[PJ] According to Census Bureau data released on Wednesday, the state of Illinois lost a net of 45,116 people in 2018 -- the fifth straight year the population of the state has suffered a net decline and the worst year yet for population loss.
Chicago Tribune:
This is terrible news for House Speaker Michael Madigan and his cronies who in recent decades have steered the Illinois General Assembly toward higher taxes, rising public debt and anti-business policies that discourage employers from locating, expanding or just keeping their workforces here. Residents fed up with the economic climate here are heading for less taxaholic, jobs-friendlier states.
The new numbers confront Democrats who’ve run the legislature ‐ and who keep raising taxes ‐ with realities they’ll wiggle to explain but can’t deny: As the nation’s population expands, the populations of Illinois and eight other states are declining. On their watch, an Illinois once revered as a land of opportunity now is in decline.
More ominously, every other state in the Midwest is growing.
Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House and the most powerful politician in the state, will have a new toy to play with in January. Newly-elected Governor J.B. Pritzker knows who his boss is and will ask "how high" when Madigan orders him to jump.
The rest of the census report isn't any better. About 114,000 people left the state for friendlier climes.
Why? |