Illinois: the worst of all possible worlds?

Interesting. My home state, Illinois, is so incredibly blockheaded and so driven by "closed shop" unionism and political corruption that rather than postpone the next "I know, we can tear up the highways around O'Hare Airport again" project to buy votes, Illinois shoved through a tax increase in the middle of the night.

Yeah, buttheads. You wouldn't want the citizens to find out about that.

At any rate, so today there's some interesting news. Caterpillar Corp., which produces a good portion of the heavy equipment used to build highways and so on worldwide, is considering leaving Illinois. Because of the increase in the corporate tax. Exactly because of the increase in the corporate tax.

Caterpillar employs 23,000 here -- and more than 100,000 globally.

The Comrade delivered a campaign speech at a Caterpillar plant before he was elected. He was then promising all kinds of prosperity and a whoop-de-do lifestyle for anyone stupid enough to misunderstand the term "redistribution of wealth." ("Obama gon' pay my mortgage! Obama gon' buy me gasoline!")

The next time the Comrade showed up at Caterpillar to deliver a speech, the president of Caterpillar was not impressed. He was giving off vibes like the only reason Caterpillar hosted this photo op was because the Secret Service made them do it. However, the Caterpillar exec made it very clear -- at least to those of us in Illinois -- that he did not support the Comrade or his stupid stimulus or his pie-in-the-sky promises of manna falling from the heavens the moment he got elected.

So now comes the Illinois tax increase. So many useless, unionized workers, so little money in the treasury! What to do?

"I know!" says blockhead Gov. Pinhead Quinn, "Let's not just raise the income tax, but also the corporate tax! We'll make those suckers pay for doing business here!!"

So now Caterpillar is talking about pulling up stakes and moving to South Dakota, which has no corporate tax.

Actually, Illinois' fastest-growing industry over recent years seems to be riverboat casinos. I have no idea why we can't have any casinos here on dry land. All the casinos are on these huge boats that are permanently anchored in the Mississippi River, Lake Peoria, the Fox River. I don't get it, but there it is.

Anyway, Illiinois' illustrious State Assembly, being devout nanny-staters self-ordained to make life so difficult that you actually WANT to die, decided to ban smoking cigarettes in the casinos here.

However, legislators announced today that they are going to re-think that brilliant policy, as it seems  gamblers have discovered that they can leave the state and go to casinos in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana -- and Las Vegas and Atlantic City -- that continue to allow smoking.

So apparently the casino business also has landed in the crapper, along with Caterpillar.

Seems Illinois has become the worst of all possible worlds. Not only does the state steal your money without a second thought, it also constantly wags a bony finger in your face, reminding you that they know so much better than you do how to live your life.

So big business and individual citizens alike are leaving the state.

Hate to say it, but I toldya so.

And Illinois has tried so hard to live up to the Comrade's expectations... Oh, but wait!! It did!!

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