Illinois The Most Corrupt State In The Nation

The plan of recovery for Illinois before it's to late

Val Ojeda, Writer

The State of Illinois is the worst state in the country. It has the worst credit rating and is swamping in debt. It's 500 billion dollars in the red with pensions and we are looking at a pension collapse. Illinois lost up to 20% of residents and industry due to COVID-19 restrictions. Illinois is the most violent state with the most homicides. Unemployment is so high that it's bankrupting the system. The schools are the worst in the nation especially in Chicago where students graduate with a 4 grade reading education. The Democrat led statehouse passed an anti-police bill and now they banned guns. How did Illinois get to this point?

The Democratic party is a social activist group. They embrace socialist ideals. They want free for all by taxing the rich and giving away to the lazy. They are beholden to the communist party and Black Lives Matter. The reason HB3653 was created was because of BLM. Now they are in discussions of paying out  to Illinois a black residents even though Illinois did not participate in the slave trade. 

In order for Illinois to survive we need to fix this crisis now. Forget about social causes and focus on rebuilding and restoring the state. We cannot afford to spend money which we don't have on needless spending. What we do now will secure our children's future. We cannot afford to leave them with our debts. Instead we should leave them with a robust economy. It starts now to begin the work.

This is my plan for a better and stronger Illinois:

ECONOMY: The state of Illinois Gross State Product is 782 billion with a population of 12,671, 821 people. There are 375 major businesses. Manufacturing produces 101 billion dollars. Chemical manufacturing 16.6 billion. Food manufacturing 14.4 billion. Machinery manufacturing 13.6 billion. Fabricated metal products 10.5 billion. Plastics and rubber 6.8 billion. Transportation 6.7 billion. Computer and electronics 6.4. a billion. The economy is the worst in the U.S. behind Kentucky. We have suffered business and job losses due to the COVID-19 mandates. We need to reinvest in business. Attract industry back to Illinois with tax incentives and subsidies. The more companies mean more tax revenue. Jobs equals spending to stimulate the economy. Local spending creates demand. That is the key to restoring the economy. 

TAXES: Illinois has a flat tax of 4.95% (individual income tax rate) 9.50 corporate tax rate. State sales tax rate is: 6.25. Under Pritzker, Illinoisans are paying $2,165 more in taxes. We need to prevent any progressive taxes. We have to trim our budget of needless spending to prevent the raising of taxes. Furthermore, we need common-sense spending. We need to cut real estate taxes. We need to eliminate taxes for seniors who need relief. We need more tax incentives for industry and business. Only then can they invest in job creation to build a bigger tax base through employment.

JOBS: Currently there are 8 million people working in Illinois. The per capita disposable income is $56,839 (14 out of 50 states) Chicago produces 77% of the state's wages. The poverty rate is 12%. We need to attract more Manufacturing to Illinois. We have to provide more training for Cyber, which is the next generation of job employment with inexpensive trade schooling. We need capital projects which means union jobs. To build in the construction industry. Illinois is under threat with undocumented residents taking our jobs. We have to prevent this from happening. We need to entice major companies to build here but it starts with giving them the tax breaks needed to relocate here. 

PENSIONS: 26% of the Illinois budgets take up the Illinois budgets for taxes. Illinois is facing a pending pension collapse with some public pensions funded at only 20% Most Unions invest in hedge funds If the economy and the markets suffer so will Union investment returns. The standard return rate is 6%. We must cut off nepotism and cronyism in government. For far too long Illinois politicians hand out pensions for political favors, including themselves. We have to reduce the government and restructure the public pensions. Pensioners deserve protected pensions. Not to have their union funds treated as a loan bank with no returns. Illinois is facing a pension collapse. We have to prevent this from happening. We are 500 billion in debt and when a crash comes there will be no relief. Bankruptcy can take decades. In the meantime pensioners will be thrown into welfare. 

UNIONS: 12.5 billion dollars in residential and non-residential construction. There is a cut in Union work because manufacturing, capital projects and building have been cut due to the economy. There is no money to build homes or produce goods. Manufacturing has fled to China and Mexico because of wages. We have to rebuild our economy. Currently, we pay $50,000 more just in lumber costs. We must reinvest in infrastructure and building. When you do that, manufacturing follows. We have to make more in America and Illinois, attracting industry with incentives to invest in Illinois. We also need to cut down the top heavy administrators and focus on the union worker. 

FARMS: Illinois biggest crops are corn and soybeans. Farmers are under threat over climate change. Farm lands want to be used for solar and wind farms. 30% of farms are dedicated to the production of ethanol for fuel. 50% is dedicated to trade. We have to fight the green deal. If the Democrats succeed. Thousands of farms will shut down, including their support such as refineries, truck drivers, gas stations. We must protect and reinvest in farms for more output, not less. It's a valuable commodity.

SCHOOL CHOICE: The Illinois public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. Illinois has 2,072,880 students enrolled in a total of 4,266 schools in 1,070 school districts. There are 135,701 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 278 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average, Illinois spent $12,288 per pupil in 2013, which ranked it 14th highest in the nation. 70% of real estate taxes are dedicated to school districts. Most of the school budget goes to salaries and pensions. The students are left with nothing. There are fewer schools because fewer people are having children. We need to restructure our spending to open the door for parents to place their children in private schools with public funding or using rebates or vouchers for private education.

HEALTHCARE: 25% of the Illinois population is on Medicare and Medicaid. Many are on this program that are not qualified for. Illinois is practicing socialized healthcare. We need to overhaul our public healthcare system. We do not need socialization and free healthcare. Furthermore, we require a better screening system before Medicare and Medicaid are provided. We have to use caution. The Governor wants to grant free healthcare to illegal aliens. When that happens the system will go bankrupt and crash.

SENIOR CARE: Illinois seniors are suffering due to the lack of clinics and hospitals and the increase in medications. Currently, they lack transportation to doctors and collect their medications, including access to food. We need to start paying our bills to Illinois doctors, hospitals, and clinics. We require travel vouchers for seniors to transport them for services and groceries. Not only that, but we need the right to try for medical cures. We also need to reduce the costs of medications, which are unaffordable now.

VETERAN CARE: Illinois has 559,656 veterans. Illinois provides only 6 homes for veterans. One (Prince Home) only occupies 15. For too long veterans homes have been mismanaged, contributing to many veteran deaths due to the spread of diseases because of poor healthcare and management. We require more funds to build new veteran nursing homes, and we need housing vouchers for homeless veterans, including placement for permanent homes.

CRIME: 1,353 homicides in 2022. Because of lax criminal enforcement, violent crimes are on the rise. Illinois is the hub of the Sinaloa drug cartel, feeding drugs to all the states. Gang enrollment is up. Most violent offenses including carjackings are committed by minors. Chicago is suffering the most because of lack of action by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. In Chicago alone, only 25% of homicides are solved with only half of the 12% going to prison for murder. We need funding to hire more police. Our State Police needs to go on the offensive with hundreds of more troopers assigned to task forces for: Drug interdiction on highways, undercover drug agents, State gang units, gun trace units dedicated to violent felons, cold case squads to solve open homicides, public corruption units. 

HB3653: The Safe-T act is responsible for criminalizing Police while giving a pass to criminals. We need to repeal HB3653 and replace it with a bill creating more penalties for offenders. We need stiffer sentencing guidelines, giving criminals more jail time and the possibility of criminals seeing up to 80% of their sentences. Currently, we are releasing too many criminals that are not in accordance with their sentence. We need to reinstate the death penalty. We need more funding for prisons. Not only that, but we have to scale down home monitoring. This program is ineffective. It's an expensive program, and it is using more police resources as these offenders escape. 

DRUG AWARENESS: 3,000 overdose deaths with 20,000 calls to overdoses. Drug dealing is on the rise, fueling overdoses. Fentanyl causes many of these deaths because of how potent it is. Officers are suffering from overdoses from coming in contact with drugs during arrests. We need to partner with federal police to challenge the drug cartels. Creating agency task forces with federal law enforcement to capture drug mules on our highways. To create more penalties for drug offenses, including the dealers. We need more prevention programs in schools to prevent drug use.

Former Speaker Michael Madigan with former Minority Leader Jim Durkin

ILLINOIS CORRUPTION: Illinois is the first in the nation for public corruption. We need a public integrity Police investigative unit to investigate crooked politicians. We need stiffer penalties for corruption. Furthermore, we need to restructure our laws to trim donations from certain donors and lobbyists. We need more transparency in politicians' funding including them reporting how much they accept in "bribes" (donations) outside of regular reporting guidelines. That is why we need term limits. Becoming a professional politician guarantees you a pathway to becoming a millionaire. We should set a cap of only two terms. That's it. 

In order for Illinois to survive we must do these things. If we don't then we have to suffer the consequences. It is up to us to provide a better future for our grandchildren so that they may love debt free financial prosperity and security. It's going to start with running for office. We cannot afford more amateur's learning government. We need more businessmen to run. We already made the mistake of electing the wrong people to do the job of governing. We don't need activists, we need educated people with plans to fix our crisis. It's not about the party but about the people. If we only remember that then we just may take back our state!

Val Ojeda is a Republican Author, Media Personality, Strategist and Consultant. Ojeda manages federal political campaigns also serving as President Trump's Hispanic Coalition Leader. Ojeda is also a businessman, entrepreneur and the founder of FAMA a 501c3 Chamber of Commerce. Ojeda served as law enforcement Veteran Officer/Detective.

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