Adam Schuster’s op-ed in the Chicago Tribune is yet another example of wishful thinking. In it the Rauner advisor gives advice to the man who defeated Rauner’s re-election bid:
• First, ask schools and universities to shoulder the cost of their employees’ retirement. Under the status quo, local officials negotiate salary and health benefits, which form the basis for pension payments and retiree health costs, but the state pays the bill. That creates a misalignment between responsibility and accountability, reducing pressure to keep compensation affordable for taxpayers. Gov. Bruce Rauner pushed this idea in each of his budget addresses, but the proposal started with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
According to data from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, by phasing this shift in over a number of years, Pritzker could see savings of $825 million in the first year, with further savings each year after.
• Second, Pritzker should ask state government workers to play fair at the bargaining table. Rauner suggested savings of nearly $500 million annually, accomplished by asking workers to pay for the same percentage of their health care costs as is typical in the private sector, or about 40 percent, up from just 23 percent now. Again, this concept has received bipartisan support. Former Gov. Pat Quinn also tried to right-size government worker health insurance costs.
Was Mr. Schuster AWOL during the first week of November? Rauner lost and, as been said, elections have consequences. One of those consequences is that otherwise reasonable ideas for balancing Illinois’s budget won’t happen because they won’t pass muster with Mike Madigan.
Re-imagining J. B. Pritzker as Bruce Rauner is an exercise in futility. I have no idea what Gov. Pritzker will do. My guess is that he will try, unsuccessfully, to enact a graduated income tax in Illinois (that would require a constitutional amendment). And he may try to attract more big businesses to Illinois despite Illinois’s adverse tax and regulatory environment. What will he offer them? Tax breaks? Why not offer the tax breaks to companies that are already here to induce them to stay?
Capitalist enterprises come and go, but workers are another thing. Offer financing assistance, legal and training programs so Illinois workers can establish their own, worker-directed enterprises. People chasing stability for their families are a more reliable investment than a company chasing profits.
Other than the fact that the vast majority of ESOPs have a horrific track record, you’re doing great, Ben. Furthermore, those worker owned-managed enterprises that make it tend to inexorably morph into and operate like evil capitalist like enterprises. And I’m talking 97%+. Back to your pipe dream……..