Friday, March 11, 2011

Governor Pat Quinn is Doing a Great Job

As a resident of Illinois, I can tell you that Governor Pat Quinn is doing a great job. I couldn't be happier that we elected him, albeit by a small margin, rather than the Republican buffoon who ran against him. Unlike the Republicans who harp on the budget deficit without ever doing anything that would actually solve the problem, Quinn started working on fixing the budget the moment he got elected. We have seen the results of his hard work already: the state of Illinois repaid the entire amount that it owed our university. Had a Republican been elected as Governor of Illinois, we wouldn't have seen a dime of that money as the Republicans warned us before the election.

Quinn supports our new healthcare law, which shows that he is an intelligent, progressive person. He is adamant in his defense of a woman's right to be in control of her own uterus. He supports gay marriage and is in favor of enacting gun control legislation. Recently, he has demonstrated that, unlike the majority of American politicians, he is not afraid of antagonizing a huge corporation if that's what it takes to protect the interests of our state. 

Those who have been brainwashed by the Tea Party into believing that the government is always bad and the corporations are always good are trying to crucify Governor Quinn for his brave and intelligent decision to show Amazon that it is not above the law. Middle-of-the-road folks who are so spineless that they can't just pick a side already and stick to it screech that Quinn's new piece of legislation (the one that will force Amazon to pay taxes in Illinois) will be impossible to enforce. "Things are the way they are, nothing will ever change," they keep screeching. This defeatist attitude to life is not shared by Quinn and his supporters. We might not matter individually, but together we can achieve a lot. 

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Illinois law makers are a joke and they are the reason why their state is in such a dire situation.

I don't know about Pat Quinn, but he strikes me as the typical progressive who believes raising taxes when business is down and struggling is a good thing. I guess time will tell whether or not that actually works.

Here in NY our governor (a democrat) has ruled out increasing taxes and seems to be taking a bit of a different approach. I feel a lot more comfortable with his approach and I think we will see good results.

Clarissa said...

Whose business is struggling??? Amazon's?? Where are you getting this from, exactly? Please read Amazon's last quarterly report. They are doing fantastic.

Since Quinn was elected, the state repaid its entire debt to our university. You might see it as a "joke" but excuse me for being happy that I will continue to be paid for an excellent job I do.

I don't know if you'll see good results in your state. In our state, we already have. There is a difference between vague hopes and actual results.

Anonymous said...

Amazon certainly is doing great. But the real people affected here are the businesses and the customers that work with Amazon.
You fail to realize that a sales tax on Amazon sales is a tax on the people. For instance, when you go to say Best Buy to buy a TV, it is you who pays the sales tax on that TV not Best Buy.

As I said, I don't know Pat Quinn, but I see where he is coming from. Whether or not raising taxes in a bad economy is a good strategy, remains to be seen. I personally don't see it very productive to take money away from customers and businesses when they are already struggling.

NY is cutting spending left and right. Unlike Illinois, it would be really bad for the governor to increase taxes even more given that New Yorkers are already among the most heavily taxed people in the country.

Oh, and by the way, New York actually has an Amazon sales tax. Interestingly, Amazon did not cut New Yorkers out like they did to the people of Illinois.

Clarissa said...

Yes, NY is cutting spending all right. SUNY Albany has put a dozen of its tenured professors in the street. These policies are working really great for NY.

So you can compare and contrast: IL pays off its debt to public servants. NY puts tenured profs in the street.

I'll take IL over NY any moment.

Anonymous said...

Well, kudos to Pat Quinn if he manages to balance the budget, keep businesses in Illinois, and not fire anyone.

Clarissa said...

Good luck to NY, a state that I've missed dearly since I moved away.

Pen said...

"I don't know if you'll see good results in your state. In our state, we already have. There is a difference between vague hopes and actual results."

-There's nothing good about cutting school funding. The special education schools are facing a potential chopping block. Schools are cutting music and arts more and more--even things for which teachers don't get paid, such as elementary school bands. And it's not just the arts. It's also the science programs, and the new fitness equipment, and even replacing broken desks and doors. Last year, my school refused to approve the new textbook budget, which is an essential part of a curriculum that changes every five years.

I'm going to college in the fall, and we don't exactly qualify for a heck of a lot of need-based financial aid. My sister will be facing this problem soon enough. And now we find out that my mom might have to go to college again just so she might be able to get a lower-paying job than she has now.

In addition, gas and grocery prices are shooting through the roof. How I'm going to survive through that in college, I have no idea.

I don't know where anyone gets this idea that New York is doing well economically. If anything, it's doing worse than ever. I laughed when I heard that anyone receiving financial aid from Ithaca College has to work a summer job. Where I live there aren't any jobs, summer or otherwise, especially for students. The rule around here seems to be "If you're young, you volunteer."

Clarissa said...

This sounds really bad, Pen. I truly hope things start improving soon.

Pen said...

I hope so, too. For now, though, I guess it'll have to be taken in small steps. Starting with the door. It just disappeared one day--I suppose they'll have to replace it eventually.

Clarissa said...

The good news is that somebody as articulate and intelligent as you will thrive in college. I wish all my students were like you.

Rimi said...

Pen, I've met three American students who moved to India to do their undergrad, then get loans or apply for grants for a US Masters. One of them went to Europe for her masters and then eventually returned to the States to do her PhD, which is (for most anyway) a paid, if overworked, job.

Have you at all considered getting an education outside your country. I've come to look forward to your comments here, and I'd hate to think someone as bright as you might suffer simply for smart enough for college.

Pen said...

Don't worry, Rimi. I'm still going to college. I've already been accepted to three and am waiting on the fourth. That isn't the issue. What is the issue is the sudden possibility of our household being reduced to a single income, and the presence of even more tuition than just my sister and I would ever be able to accumulate together.

There was a time when I considered going to college outside of the US. But it's not really feasible financially, at least for me. At the moment, it appears to be even less of an option, because I'd have to wait a semester or two to start college (it's a bit late to apply in most places).

The reason I initially stopped considering an out-of-country education was because of my sudden discovery of the availability of the specific music/science combination I've been looking for. For example, in middle school I was thinking of going to the Versailles Conservatory. Then I found out about the Eastman School of Music (which also has a conservatory, and is just as well-known as Versailles). My thought was something like "Why should I go all the way to France, when I can just stay here in New York?" And then, when I decided I liked my science a bit too much to major solely in music (I believe the term I used with my lesson teacher was "If you go to Eastman, you're only there to go to Eastman"), I discovered a whole slew of colleges that might suit my needs, right here in New York (actually, there were only six, but at the time it was a lot). I also thought I'd go to a school in Vermont, but the tuition was the same as another school to which I was applying, and the programs I was looking at were nearly identical.

Anyway, back to the point. I think I'll get by well enough. When I need a job, I'll find a job. When I need to eat, I'll find a way to eat. That situation could always be much worse.

By the way, I don't know if I stated that it was my high school is facing a lack of funding (along with other schools in the state). That's what most of my complaints were about--not my college opportunities, but the general devastation in the public school system. The complaints I'm hearing are that more and more kids aren't prepared for college. But what do they expect when the government cuts school funding in such large quantities as they have?