Illinois Headed for Junk Status

[catherine]

In related news, NJ government shut down today. Hits home: my son is an attorney for the State Department of Clean Energy.

[Yppej]

Hasn't NJ been in trouble for a long time, and had outrageous property tax bills for decades now as a result of the pension crisis?

[catherine]

Hasn't NJ been in trouble for a long time, and had outrageous property tax bills for decades now as a result of the pension crisis?

We have the highest property taxes in the country. I feel lucky that my taxes are still below 10k. I think there's a lot of reasons for the current mess--the pension crisis is certainly one of them.

[gimmethesimplelife]

I don't have much experience with Illinois.....I changed planes at O'Hare twice in 1987 when my family in Austria feared for my living in the United States and wanted me to visit to make sure I was OK (and they paid for the airfare)......But I have heard over the years that Illinois was crooked and of course I remember that the former governor was prosecuted and I believe is now in prison (? - I'm sure Tradd would know as she lives in Illinois)- something having to do with corruption of some kind me thinks? I've also heard about the pension crisis in Illinois and of the high murder rate in Chicago. Combine all this with the distance from the Mexican border for inexpensive access to medical and dental care and Illinois has no charm for me whatsoever other than it does have what I consider real winters.

But here's an interesting pro-Illinois take many of you may not know! For Austrians that keep their Austrian citizenship and work in the US on a green card Chicago is the preferred place to be - so much so that Austrian Airlines actually has a direct flight from Chicago to Vienna that is often completely sold out with a good chunk of the passengers being Austrian nationals. Source: My family in Vienna. I even asked them point blank why on earth would Chicago be where Austrians would want to cluster???? (Vienna has for a few years now enjoyed a reputation as the best city in the world to live in....google this if you are not familiar with this and/or find this hard to believe). I could see clustering say in Minneapolis (not quite as dangerous as Chicago but still with issues, far from it's days of Mary Tyler Moore throwing up her hat to say the least) or maybe Seattle or Portland or even Austin (though many Austrians that are familiar with Texas don't like it much, mostly due to both politics and climate)....They told me that Chicago is New York but on a more manageable scale. Gotta say on this one I don't agree with them.......Rob

[Ultralight]

I don't have much experience with Illinois.....I changed planes at O'Hare twice in 1987 when my family in Austria feared for my living in the United States...

What made them fear for your life here en Los Estados Unidos?

[gimmethesimplelife]

What made them fear for your life here en Los Estados Unidos?

Wow, where do I start? My Aunt and Uncle in Vienna would have a field day answering this question LOL, I can just hear them now going off in their Viennese dialect of German. I'll list a few of the biggies and leave it at that as some of what they would answer to this would offend some of the folks here and that's not my intention. Some of the easier to grasp issues would be the lack of socialized medicine, the easy access to guns, the militarization of the police, police brutality, the dumbing down of education, the fact that college is not paid for by taxes (in other words, that tuition is actually charged and that most graduate with debt, even back in 1987, though nothing like today), human life not being worth six weeks or more of paid time off a year/an inhumane obsession with productivity at the expense of spiritual/emotional/community/relationship health, weakening of unions for everyday people to the point where unions really don't do much/mean much for everyday people....should I go on? My Uncle could name over 300 deficiencies with US citizenship even back in 1987, and this is without ever having set foot in the US (which he has since then and he was not very impressed, though he did admit he was glad to see there was not as much hunger as he'd believed).

One tidbit I'll close with is as Americans (for those here who live in the US, not all here do) don't ever think that foreign nationals are not keenly aware of the deficiencies of US Citizenship, especially foreign nationals in prosperous high end countries such as Austria with a high degree of socialism as part of the mix. This is common knowledge overseas, very much so. Even I was amazed at the level of knowledge average everyday Europeans possess as to the risks/non-necessary deficiencies of US citizenship. I'm of the opinion there would be quite a few regular posters here very offended by how frankly and realistically an average Austrian would assess this citizenship to your face in all but the most formal and/or fleeting social encounters. Rob

[Ultralight]

Wow, where do I start? My Aunt and Uncle in Vienna would have a field day answering this question LOL, I can just hear them now going off in their Viennese dialect of German. I'll list a few of the biggies and leave it at that as some of what they would answer to this would offend some of the folks here and that's not my intention. Some of the easier to grasp issues would be the lack of socialized medicine, the easy access to guns, the militarization of the police, police brutality, the dumbing down of education, the fact that college is not paid for by taxes (in other words, that tuition is actually charged and that most graduate with debt, even back in 1987, though nothing like today), human life not being worth six weeks or more of paid time off a year/an inhumane obsession with productivity at the expense of spiritual/emotional/community/relationship health, weakening of unions for everyday people to the point where unions really don't do much/mean much for everyday people....should I go on? My Uncle could name over 300 deficiencies with US citizenship even back in 1987, and this is without ever having set foot in the US (which he has since then and he was not very impressed, though he did admit he was glad to see there was not as much hunger as he'd believed).

One tidbit I'll close with is as Americans (for those here who live in the US, not all here do) don't ever think that foreign nationals are not keenly aware of the deficiencies of US Citizenship, especially foreign nationals in prosperous high end countries such as Austria with a high degree of socialism as part of the mix. This is common knowledge overseas, very much so. Even I was amazed at the level of knowledge average everyday Europeans possess as to the risks/non-necessary deficiencies of US citizenship. I'm of the opinion there would be quite a few regular posters here very offended by how frankly and realistically an average Austrian would assess this citizenship to your face in all but the most formal and/or fleeting social encounters. Rob

Rob...

I agree the US needs universal, single-payer healthcare. I agree this nation has a major cultural problem with guns. I think we need stronger unions -- I worked for one in the organizing department for 3.5 years in Phoenix.

So I get it. But to say you are living in fear of death at nearly all times in the US is just... not reality.

You might feel you are in danger, but that does not mean you actually are in danger.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Rob...

I agree the US needs universal, single-payer healthcare. I agree this nation has a major cultural problem with guns. I think we need stronger unions -- I worked for one in the organizing department for 3.5 years in Phoenix.

So I get it. But to say you are living in fear of death at nearly all times in the US is just... not reality.

You might feel you are in danger, but that does not mean you actually are in danger.

Sorry, let me clarify something here and now if I may. My family in Austria does not and did not worry about my being at risk of death here per se (other than their fears of police brutality and the militarization of the police) - they were and are more worried as blood relatives of my suffering an unnecessary low quality of life due to holding US citizenship as opposed to the higher quality of life overall on offer in Austria and other countries in Western Europe. My Aunt has for example often said she'd rather I was on the dole in a small room in Madrid (with Spain's 20% plus unemployment rate that has just barely started to trend down the past year, just barely) than be at constant risk of financial tragedy in the United States the way society is set up here. I'm of the opinion that several of the regular posters here are not going to get this - what I am about to post to them will go way over their heads like an Austrian Airlines plane leaving O'Hare for Vienna - but I cherish my Aunt for this (and my Uncle too, and the rest of my extended family in Austria)......to me her quote here is so loving and kind and humane because I GET IT. I know the deficiencies of US Citizenship at this point in my life down to my DNA and I've seen firsthand how much saner everyday life is for everyday people in Austria......it's like driving a new Mercedes compared to driving a 1974 Ford Pinto, at least in terms of productivity expectations and in terms of health care insecurity. Bad news for the US here is that once this common sense and reality sinks down to your DNA, there is no unseeing it. Ever. Not possible.

But, I'd like to be fair in closing and once again state that my family overseas does not worry per se of my imminent (sp?) death here. More like my being homeless through no real fault of my own so that the wealthy can be yet wealthier - that's more what they fear for me due to my living in the United States, and I believe it's only fair to clear that up. Rob

[dmc]

I guess I just don't understand that if your so worried about healthcare, why don't you just purchase health insurance like the vast majority of people do. No one is stopping you from doing that.

[dmc]

Austria hasn't the benefit of being a small, wealthy country. Unfortunately it's to cold there for me. It would be nice to visit though.