Re: State of the Union - pre/post election & whatever...
What's so great about the Hoosier state? It's not Illinois.
a side by side Red State in practice and its neighbor Blue State in practice.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-illinois-indiana-business-20170827-story.html#nws=true
A politician smiling for the cameras at a groundbreaking ceremony always makes for a silly image. But when Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb showed up in Gary recently wearing a hard hat and holding a shovel, he was doing two important things: welcoming a trucking company from south suburban Chicago Ridge, and taking a dig at Illinois.
“We are thrilled to welcome HMD Trucking to Indiana, home to balanced budgets, a AAA credit rating and a low cost of doing business,” Holcomb said. “It is clear why HMD Trucking decided to move from Illinois to Indiana. We have become the best state in the Midwest to start, get and grow jobs.”
Ouch, Gov. Holcomb, the truth hurts. Almost like getting smacked with a shovel.
Alas, it’s no longer surprising when an Illinois company leaves for Indiana. HMD is building a $6 million headquarters and depot in Gary, with plans to create 500 jobs by 2021. Alliance Steel of Bedford Park wants to build a $35 million plant in Gary. Hoist Liftruck and T&B Tube have jumped the state line. More will follow, taking jobs and investment with them. Why? Because Indiana is one of the best states in the nation for doing business, and Illinois is one of the worst.
And that isn't even bringing Chicago into it! Anyone who cares to look can readily identify that the package of high taxes, high government spending, and high pensions for retired public employees kills economic growth and causes people to flee. If a test case is needed, the adjacent states of Illinois and Indiana – relatively indistinguishable from each other and varying only in the model of state governance – proves that the critical variable in economic success is whether a Democrat set of policies or a Republican set of policies (to over-generalize) are in place. Embracing Democrat policies brings unemployment, declining incomes, and an angry and depressed populace. It really is hard to understand why voters would hand control to Democrats anywhere. Assuming, that is, that actual voters are the ones casting ballots, as I discussed in an earlier post today.