Uncommon Knowledge: Gov. Bruce Rauner and The Budget Crisis In The Land Of Lincoln

 

The forty-second governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner,  is my guest on Uncommon Knowledge to discuss Illinois’s budget crisis. With the end of the fiscal year deadline (June 30) looming ever closer Governor Rauner and House majority Democrats will have to come to an agreement  to get the budget passed and prevent Illinois’s bond rating from being downgraded to junk, causing Illinois to lose investment-grade status. Peter Robinson and Governor Rauner discuss this financial crisis and Rauner’s goals for the budget. He insists that no budget will be passed unless it is a balanced budget that includes, but is not limited to, term limits, consolidating the government, and pension reform.

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  1. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Interesting.

    • #1
  2. Vice-Potentate Inactive
    Vice-Potentate
    @VicePotentate

    He seems chipper. I’m not. They will beat the governor next cycle. Taxes will be raised. The death spiral will continue.

    • #2
  3. Illiniguy Member
    Illiniguy
    @Illiniguy

    When he got elected, the only arrow in his quiver was the budget. It got held hostage to the agenda, and now here we are. He’s given up much of his agenda with no budget in return and we’re billions of dollars further in debt as a result.

    We’re 4 days away from the end of the fiscal year and we aren’t getting any indication that we’re any closer to a budget than we were at the end of May. I will not support a stopgap budget just to keep the schools open, because that would take the pressure off and not solve a thing.

    The court cases he talks about are all well and good, and I agree that we could have a couple of huge victories. But even under the best scenario, they wouldn’t be decided until next June, right in the teeth of an election.

    We need to change our school funding formula and revise our property tax system. I’m willing to sign onto income tax and sales tax reform if I can go back to my district with drastically reduced property taxes. Lower property taxes and finding a way to pay off our legacy pension debt are the 2 most important elements to recovery. The governor wants a 4 year property tax freeze, it’s not the answer. We need a cap on property taxes which pay for our schools, not a freeze. Even though in recent years we’ve paid in the full amount toward our pensions, the underfunding continues to grow. When you find yourself in a hole, you’re supposed to stop digging.

    Can our problems be fixed? Yes, but with big strokes, not by playing around the edges.

    • #3
  4. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Excellent interview, very informative, I hadnt known very much about the Gov before.

    Winston Churchill is rumored to have said it best “Americans will do the right thing, after all other options have been exhausted”, and frankly other options still remain. Can puttering around the edges fix things? No, but today the bond markets arent forcing massive changes. IF the federal reserve cuts its balance sheet from $4.5T-ish back $2 T-ish… Then it’ll be in the fan, and dramatic changes will have to be made to balance budgets and actually re-pay debt.

    • #4
  5. Franz Drumlin Inactive
    Franz Drumlin
    @FranzDrumlin

    Vice-Potentate (View Comment):
    He seems chipper.

    Yes. He has an engaging smile but perhaps it comes too easily. I would like to see more anger from my Governor. What the Chicago Democrats (mostly) have done to this state is criminal. Rauner is right: with our location, natural resources and history of industrial innovation Illinois should be an economic juggernaut. Properly run, Chicago could be the greatest city in North America. But let’s not forget, no one appointed these conniving self-dealers to the state senate. Former governor Rod Blagojevich (currently an inmate of the Englewood Federal Correction Institute) did not come into office by right of birth. They – and their pocket-lining cronies – were elected. Politics truly does runs downstream from culture and the political culture of Illinois has been sickly for a long time.

    • #5
  6. jonb60173 Member
    jonb60173
    @jonb60173

    Thanks Gov. Rauner – I’m an Illinoisan and it’s great to hear your conviction to face the “machine” democrats.  They’re dug in deeply and supported not only by the public unions but also the two major Chicago newspapers.  Nary a negative word is uttered towards the “machine dems”, but endless barbs are tossed your way.  I don’t know how you pick yourself up out of bed every morning to face this hypocrisy, but I pray you keep taking your vitamins and carry on.

    • #6
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