Two Peas in a Pod

It's Tax Day tomorrow and the heart turns not so fondly to that droll subject. The Chicago Tribune had a great editorial this last Sunday which could be applied virtually on all fours to Oregon's current situation. It was replete with gems like this:

"We need to lower costs. Our governance infrastructure has become overgrown and overpriced. We have 7,000 often redundant governments, far more than any other state. We populate those governments with armies of employees, and give them duties — some essential, some make-work. Many politicians of both parties enlist these workers as their allies in a cozy paradigm: If you help us win re-election, we will reward you with adequate salaries today — and fabulous retirement benefits tomorrow."

Same paradigm as Oregon. Democratic majorities in both states - imagine that! Then comes this warning:

"Recession, though, has forced a reckoning: Our shrinking and salary-squeezed private sector work force cannot adequately support many of our state's households — let alone sustain our antiquated overlays of taxing bodies."

Bingo! True again, but Oregonians passed Measures 66-67 despite this economic fact. Businesses are leaving Illinois and guess what - Oregon too!

Perhaps the most telling point:

"... a 2009 report by the American Legislative Exchange Council: A decade's worth of hard data suggests that states with no individual income tax created 89 percent more jobs, and had 32 percent faster personal income growth, than did states with the highest income tax rates."

Can anyone say the Lonestar State? Yup, pardner, the recession is starting to recede in the rear view mirrors of Texans (8.2% unemployment) but in Illinois (11.4%) and Oregon (10.5%) the private sector gets to pay the price for the public profligacy. It doesn't matter, though, because those suckers don't vote for Democrats!

Having lived in Illinois, I am skeptical that things will change despite the Trib's pleading. I am likewise skeptical that anything will change in Oregon either short of a real catastrophe. I would have thought that 10.5% unemployment would be enough, but I guess we are masochists. So let's lurch on to a real earth-shaking financial crisis and maybe there will be a turnaround. You may have to e-mail me, though, as Idaho is looking better and better.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-illinois-20100411,0,1505174.story