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois

Comes an echo on the breeze, rustling through the leafy trees, Boss Madigan has us on our knees, Illinois, Illinois

Boss Madigan has us on our knees, Illinois.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...20170620-column.html

That's good...

Chicago has enough "more free shit" voters to sink Wisconsin faster than they did Illinois.

Without those voters in Illinois it would be just another beautiful Midwestern state.

It is such a pity.

quote:

Originally posted by prairieviper:

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
IL will likely be the first state in American history to declare bankruptcy. I have no sympathy. Here's a good story that reflects the issue and shows why IL is broke and TX is not:

The Governor of Illinois is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites...

That is why Illinois is broke and Texas is not.

Not if that applies to IL today. The gov is a Republican trying to fix things. He's up against Mike Madigan and his merry band of Dems.

Rauner is trying to fix things (balanced busget, term limits, property tax freeze, to name a few). Things are still stalled in Illinois because Democrats dominate the General Assembly. Rauner is first governor that has stuck to his guns and not eventually kowtowed to Madigan and his cronies. Rauner isn't getting much grassroots support either because there are too many people that only care about getting their share of any free stuff.

Yeah I have to give Rauner credit but the demorats strategy seems to wait it out until his term is up and hope they get another demorat governor so they can push through their massive tax and fee increases. I am already seeing ads on TV promoting their hip young new guy who promises to help the poor and children and makes me want to puke.

quote:

Yeah I have to give Rauner credit but the demorats strategy seems to wait it out until his term is up and hope they get another demorat governor so they can push through their massive tax and fee increases. I am already seeing ads on TV promoting their hip young new guy who promises to help the poor and children and makes me want to puke.

That would be the nail in the coffin.
Anyone with a decent job would feel like they had a target on their back, and many would move away from the State. When the productive feel pressured and taken advantage of they move away if they can.

Just force minimum wage to $30 an hour and raise taxes, problem solved!

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

Yeah I have to give Rauner credit but the demorats strategy seems to wait it out until his term is up and hope they get another demorat governor so they can push through their massive tax and fee increases. I am already seeing ads on TV promoting their hip young new guy who promises to help the poor and children and makes me want to puke.

That would be the nail in the coffin.
Anyone with a decent job would feel like they had a target on their back, and many would move away from the State. When the productive feel pressured and taken advantage of they move away if they can.

Agreed and that is happening in Illinois and Chicago with producers fleeing the state while the dead beats stay behind begging for a bigger slice of the pie.