-By Warner Todd Huston
Illinois has surged in some of those wonderful categories that help us rate the success of a state’s economy and general desirability for quality of life. And, as in most categories, Illinois marks in the highest ranks of the lowest ratings. Thanks to the Democrats, Illinois is among the best of the worst.
Take the new list by United Van Lines where the moving company rates which states that people are fleeing in the most numbers. Guess which state is tops in the list of those state losing the most citizens the fastest? Yup, Illinois.
In fact, most of the top-10 states people are leaving are located in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, including Illinois (60%), New York (58%), Michigan (58%), Maine (56%), Connecticut (56%) and Wisconsin (55%). According to Stoll, this reflects a consistent trend of migration from the Frost Belt to the Sun Belt states based on a combination of causes.
And why is this? The economy, of course.
The economy has been a major push factor for residents in the Frost Belt, particularly those in hard-hit areas like Michigan. “They had a terrific excess of people as a result of the collapse of the economy,” says Stoll. Detroit, the state’s largest city, has the highest metropolitan unemployment rate in the U.S. At 20%, it more than doubles the national average.
Government collapse, job loss, budgetary suicide…
There is one other main factor involved here, too. All those states have been controlled by Democrats for many decades (with only Michigan just starting to find the GOP coming back to power).
What else does that mean? All these states have been Obama strongholds.
Another way that Illinois ranks as the best of the worst is in home loss. Foreclosures in Illinois are at a worse pace than most other states.
Of the 25 states where foreclosure activity rose in 2012, 20 of them are judicial states, where foreclosures are handled by local court systems. Illinois is among those states, and in 2012, foreclosure activity in the state rose 33 percent from 2011.
So, where does Illinois fit in there? Bottom five, of course.
In Illinois, 2.58 percent of homes received a foreclosure filing last year, meaning it had the fifth highest state foreclosure rate in the nation in 2012. The four states ahead of Illinois were Florida, where 3.11 percent of properties received a foreclosure filing, followed by Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, said RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for distressed properties.
This is all nothing new, though. Illinois ranks as one of the worst states in the Union on almost every level.
In fact, we even have one of the worst governors in the nation.
Here is a handy-dandy list of Quinn’s and the Democrat’s major failures:
- Illinois Worst in Midwest for Private Sector Job Creation
- Illinois One of the Worst GDP Growth in Entire Midwest
- Illinois Ranks as ‘Worst’ For Small Businesses
- Of the Fifty, Illinoisans Have Least Trust in the State Government
- Poll: Even People in Illinois Say Illinois Worst State to Live In
- Illinois has the most underfunded pensions in the country and faces a deficit growth of $17 million per day.
- The state also has the worst funded teachers pensions in the country.
- Illinois was identified as one of the worst states in the union for its oppressive, jobs-killing lawsuit climate
- Illinois had more home foreclosures than almost every other state.
- Illinois ranks as the 49th worst debtor state in the nation.
- Illinois was ranked the 48th worst state for business.
- Illinois ranked 48th for unemployment making it among the worst five states for joblessness.
- Its government also has one of the worst rankings for state transparency and accountability in the nation, too.
- As to big city stats, Chicago tops the nation with the highest unemployment rate.
- Illinois has the worst credit rating
- Illinois Tops Nation in Growth of Food Stamp Recipients
- Mercatus: Illinois ranks at the bottom of the most free states
- Illinois Ranks as One of Worst States for Losing Citizens
Way to go Illinois, that’s quite an accomplishment.