South West Illinois News

State Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Waterloo) said Illinois needs new leadership so that businesses can start growing.

"We are not headed in the right direction in Illinois," Jacobs told South West Illinois News. "We need new leadership, and we need it now because if we continue doing what we are doing now, we are going to move closer and closer to insolvency."

Billionaire Ken Griffin was the wealthiest resident of Illinois. He is among the top 50 wealthiest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as reported by MarketWatch. He has an estimated worth of $28.9 billion. 

Griffin recently moved to Miami, Florida, and relocated his hedge-fund firm, Citadel, and market-making firm, Citadel Securities, to the city. His announcement was the third in the last two months from major companies that are pulling their headquarters out of Illinois. Citadel officials said crime was a factor in Griffin's decision.

"Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois," Griffin wrote in a letter to his employees. "Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York, and our other offices around the world." 

Jacobs was asked about his view on why companies are moving out of Illinois. 

"There really is no mystery about it," he said. "Illinois is ranked the third-worst state in the nation for doing business. We have a national reputation as being hostile to businesses. This limits our ability to attract new businesses and makes it difficult to keep the ones we have. Make no mistake about it – businesses are leaving because of bad policies in Illinois.

"Taxes are too high," Jacobs continued. "We have too much red tape. Property taxes are too high – especially for commercial property – and our leaders do not really seem to care about what their policies are doing to job creators."

Caterpillar revealed in mid-June that it would move its global headquarters from Deerfield, Illinois, to Irving, Texas, according to a press release from the company. 

"We believe it's in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar's strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world," Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby said. 

State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Flora) was asked about the main factors that are driving these big companies out of the state.

"It's the high workers' comp cost," he said. "Unfortunately, here in Illinois, those cost[s] are out of control, and with Dems refusing to pay off the unemployment insurance fund these will only get worse. You couple that with all the other issues, and as great of [a] state as Illinois is, there aren't a lot of reasons for businesses to stay or come here."

Boeing revealed in May that it would transfer its headquarters from Chicago to a suburb of Washington, D.C., according to NBC Chicago.

"We are excited to build on our foundation here in Northern Virginia," Dave Calhoun, Boeing president and CEO, said. "The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters, given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent." 

Jacobs believes that things can be changed.

"What has been done can be undone," he said. "It won't be easy, but we can once again become a destination state for jobs and opportunities. We need to reduce spending, cut taxes, reduce business regulations, and help – not hurt – businesses looking to locate in Illinois."

Chief Executive magazine conducted a survey of approximately 700 business owners from every state, The Center Square reported. The survey ranked Illinois 48th overall, meaning it is the third-worst state in the country for business. The two states that ranked worse than Illinois were New York and California. Texas, Florida, and Tennessee were ranked as the top three states for businesses. 

"We're too corrupt," Ted Dabrowski, president of Wirepoints, said. "Our taxes are way too high. We have way too many regulations and we have massive debts, and that is plenty of reason enough for companies to not want to locate in Illinois, not to mention the state is shrinking in population so it's not a growth state to put your business in."