So said Jimmy John Liautaud, founder of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shops, the second-fastest-growing chain in the U.S. Speaking on Tuesday...
His frustration was echoed by Bruce Rauner, chairman of GTCR LLC, a private equity and venture capital firm in Chicago. His business has been “unsuccessful in convincing executives to headquarter In Illinois,” partly because of the high state taxes, but also because “we have almost no confidence” in Illinois state government because of its “incredible incompetence.” There is “no way we could ever pay for” the state’s unfunded pension liabilities. The one hope that Rauner held out was the development of a “wedge” between public-employee unions and advocates for state-funded social services (for the elderly, the poor, the handicapped). With debt mounting and budget cuts required, the interests of both traditional clients of big government cannot be met at current levels. So “the whole structure” of “low-quality, high-cost government has to change.”
