The Mike Bertelsen Project

The unemployment rate in Illinois rose for three months in a row. As of July, the rate is at 9.5 percent. Since the record tax increases were passed, the jobless numbers have rose in Illinois. Since January 2011 89,000 jobs have been lost in Illinois. This according to the Department of Labor.

This trend did not start overnight. This has been a trend in the works since 2001. Illinois government has not tried to end the trend in lost jobs. Instead Illinois governmental leadership did just about the opposite. Increased spending, which meant a wave of massive fund sweeping, put a tremendous strain on the state treasury. In response, tax increases were proposed and passed. Those increases couldn't keep up because the spending far outweighed the revenues. Nothing was done in 2002 or 2003 when the problems could have been headed off at the pass. In the meantime the very function of state government was put in jeopardy. Needed funding to school districts and local government was delayed putting more of a strain on those entities.

What has been proposed by Governor Quinn is more borrowing in the form of another bond issue. If this idea continues, the spending has to be capped. The backlog of unpaid bills has to be addressed and the pension problem needs leadership. We as Illinois citizens must be vigilant in the pursuit of better fiscal policy. This means no more new programs and cutting programs which have outlived their usefulness.

I was watching Lawrence Kudlow's show on CNBC and he mentioned that the country needs a dose of Reaganism. I agree, and for the record Mr. Kudlow could be biased, he was President Reagan's senior domestic economic adviser for just over six years. So Mr. Kudlow served President Reagan, he was "in the room" when President Reagan made most of his important economic decisions. Mr. Reagan had a variety of business and market leaders at his disposal and called upon them to aid in his decision making. Even President Carter did this. Unfortunately, President Carter made decisions that were contrary to the advise he was getting. But I think you get the point.

Has President Obama brought in the best and the brightest to seek their advise and guidance in dealing with this economic crisis? Well, I'll let you answer that in your own way. But if he hasn't he needs to start. His decision that led to QE2, which basically printed trillions of dollars, but created no jobs, was not a good one. In the President's defense, he should have slowed the printing press down, but I have to wonder if he received the proper suggestions to do so. He still had the majority of the Democrats in the U.S. House and the Senate, when QE2 proposals were made. But QE2 failed as far as job creation goes. The Republicans got the House back and the President's cap and trade was unveiled by the Republicans as bad policy. The Republicans cut, cap and balance bill proposed in the House and passed, was not called for a vote in the Senate, much to the chagrin of "a few" Republican senators led by John McCain.

So that brings us to the point where we are now. No jobs bill, but the President has said one is coming after Labor Day during his recent bus tour. What the President needs now is a political miracle. He needs to call in the best and the brightest to help forge a jobs bill. He has just a small amount of time. President Reagan put a proactive plan together for America, not a reactive one. Now is the time, but I get the feeling that time is wasting away, as Lawrence Kudlow brought up.

Bobby Schilling, Republican candidate for the 17th Congressional District, has announced a jobs tour to support his efforts to bring jobs to the 17th district. Schilling's primary goal is meting with concerned citizens, community leaders and employers throughout the district. This is the first of many job tours Schilling will conduct throughout the district.

The schedule is as follows:

Monday, December 28th

9 a.m. Erie
11 a.m. Sterling
2 p.m. Kewannee
3 p.m. Cambridge
4 p.m. Orion
5 p.m. Moline

Tuesday, December 29th

9 a.m. Canton
11 a.m. Abingdon
12 p.m. Roseville
1 p.m. Monmouth
2 p.m. Stronghurst
3 p.m. Oqkuaka
4 p.m. Galesburg

Wednesday, December 30th

9 a.m. Lewistown
10:30 a.m. Bushnell
11:30 a.m. Macomb
2 p.m. La Harpe
3 p.m. Carthage

Monday, January 4th

9 a.m. Decatur
11 a.m. Springfield
12:30 p.m. Chatham
2 p.m. Carlinville
3 p.m. Litchfield
4 p.m. Gillespie
4:45 p.m. Mt. Olive

Tuesday, January 5th

9 a.m. Pana
11 a.m. Ramsey
1 p.m. Staunton

Wednesday, January 6th

8 a.m. Quincy
1 p.m. Aledo
2 p.m. Rock Island
3 p.m. Colona
4 p.m. East Moline


Bobby Schilling is a local business owner AND has 13 years labor union experience.

On the 23rd I released my state investment bank initiative to the press. The SIB would originally be funded by a $10 billion bond issue. That $10 billion is the amount that the lottery would be leased for.

I propose that the bond issue be used to pay for the $1.5 billion needed to receive the $6 billion from the Federal Government for highway and bridge improvements. $250,000,000 would be used to pay for the bond issue, $1.5 billion to pay back the teachers pension, $2,000,000,000 to pay the Medicaid bills still on the books and $400,000,000 to pay the maintenance for two years on the $20 billion debt previously issued to the State.

This would leave $4.35 billion left to pay for the tax credits issued to businesses for job creation. This would also free up appropriations previously in the budget to perhaps start new programs in the economic development area.

I know it is risky in this economic climate and I am concerned about a total $30 billion bond debt for Illinois if this goes through. The main objective is not to squander the money. The SIB would help monitor this bond issue more closely.

If elected I will pursue this initiative in hopes that Illinois can create jobs and help the budget crisis.

Governor Blagojevich blamed 10 Democrat legislators from Chicago for "double-dipping" and also for killing his construction plan because Mayor Richard Daley said to do it. The legislators, according to the governor also for work for the City of Chicago or Cook County. Earlier last week Blagojevich asked Daley to intervene between himself and House Speaker Madigan, who doesn't trust the governor to deliver on his promises. House Democrats, who also work for other public entities in Chicago or Cook County think the governor can threaten them with their jobs if they don't cooperate. Some legislators have been on unpaid leave or get about half the salary because they are now in the state legislature. Blagojevich has said that these legislators need to "stop killing jobs" for downstate.

The talk in Illinois politics since mid-April has been centered around the capital plan proposed by Governor Blagojevich. Recently the governor had dropped the plan from $34 billion to $25 billion. Just how many jobs will the capital plan create? Depends on who you ask! First, there is the 611,000 jobs number when the plan was estimated at the $34 billion level. But now where are we when it comes to the jobs number with the reduction?

Southern Illinois University economics professors Subhash Sharma and Basharat Pitafi were asked to calculate the capital program’s economic impact on Illinois at the behest of SIU President Glenn Poshard. Mr. Poshard and Dennis Hastert, former U.S. House Speaker were chosen by Blagojevich to negotiate with legislative leaders on the capital bill. Sharma came up with numbers for three versions of an Illinois capital bill: $25 billion, $30 billion and $35 billion. His estimated job creation tallies ranged from 443,596 to 611,024. The last number is the usual figure touted by proponents of the capital bill.

The effect of money can be measured as it flows through the economy and theoretically creates more jobs. Jobs are divided into three categories: direct, indirect and induced.

• Direct jobs are those tied directly to the construction projects that would be funded in the capital bill. A construction worker hired to build a road or school is a direct job.
• Indirect jobs are a step removed, but still tied to construction. For example, a concrete company buys more cement because of the capital program, and the cement supplier then has to hire additional workers.
• Induced jobs are those created because the construction workers are spending money from their new jobs. The people hired for induced jobs then spend their money and create more new jobs, and so on. If the construction worker and his friends started taking their families out to eat regularly because they can afford it with their new jobs and the restaurant had to hire additional help, those would be induced jobs.

One other item to consider: the study is using numbers of jobs, not people working. Say for instance if an employee on a job site gets done in Peoria and then goes to Rockford to another job site, that's two jobs and one working.

Julie Johnson has a take on the loss of jobs in Illinois. I took a look at the numbers just released.

Here it is:

Last released: Illinois' unemployment rate: 6.8%, 25% more than the national average (5.5%), and at its highest point since June 1993. Since the last decade 727,000 people have moved from Illinois. Illinois could lose another congressional district as a result.

ILLINOIS RANKS AS THE 45TH STATE IN ATTRACTING COLLEGE GRADUATES.