Why job creators skip Illinois

The CEO of Caterpillar Doug Oberhelman, takes to the pages of The Chicago Tribune, to explain why job creators don't like the Blue state of Illinois:

Despite the fact that we announced plans for dozens of new factories in the last few years and our United States workforce increased by more than 14,500 in the past 10 years, we haven't opened a new factory in Illinois in decades. Our Illinois workforce is at the same level it was 10 years ago. Caterpillar recently informed several Illinois communities that they are not in the running for a new factory we will build in the U.S., ultimately adding 1,400 jobs — work that's now done in Japan. In that case, logistics was a key factor, but even if it were not the case, when Caterpillar and most other companies look to locate a new factory in the U.S., Illinois is not in the running.

It doesn't have to be that way.

About 10 months ago I wrote a letter to Illinois political leaders expressing my hope that the state would undertake long-term, fundamental reforms so Illinois could compete for jobs and long-term business investment that drives growth.

To date, we haven't seen much change.

The governor's recent three-year projection of state revenue and spending proves that even with the income tax increase, Illinois has not done what is necessary to balance its budget. Major credit agencies have downgraded the state's bond rating. The state passed some changes to workers' compensation last spring, but it wasn't enough. Illinois will still be among the most expensive states in the nation for workers' compensation insurance. Our own comparison of workers' compensation costs showed Illinois was far more costly than neighboring Indiana, which is consistent with a comparative study by Oregon, which also shows Illinois is much more expensive than Indiana, Iowa and Kansas in workers' compensation insurance rates.

The scary thing is the morons that run Illinois sent Barack Obama to Washington D.C. to apply the Illinois model on a national scale!