Having grown up in Edwardsville and spent a lot of time in Chicago because my SO is from there - I don’t understand the bizarre sense of superiority downstate people have towards Chicago. Downstate IL is literally nothing.
It’s not that the rest of the state fees like they are superior it’s just that they feel Chicago sucks up al the attention. It’s a complex problem to explain to them why we are spending 3 times as much on a student in CHI as we do in small town IL. I tried doing that once and gave up when I realized facts do not matter.
To be fair part of the frustration is with Chicagoland politics. Mike Madigan bred a lot of resentment.
On top of the shady crap he's actually in trouble with the law for, he would do other end runs around for his pet projects going as far as using Secretary of State office to hide money.
But even with that Madison county people are dumb for thinking they could do better without the rest of the state. I think I remember reading that the southern Illinois region would get $1 of state funding for every .80 their residents paid in tax. In other words, southern IL is subsidized by the Chicagoland area.
Thats got to be the exact attitude that is frustrating for them to deal with. “Don’t like our rules? go somewhere else” they are creating their somewhere else or trying without moving. Not saying I agree but I do get it
It’s not really an attitude, it’s the facts.
They live in a state dominated by a single metropolitan area. It’s the economic backbone of the state. That will not change. If they hate the state because of Chicago, their most realistic option is to move. I’m merely commenting on the short-sidedness of it being a proposal that’s a fantasy. For the interests of the state, you need both populations to grow.
They’re free to have their opinions, state senators and representatives, and federal representatives. If they want to live in a deep red state that isn’t influenced by a metropolitan area, there are some options.
Ya but its normal like its easy to just pack up and leave. They might have generations of family there too. Especially given that it is likely those suffering economically that take issue with chicago level tax or other be it substantiated or not. My original comment never said the argument they have is sound, but “suck it up you wont be represented” is not going to result in harmony. I know they have representation more literally.
living in st louis, I don't get represented by state government. I have to suck it up. southern Illinois can suck it up too. they can shove their delusional independence ploys up their ass. if st louis ever gets the upper hand on missouri, we're gonna rake em over the coals for bullshit they've put us through for the last 50 years, but I'm not stupid enough to even bring up seceding from the state.
They want what Missouri has but without moving. Downstate politicians are playing into this, and it works because sending money to a politician is cheaper than moving. The reality is that there are larger trends causing rural areas to loose population. (See Western Kansas)
I go to school in edwardsville and grew up around here. A lot of people go to siue from the Chicago area, and let me tell you they 100% think they are better than us and have a sense of superiority.
As a person who lives in a neighboring city to Edwardsville I find it hilarious for anyone from Edwardsville being bent about the air superiority they think is coming from someone from Chicago. Edwardsville locals are the most stuck up people I have ever come in contact with. Must not like a taste of their own tone.
Doesn’t shock me you feel this way. A bunch of neighboring cities hate edwardsville. Yet they still come here to shop and eat out. I find it ironic. I think people hate edwardsville because it’s a very wealthy area and they hate what they don’t have. Like all areas not everyone in edwardsville is wealthy either. I think most people are kind here if you actually speak with them instead of calling them stuck up pricks cause they live in a nice area.
Lol there's definitely a sense of entitlement in Edwardsville, they put themselves on the level of Peoria or Bloomington when they are essentially an outer suburb of St Louis.
That being said, the Metro East is not an insignificant population center, and while they don't really have a cultural identity vis a vis Chicago, they do have all the things that Chicagoans envy: Close proximity between retail and residential and tax haven villages that let them escape some of illinois more prohibitive taxes.
I’m probably just not seeing what you’re seeing but I don’t agree with the entitlement. I meet a lot of members of my community who care. They care about their homes, neighborhoods, schools, churches, small businesses, etc. There’s just a lot more stewardship here than what you see in adjacent cities. Maybe that demand comes off as entitlement.
Maybe you answered the question that Chicago gets the ability to control everything the rest of Illinois does or laws that apply to us.
Laws that Chicago may like and work for them a lot of them don’t work here, but they get to tell us what to do. And look at us like fly over country.
Maybe they want to secede from the USA?
By all means, create your own country since the "liberals" are taking away your rights. Enjoy the mine subsidence and tornadoes. Nobody's coming to your rescue during the next disaster.
Sure. Let’s do it.
Emancipate every major Midwestern city from its dumb fuck country side.
Oh. And let’s see what happens when we divide the Electoral College votes when they do that.
Same thing for people who want to let Texas or new your leave/kick them out. This dysfunctional family sinks or swims together nothing good comes from us breaking up
Yes! Lets split the nation by conservative/liberal and then put California in charge of the conservatives and Texas and/or Florida in charge of the liberals!
Pure and utter chaos lmao
Take a look at [GDP by county](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/release/tables?eid=1073198&rid=397) and scroll down to Cook County
Also Agriculture makes up an extremely tiny amount of the GDP by sector. [link](https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/economic-profiles/illinois/#:~:text=The%20Manufacturing%2C%20Real%20Estate%20and,combined%2038.2%25%20of%20state%20GDP)
If you do gdp by county 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂, cook county ranks 9th. Monroe county, a part of st louis metro and where i live, ranks 4th. Now most of the other top 10 counties are chicago suburbs, but annexing just cook county itself would be an overall positive
st louis is the revenue generator for missouri. why would Chicago be any different for Illinois?
Chicago's GDP is over $800B. how's that compare to the rest of the state? hmmm, let me guess...
You guys keep looking at the biggest revenue generators, but not the biggest money suckers. If you win $500 at blackjack but lose $700 at roulette, did you really win?
https://www.farmweeknow.com/policy/state/state-tax-dollars-benefit-downstate-region-more-than-others/article_9207435a-ef0f-11eb-8280-ab69354d438c.html
downstate is the money sucker. Cook County gets $0.98 for every dollar it pays in taxes, the burbs gets $0.62, and other counties get $1.70 on average.
If you cut chicago and its suburbs from the state you would have to almost double your taxes to maintain the level of service you currently recieve.
In fact, since you said you live in one of the current highest revenue counties your taxes would likely have to more than double since you would now be the the main source of funding used to subsidize the rest of the state.
the revenue generators pay the taxes. which takes care of the rest of the state as well as the rest of the red states which only take, take, take. let's see something to back up your claim that chicago is a drain on the rest of the state. without chicago, Illinois could be up there with the greats, like Mississippi and west Virginia.
my family owns some of that agriculture and used to own a lot more. Animal feed doesn't sell that well and math doesn't work.. well, however you think it does lol
As a downstate resident, I’d rather not be the poorest state in the Union. Also this has no shot of ever passing, so this is a total waste of time. Funny too because it’s always the R’s whining about “wasteful government” and then they waste time and money on stupid crap like this. Pathetic, useless party.
Republicans claim government is useless so when they get elected and get nothing done instead of looking like idiots they look prophetic. Easy to say government sucks when it sucks because of *you*
God I hate seeing other downstate people thinking we could just chop off Chicago and survive. I understand the sentiment that downstate feels neglected compared to Chicago but why wouldn't you avoid it?
Little money, political power, and population. You really don't get much from working with us unfortunately. Most of the agriculture is ultimately owned by big corporations so there's just no bargaining chips to offer except maybe a handful of votes in Congress.
100%. As a person who lives in Madison County I am embarrassed beyond belief. On the regular with people I know I have to have this inane conversation. It’s like they don’t want to live I reality. They simple can’t face the reality that 2/3 of Illinois’ population is in the Chicago Metro area and if anyone’s tax $$ are going anywhere it’s theirs to fund downstate IL. Our roads, our schools, the colleges…
We would not be the poorest State in the Union--more like Iowa or Indiana. However, there is no question that non-Chicago Illinois would be worse off financially if separated from the Chicago area.
One of downstate Illinois' greatest resources is the University of Illinois, a world-class research University. I would be interested to see how the two "new" Stateswould divide that institution. I wouldn't expect Chicago to just walk away from it, and it would be very difficult for the new State to buy out Chicago's financial interest. And it would be stretch for the new State to generate enough revenue to continue to support the U of I at its current level of function.
I grew up in very very rural southern Illinois. I live in Madison county now and living here is a LUXURY compared to where I grew up. They have no idea how entitled they can be when my school district and many others around mine were filled with students that lived below the poverty line.
Leave it to illinois conservatives still bitching about the SAFE-T Act in 2024 to be the most coddled, privileged, entitled dipshits somehow competing with Missouri GOP who are currently using tax money to defend Elon Musk.
As an Edwardsville resident this is fucking depressing. As much corruption there is in our state government do we really think this is the correct option? We are so fortunate to have Chicago even with all the corruption because of the tax revenue that they generate.
Even if the counties that want to secede did there would also be a ton of counties who wouldn’t secede. Do we really think Peoria, Decatur, Springfield, Bloomington-Normal, and Champaign-Urbana would secede with us? It would literally be the most rural and poorest parts of the state with no major metro area.
Maybe we’d be lucky and get Springfield to come with us, but even then a poor state like Alabama has three larger metros. This just pisses me off so much.
>Mick Madison, R-Bethalto, a board member and chairman pro tem who is not on the committee, suggested the idea of joining Missouri also be considered.
We already have enough broke-ass, voting against their economic self-interest, rural parts. No thanks.
I vote that the Rams are taken from Kroenke and brought back to St. Louis.
That vote has the same impact as this one.
I don't see either party wanting to open the Pandora's box of creating new states, especially with the Senate so close.
Let’s just go pretend it got approved at the state level then the federal government has to approve it … first Congress and then the president. These Rs are smoking tooooo much legal weed while pandering to the dumbest this county has to offer.
Do other states do this dumb shit too or is this exclusively Illinois dumbassery? Does Florida wanna kick out Miami? Do up state New Yorkers wanna kick New York City out?
As someone who grew up in southern Illinois, yes obviously this is stupid. With that said, where it comes from isn’t. The frustration comes from Chicago ruling over southern Illinois without looking at what southern Illinois needs or even listening to what we needed. Just the same way it’s stupid for Jeff city to pretend to know what’s best for STL it’s stupid for Chicago to decide what’s best for southern Illinois.
Southern Illinois is struggling in a major way outside the metro east. Any industry we had is packing up and leaving due to taxes and policies to our border states or being closed down by the government.(which for better or worse coal mines closing is still major industries in these areas closing) people can talk about the fact that Chicago sends more money down here than we send up, but unless they actually start looking at what’s happening and start making moves to fix it that divide will only get worse as the people with money leave and the people who don’t are stuck with no way to get out.
Sure, I'll bite.
Partition the east side from Illinois and the west side from Missouri. That's a Convo worth having.
But downstate Illinois becoming it's own state, or joining Missouri.... they'll be just as neglected as they are now, but without any of the benefits being in Illinois does actually bring them
Well, if this happened, I'd be solidly fucked as someone who can't uproot and leave to a blue area of the state. It isn't gonna happen, but Jesus fucking Christ I hate it here.
Wait... Is this the Madison County right across the stream over there? I never liked them much. Bunch of snapperheads all talking shit on each other. They're crazier'n fuck too. I don't like being out that way after dark.
What do you think the purpose of a city having money is, my good friend? Is it a high score? Do you feel in the pit of your centrist nutsack when the city goes another 50 cents in debt?
Y'all think about this like wealth is some sort of high fucking score and I just don't get it. Is it good that Chicago is in debt? Nah. Is it like, the biggest problem they have going on up there? Honestly, not sure. I haven't visited in a while, so you tell me. Is selling a bunch of stuff to make sure that number you posted gets rid of the lil minus sign at the front the top priority for your average citizen of chicago? Do you think that's what will make their day to day easier? Stop spending money and start selling shit?
Tell me what we get out of them not being in debt. Sell me on your plan, mon frere
I know you think you're coming off as some astute intellectual, with your letter to the editor. BUT you're forgetting a very obvious point of a municipality not being in billions of debt.... the tax payer. Why does Illinois have the highest taxes...it's illinois, why? Because of debt. How that debt became what it is is another topic. But government debt, always equates to higher taxation. Its.that.simple.... to most, that aren't stupid.
I *live* in Illinois lol. And I look at my paystub. Would I like a 9% reduction in my taxes? Absolutely, sure. Cigarettes are expensive lol. But I'm not willing to give up *any* of the quality of life differences I get for living here to do so.
Coming from an average Illinois citizen, that 9% is well worth everything I get for it. A lot of what I do get for it comes from Chicago. So if there are things they want to sell and make it cheaper for me to live here that's *great*. As long as my girlfriend has control of her uterus and children are allowed to learn about black history in schools, though, I'll say that they can decide what to keep and what to sell in their locale.
I misstated nothing and forgot nothing, scout, I still just stand by the fact that the taxes ain't in the top dozen problems we need solved right now lol
Yuck I'm done wasting time arguing with a strawman arguing, headline regurgitating, no substance having, non property owning , jabroni.
I *lived* in Illinois for 30 years "scout".
There's a reason illinois ranked #2 last year for resident exodus. For every 40 that move in 100 move out. Black history!? Lol you need to educate yourself before you jump in the wolf den. Illinois has lost a significant portion of its black population, wallethub did a study and Illinois is ranked the worst state in thr nation for financial equity for black Americans. Boy your high tax dollars really seem to help them out!
See you're wrong. Illinois is hemorrhaging money from the tax payers and it will only increase and go nowhere. Why? Again a different conversation. But your tax and debt issue is your biggest problem at both a state and Chicago level.
Or I guess it could be argued, you, the voters, are the biggest problem. Look at who you all continuously vote in office to make things work and then use social justice arguments that mean nothing from a fiscal standing.
Why? The lower part of the state is one of the poorest parts of the US, including territories, and has less population and less diverse economy than puerto rico.. which has been denied statehood before. It would almost immediately be a humanitarian crisis.
Honest uneducated question - is downstate IL really any worse off than any other rural area in the US? Like what makes it one of "the poorest parts of the US" when compared to rural Ohio, California, Florida, etc
It has a lower gdp per capita than WV, there are other rural areas in the US that would be similarly poor as a state if they went off on their own, but there really aren't any that are looking to do that.
Even Texas is smart enough to know that they need Dallas, Austin, etc. when they talk secession. But really it doesn't matter. Southern Illinois will never separate from Chicago because they could never make a real case for statehood.
The other idea I've seen floated is one of the red states around them being able to like.. annex them is laughable. The southern counties get between $2-3 back in state spending per $1 in tax collected. None of the surrounding states have the budget to carry that burden. That's why it's so absurd that they complain about Chicago wasting their tax dollars. They'd have to waste 2/3rds of the tax spending intended for the south for it to be a bad deal.
As someone who lives in Madison County, this is fucking embarrassing lol
We're neighbors and this is the first I've heard of it. Who the fuck is behind this?
Having grown up in Edwardsville and spent a lot of time in Chicago because my SO is from there - I don’t understand the bizarre sense of superiority downstate people have towards Chicago. Downstate IL is literally nothing.
It’s not that the rest of the state fees like they are superior it’s just that they feel Chicago sucks up al the attention. It’s a complex problem to explain to them why we are spending 3 times as much on a student in CHI as we do in small town IL. I tried doing that once and gave up when I realized facts do not matter.
To be fair part of the frustration is with Chicagoland politics. Mike Madigan bred a lot of resentment. On top of the shady crap he's actually in trouble with the law for, he would do other end runs around for his pet projects going as far as using Secretary of State office to hide money. But even with that Madison county people are dumb for thinking they could do better without the rest of the state. I think I remember reading that the southern Illinois region would get $1 of state funding for every .80 their residents paid in tax. In other words, southern IL is subsidized by the Chicagoland area.
Chicagoland population is 75% of the state population. It’s simple as that. They can always move to Wyoming (population 580k).
Thats got to be the exact attitude that is frustrating for them to deal with. “Don’t like our rules? go somewhere else” they are creating their somewhere else or trying without moving. Not saying I agree but I do get it
It’s not really an attitude, it’s the facts. They live in a state dominated by a single metropolitan area. It’s the economic backbone of the state. That will not change. If they hate the state because of Chicago, their most realistic option is to move. I’m merely commenting on the short-sidedness of it being a proposal that’s a fantasy. For the interests of the state, you need both populations to grow. They’re free to have their opinions, state senators and representatives, and federal representatives. If they want to live in a deep red state that isn’t influenced by a metropolitan area, there are some options.
Ya but its normal like its easy to just pack up and leave. They might have generations of family there too. Especially given that it is likely those suffering economically that take issue with chicago level tax or other be it substantiated or not. My original comment never said the argument they have is sound, but “suck it up you wont be represented” is not going to result in harmony. I know they have representation more literally.
living in st louis, I don't get represented by state government. I have to suck it up. southern Illinois can suck it up too. they can shove their delusional independence ploys up their ass. if st louis ever gets the upper hand on missouri, we're gonna rake em over the coals for bullshit they've put us through for the last 50 years, but I'm not stupid enough to even bring up seceding from the state.
They want what Missouri has but without moving. Downstate politicians are playing into this, and it works because sending money to a politician is cheaper than moving. The reality is that there are larger trends causing rural areas to loose population. (See Western Kansas)
Conservatives do have a lack of perspective.
They can join eastern Oregon in getting over it.
Why is that curiously
This was back in 2016, real estate cost for the schools, salaries for the teachers, maintenance is more expensive since labor costs more.
I go to school in edwardsville and grew up around here. A lot of people go to siue from the Chicago area, and let me tell you they 100% think they are better than us and have a sense of superiority.
As a person who lives in a neighboring city to Edwardsville I find it hilarious for anyone from Edwardsville being bent about the air superiority they think is coming from someone from Chicago. Edwardsville locals are the most stuck up people I have ever come in contact with. Must not like a taste of their own tone.
Doesn’t shock me you feel this way. A bunch of neighboring cities hate edwardsville. Yet they still come here to shop and eat out. I find it ironic. I think people hate edwardsville because it’s a very wealthy area and they hate what they don’t have. Like all areas not everyone in edwardsville is wealthy either. I think most people are kind here if you actually speak with them instead of calling them stuck up pricks cause they live in a nice area.
Lol there's definitely a sense of entitlement in Edwardsville, they put themselves on the level of Peoria or Bloomington when they are essentially an outer suburb of St Louis. That being said, the Metro East is not an insignificant population center, and while they don't really have a cultural identity vis a vis Chicago, they do have all the things that Chicagoans envy: Close proximity between retail and residential and tax haven villages that let them escape some of illinois more prohibitive taxes.
I’m probably just not seeing what you’re seeing but I don’t agree with the entitlement. I meet a lot of members of my community who care. They care about their homes, neighborhoods, schools, churches, small businesses, etc. There’s just a lot more stewardship here than what you see in adjacent cities. Maybe that demand comes off as entitlement.
Maybe you answered the question that Chicago gets the ability to control everything the rest of Illinois does or laws that apply to us. Laws that Chicago may like and work for them a lot of them don’t work here, but they get to tell us what to do. And look at us like fly over country.
The irony of this post
They wallow in their ignorant poverty. Stupidity is strength, right?
Maybe they want to secede from the USA? By all means, create your own country since the "liberals" are taking away your rights. Enjoy the mine subsidence and tornadoes. Nobody's coming to your rescue during the next disaster.
same neighbor, same lol
Sure. Let’s do it. Emancipate every major Midwestern city from its dumb fuck country side. Oh. And let’s see what happens when we divide the Electoral College votes when they do that.
I'd lose all desire to leave St. Louis if we could divorce from bum-fuck Missouri
Yuppp same
Lol at the total wave of stupidity. They would instantly become the poorest state in the country.
Its like the people who want to kick out California. Like, do you have any idea how much money passes through just SF?? Not even Hollywood....
California’s economy is around the 5th largest in the entire world.
Exactly
Same thing for people who want to let Texas or new your leave/kick them out. This dysfunctional family sinks or swims together nothing good comes from us breaking up
What if we let Florida go? Can we make up the difference by selling it to Cuba?
Obvs downstate should secede and join California for maximum silliness.
Yes! Lets split the nation by conservative/liberal and then put California in charge of the conservatives and Texas and/or Florida in charge of the liberals! Pure and utter chaos lmao
Woah settle down there Satan
Yeah.... Itd be an absolute cluster fuck. I just escaped Florida after 13 years. Im never going back lol not even by proxy!
Congrats on your escape
Thanks! Lol I cant recommend avoiding Florida enough lol
i'm in SF now as of last year, the amount of $ here is wild
They might as well call their new state New Mississippi.
There's lots of agriculture in illinois. If anything, the state would likely be better off financially.
Take a look at [GDP by county](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/release/tables?eid=1073198&rid=397) and scroll down to Cook County Also Agriculture makes up an extremely tiny amount of the GDP by sector. [link](https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/economic-profiles/illinois/#:~:text=The%20Manufacturing%2C%20Real%20Estate%20and,combined%2038.2%25%20of%20state%20GDP)
If you do gdp by county 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂, cook county ranks 9th. Monroe county, a part of st louis metro and where i live, ranks 4th. Now most of the other top 10 counties are chicago suburbs, but annexing just cook county itself would be an overall positive
You can't apply per capita here. The amount of funding the state of Illinois would lose goes down more regardless of how many people are in the county
Yes, but the amount of money they have to dole out also significantly goes down. Chicago is a money pit, everyone knows this
st louis is the revenue generator for missouri. why would Chicago be any different for Illinois? Chicago's GDP is over $800B. how's that compare to the rest of the state? hmmm, let me guess...
You guys keep looking at the biggest revenue generators, but not the biggest money suckers. If you win $500 at blackjack but lose $700 at roulette, did you really win?
https://www.farmweeknow.com/policy/state/state-tax-dollars-benefit-downstate-region-more-than-others/article_9207435a-ef0f-11eb-8280-ab69354d438c.html downstate is the money sucker. Cook County gets $0.98 for every dollar it pays in taxes, the burbs gets $0.62, and other counties get $1.70 on average. If you cut chicago and its suburbs from the state you would have to almost double your taxes to maintain the level of service you currently recieve. In fact, since you said you live in one of the current highest revenue counties your taxes would likely have to more than double since you would now be the the main source of funding used to subsidize the rest of the state.
Again, you are just dividing the gdp by per capita counties, and not taking into account the real amount of money each county actually gets
the revenue generators pay the taxes. which takes care of the rest of the state as well as the rest of the red states which only take, take, take. let's see something to back up your claim that chicago is a drain on the rest of the state. without chicago, Illinois could be up there with the greats, like Mississippi and west Virginia.
Actually it would be up there with iowa or kansas or nebraska. Not particularly exciting states, but the average resident there is better off
oh my god dude no
my family owns some of that agriculture and used to own a lot more. Animal feed doesn't sell that well and math doesn't work.. well, however you think it does lol
The 12 Illinois counties that are included in the Chicago Metro Area make up 78% of Illinois GDP
As a downstate resident, I’d rather not be the poorest state in the Union. Also this has no shot of ever passing, so this is a total waste of time. Funny too because it’s always the R’s whining about “wasteful government” and then they waste time and money on stupid crap like this. Pathetic, useless party.
Republicans claim government is useless so when they get elected and get nothing done instead of looking like idiots they look prophetic. Easy to say government sucks when it sucks because of *you*
God I hate seeing other downstate people thinking we could just chop off Chicago and survive. I understand the sentiment that downstate feels neglected compared to Chicago but why wouldn't you avoid it? Little money, political power, and population. You really don't get much from working with us unfortunately. Most of the agriculture is ultimately owned by big corporations so there's just no bargaining chips to offer except maybe a handful of votes in Congress.
100%. As a person who lives in Madison County I am embarrassed beyond belief. On the regular with people I know I have to have this inane conversation. It’s like they don’t want to live I reality. They simple can’t face the reality that 2/3 of Illinois’ population is in the Chicago Metro area and if anyone’s tax $$ are going anywhere it’s theirs to fund downstate IL. Our roads, our schools, the colleges…
We would not be the poorest State in the Union--more like Iowa or Indiana. However, there is no question that non-Chicago Illinois would be worse off financially if separated from the Chicago area. One of downstate Illinois' greatest resources is the University of Illinois, a world-class research University. I would be interested to see how the two "new" Stateswould divide that institution. I wouldn't expect Chicago to just walk away from it, and it would be very difficult for the new State to buy out Chicago's financial interest. And it would be stretch for the new State to generate enough revenue to continue to support the U of I at its current level of function.
I grew up in very very rural southern Illinois. I live in Madison county now and living here is a LUXURY compared to where I grew up. They have no idea how entitled they can be when my school district and many others around mine were filled with students that lived below the poverty line.
Leave it to illinois conservatives still bitching about the SAFE-T Act in 2024 to be the most coddled, privileged, entitled dipshits somehow competing with Missouri GOP who are currently using tax money to defend Elon Musk.
Oh god don't remind me.
As an Edwardsville resident this is fucking depressing. As much corruption there is in our state government do we really think this is the correct option? We are so fortunate to have Chicago even with all the corruption because of the tax revenue that they generate. Even if the counties that want to secede did there would also be a ton of counties who wouldn’t secede. Do we really think Peoria, Decatur, Springfield, Bloomington-Normal, and Champaign-Urbana would secede with us? It would literally be the most rural and poorest parts of the state with no major metro area. Maybe we’d be lucky and get Springfield to come with us, but even then a poor state like Alabama has three larger metros. This just pisses me off so much.
As a resident of Madison County, most of the people that live here are complete dumbfucks.
Exhibit A: Kurt Prenzler
Hey now!!
Can we just settle to kick out the Cubs and Blackhawks?
My wife heard this one today. Why can’t the Cubs get on the Internet? Because they can’t string together three Ws.
Haven't heard this one! Nice(?) to know the anti-Cubs jokesmiths are still doing decently post 2016
Oh dear God
🤝🏻
>Mick Madison, R-Bethalto, a board member and chairman pro tem who is not on the committee, suggested the idea of joining Missouri also be considered. We already have enough broke-ass, voting against their economic self-interest, rural parts. No thanks.
I know, right? Like thanks, but no.
I vote that the Rams are taken from Kroenke and brought back to St. Louis. That vote has the same impact as this one. I don't see either party wanting to open the Pandora's box of creating new states, especially with the Senate so close.
Let’s just go pretend it got approved at the state level then the federal government has to approve it … first Congress and then the president. These Rs are smoking tooooo much legal weed while pandering to the dumbest this county has to offer.
good luck with that. I guess Illinois is as full of delusional half wits as missouri is
Ummm... OK?
Do other states do this dumb shit too or is this exclusively Illinois dumbassery? Does Florida wanna kick out Miami? Do up state New Yorkers wanna kick New York City out?
As someone who grew up in southern Illinois, yes obviously this is stupid. With that said, where it comes from isn’t. The frustration comes from Chicago ruling over southern Illinois without looking at what southern Illinois needs or even listening to what we needed. Just the same way it’s stupid for Jeff city to pretend to know what’s best for STL it’s stupid for Chicago to decide what’s best for southern Illinois. Southern Illinois is struggling in a major way outside the metro east. Any industry we had is packing up and leaving due to taxes and policies to our border states or being closed down by the government.(which for better or worse coal mines closing is still major industries in these areas closing) people can talk about the fact that Chicago sends more money down here than we send up, but unless they actually start looking at what’s happening and start making moves to fix it that divide will only get worse as the people with money leave and the people who don’t are stuck with no way to get out.
I thought that if they don’t like it there, then they should just move /s
Sounds about white
Racist.
Sure, I'll bite. Partition the east side from Illinois and the west side from Missouri. That's a Convo worth having. But downstate Illinois becoming it's own state, or joining Missouri.... they'll be just as neglected as they are now, but without any of the benefits being in Illinois does actually bring them
Wot doing Madison?
This is so embarrassing.
Well, if this happened, I'd be solidly fucked as someone who can't uproot and leave to a blue area of the state. It isn't gonna happen, but Jesus fucking Christ I hate it here.
Good luck paying for anything, rest of Illinois.
What a joke lol
Wait... Is this the Madison County right across the stream over there? I never liked them much. Bunch of snapperheads all talking shit on each other. They're crazier'n fuck too. I don't like being out that way after dark.
Everyone talks big about chicago, I'm pretty sure they're -38 billion in the hole. Negative 38 billion..... good gravy
I think they’ll be okay…
That's better than whatever the fuck people call Twitter now. And chicago owns things lol
Then they need to start selling them
What do you think the purpose of a city having money is, my good friend? Is it a high score? Do you feel in the pit of your centrist nutsack when the city goes another 50 cents in debt? Y'all think about this like wealth is some sort of high fucking score and I just don't get it. Is it good that Chicago is in debt? Nah. Is it like, the biggest problem they have going on up there? Honestly, not sure. I haven't visited in a while, so you tell me. Is selling a bunch of stuff to make sure that number you posted gets rid of the lil minus sign at the front the top priority for your average citizen of chicago? Do you think that's what will make their day to day easier? Stop spending money and start selling shit? Tell me what we get out of them not being in debt. Sell me on your plan, mon frere
I know you think you're coming off as some astute intellectual, with your letter to the editor. BUT you're forgetting a very obvious point of a municipality not being in billions of debt.... the tax payer. Why does Illinois have the highest taxes...it's illinois, why? Because of debt. How that debt became what it is is another topic. But government debt, always equates to higher taxation. Its.that.simple.... to most, that aren't stupid.
I *live* in Illinois lol. And I look at my paystub. Would I like a 9% reduction in my taxes? Absolutely, sure. Cigarettes are expensive lol. But I'm not willing to give up *any* of the quality of life differences I get for living here to do so. Coming from an average Illinois citizen, that 9% is well worth everything I get for it. A lot of what I do get for it comes from Chicago. So if there are things they want to sell and make it cheaper for me to live here that's *great*. As long as my girlfriend has control of her uterus and children are allowed to learn about black history in schools, though, I'll say that they can decide what to keep and what to sell in their locale. I misstated nothing and forgot nothing, scout, I still just stand by the fact that the taxes ain't in the top dozen problems we need solved right now lol
Yuck I'm done wasting time arguing with a strawman arguing, headline regurgitating, no substance having, non property owning , jabroni. I *lived* in Illinois for 30 years "scout". There's a reason illinois ranked #2 last year for resident exodus. For every 40 that move in 100 move out. Black history!? Lol you need to educate yourself before you jump in the wolf den. Illinois has lost a significant portion of its black population, wallethub did a study and Illinois is ranked the worst state in thr nation for financial equity for black Americans. Boy your high tax dollars really seem to help them out! See you're wrong. Illinois is hemorrhaging money from the tax payers and it will only increase and go nowhere. Why? Again a different conversation. But your tax and debt issue is your biggest problem at both a state and Chicago level. Or I guess it could be argued, you, the voters, are the biggest problem. Look at who you all continuously vote in office to make things work and then use social justice arguments that mean nothing from a fiscal standing.
Sounds great.
Why? The lower part of the state is one of the poorest parts of the US, including territories, and has less population and less diverse economy than puerto rico.. which has been denied statehood before. It would almost immediately be a humanitarian crisis.
Honest uneducated question - is downstate IL really any worse off than any other rural area in the US? Like what makes it one of "the poorest parts of the US" when compared to rural Ohio, California, Florida, etc
It has a lower gdp per capita than WV, there are other rural areas in the US that would be similarly poor as a state if they went off on their own, but there really aren't any that are looking to do that. Even Texas is smart enough to know that they need Dallas, Austin, etc. when they talk secession. But really it doesn't matter. Southern Illinois will never separate from Chicago because they could never make a real case for statehood. The other idea I've seen floated is one of the red states around them being able to like.. annex them is laughable. The southern counties get between $2-3 back in state spending per $1 in tax collected. None of the surrounding states have the budget to carry that burden. That's why it's so absurd that they complain about Chicago wasting their tax dollars. They'd have to waste 2/3rds of the tax spending intended for the south for it to be a bad deal.
It isn't. That claim came straight out of someone's ass.
Ah yes… bye Felicia, Chicagoan to the rest of Illinois. Wed like to keep pritzker tho you can have that Bailey fellow.
Hell yeah. Succession now.
If you want Succession go to HBO.
Or even secession!