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Illinois Policy Institute

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Patch on Politics

3 Things to Annoy You Right Before Christmas

The bad news: Job growth in Illinois is too slow, and prison inmates probably watch better TV than you. The good news: Your lawmaker is one of the highest paid in the nation.

Feeling all warm and full of good cheer? Bah! Here's a little something to satisfy the Scrooge in you before the spirit of Christmas takes hold. We Need More Jobs: At 8.7 percent, the Illinois unemployment rate is 1 percent above the national rate. And job creation is improving at a faster clip all around us, in Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa and Missouri, on average, according to Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner at the Illinois Policy Institute.  "The reality is Illinois’ poor policies aren't allowing the state to participate fully in the national recovery. If only Illinois’ unemployment rate were equal to the average of its neighbors, 100,000 more Illinoisans would be working. Yes, jobs are slowly returning to the state, but that’s …

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Dennis Robaugh

12:27 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013

Say good night, Gracie. Comments on this post are closed.   more ›

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Fact Check

How Kevin Costner Wiped Out Polio: Fact-Checking the Illinois Policy Institute

Lies, damned lies and statistics from a conservative think tank.

Editor's note: This is a companion Fact Check to "Drop Forge Drops Illinois: Fact-Checking Kinzinger on Jobs" Kevin Costner has had an amazing career. He created the first California-twanged Robin Hood, made a nation fall in love with a gilled pee-drinker in Waterworld and personally wiped out polio. Don't believe me? Look at the charts I included in the photos for this story. One graph shows the effect of the Salk and later Sabin vaccines on American polio rates. The second, equally accurate graph shows the effect of Dances With Wolves star Kevin Costner on polio rates. My Tin Cup theory would just be a bit of statistical silliness if the conservative think tank the Illinois Policy Institute weren't doing the exact same thing in this Aug…

In this Article:

Drop Forge Drops Illinois: Fact-Checking Kinzinger on Jobs and UPDATE: General Assembly Passes Income Tax Increase

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Paul Dailing

11:48 am on Wednesday, September 7, 2011

I'm sorry you feel that way. I guess the fact I did the exact same thing in previous articles on Democratic politicians Kevin McCarthy and Maggie Crotty won't change your opinion of me. Personally, I don't think demanding intellectual honesty from political groups and figures is a "libtard" issue, but I could be wrong. Here are the previous articles: http://mokena.patch.com/articles/mccarthy-on-…   more ›

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