Opinion A6 • Sauk Valley Media
www.saukvalley.com
Friday, October 16, 2015
EDITORIALS ELSEWHERE
THE CARTOONIST’S VOICE
Cops the next victims of state budget stalemate Regional training program will run out of cash soon Southern Illinoisan Editorial Board Carbondale
Jim Morin, MorinToons Syndicate
SPRINGFIELD SCOOP | ‘THE SHARING ECONOMY’
Lifeblood of free enterprise Competition, however, isn’t welcome in some quarters CHICAGO – Last week, I ordered my first Uber ride. Normally when I take the train to Chicago from Springfield, I hail a cab to get to my hotel from Union Station. But last week, Chicago cab drivers went on strike – to protest Uber. This presented an excellent opportunity for travelers – such as myself – to try something new. Uber is a ridesharing company. It allows potential passengers to use a smartphone application to connect with drivers of vehicles for hire. So I downloaded an Uber application to my phone and requested a ride. Moments later, a Volkswagen pulled to the curb, and I hopped in. The driver immigrated to the United States from Colombia. During the
scottREEDER Scott Reeder is a reporter in residence for the Illinois Policy Institute. Contact him at sreeder@ illinoispolicy. org.
day, he works as a valet parker, and in the evening, he drives his family’s car for a couple more hours to help make ends meet. As he drove me to my hotel, he showed me pictures of his seven kids and gushed over the opportunities he has found in this nation. And one of those opportunities is Uber. It’s a typical immigrant story: Work hard, compete, and make things better for your children. BUT COMPETITION is something Chicago’s highly regulated taxicab industry is working hard against. Cab owners purchase or lease pricey medallions issued by City Hall. And they must abide by a slew of regulations,
which companies like Uber have managed to avoid. The answer to this unfair situation is to create a level playing field for the cabbies. Eliminate the pricey medallion licensing system, reduce barriers to the market, and slash regulations. This benefits consumers as well as taxi drivers by bringing prices down. Uber is part of a new economic concept called “the sharing economy.” And it’s here to stay. For example, a coworker of mine has quit staying in hotels. She logs onto Airbnb and selects a room from among those offered by private homeowners who rent out extra space. As one might expect, motel owners hate this competition. Tough luck. We should encourage, rather than discourage, competition. In a refreshing freemarket move this year, the Illinois General Assembly embraced a portion of the sharing economy by allowing for investment crowdfund-
ing of businesses. Let’s say you want to start a barbershop but don’t want to borrow from a bank to get your business going. You can sell portions of the ownership of your business over the Internet to finance the endeavor. It’s sort of like the New York Stock Exchange only for smaller businesses. As you may have guessed, not all bankers are real keen on this idea. But it has given opportunities for people to start a business who otherwise might not be able to. UBER, AIRBNB AND investment crowdfunding are just some of the latest examples of how the marketplace thrives on competition. When competition doesn’t exist, entrepreneurs will find a way to create it. And that benefits customers. That’s the beauty of the free enterprise system. Note to readers: Scott Reeder’s column is sponsored by the Illinois Policy Institute.
Growing public mistrust. Incessant racial tension. A spiraling drug epidemic. A mass shooting a day. American police face a shifting, increasingly unnavigable social and political landscape. And yet, dysfunction in Springfield is on course to shutter the very training programs police need to grapple with the upheaval. It’s nothing short of a dereliction of duty among the Capitol’s elected class. The budget stalemate between GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and General Assembly Democrats is in its fourth month. One by one, agencies and services have been scaled back, while others go dark. Southern Illinois University President Randy Dunn said this past month that come January, should the impasse continue, the 5 or 10 percent cuts already shouldered by departments throughout campus will be a relative bright spot. The elderly. The poor. The addicted. The college student. These are the immediate victims of Springfield’s brinkmanship, obviously partially driven by mutual disdain between Rauner and House Speaker Mike Madigan. AND NOW, EVEN THE police are falling victim to the senseless, selfish game of peacock. On Oct. 31, the Southern Illinois Criminal Justice Training Program will run
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This isn’t governance. It’s testosteronedriven posturing. Even Senate President John Cullerton admits it.
Comfort and strength found in our churches TOM SLOTHOWER Sterling
I am 82, and have been strengthened by God’s grace by church activities since the age of 5. The unselfish Christians attending St. John’s Lutheran Church mentored fatherless me throughout the first season of my lifetime. Then, the Christian people at St. Paul Lutheran, along with excellent pastors, assisted God’s work with me throughout the middle season of my life as it was rocked by job troubles, sickness, and deaths of loved ones. Now, at the last season
EDITORIAL BOARD Jim Dunn Sam R Fisher Sheryl Gulbranson Jennifer Heintzelman Jeff Rogers
of my life, I continue to be aided and abetted – lifted up – by Christian members and dedicated pastors at New Life Lutheran. As I recall my life experience, always enriched, comforted and strengthened by the church, it seems unfortunate that the people of SterlingRock Falls seem to evidence minimum interest in following Christ and his churches, thus denying themselves memberships in local churches where caring, unselfish members, pastors and priests carry out God’s assignments. They are waiting to help us handle what life dishes out. One really doesn’t have to live alone in SterlingRock Falls, for God’s
churches are here, and his people stand ready and willing to make life more bearable – just like they have for me over my 82 years here.
‘Car girl’ loves classic rides JEANNIE EICHELBERGER Rock Falls
Some women like money, diamonds, or the most expensive brandnew car they can find. Me, I like going to classic and antique car shows. They look better than diamonds to me. I’m a car girl. I take after my dad. I love to stick my head in the window of an antique car and inhale. You smell the old materials, fabrics and leather, and all the years that
THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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Southern Illinoisan Editorial Board
THE READER’S VOICE wonderful car has been around. I love to stick my head in the window of a Woody and smell that wonderful wood. They don’t make them like that anymore. The lines of classic cars aren’t streamlined like today’s cars, but they are all so different and so very beautiful. They bring me such joy to look at. I dated a man decades ago who owned many classic and antique cars. He asked me, “Would you like to drive one?” I learned to drive when I was 15 on a straight stick, so I immediately said, “Yes, can I drive one of the cars with running boards?” I did, and it was wonderful. A dream come true for a car girl. What a day, what a ride.
out of cash, said Director Mike Norrington. Seventyfive percent of the funding for the Carbondale-based training program comes from surcharges on traffic tickets. Like so many other funding streams, the cash isn’t available without a budget. The Criminal Justice program provides muchneeded training and certification – often state mandated – to 163 agencies within a 27-county swath, officials said. Sorry, officer, that required firearm certification won’t be available. Nor will that Freedom of Information Act training or schooling on drug abuse response. No doubt those lectures on “aggressive
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Editorials represent the opinions of the Sauk Valley Media Editorial Board.
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patrol tactics” would have been of particular interest following the national unrest surrounding a slew of unarmed young black men killed during run-ins with police. Yes, it all sounds very useful, even hugely important. But neither Rauner nor Madigan can relent, even a little. Of course, like so many other important services, the necessary training regimen could fall to the already squeezed local taxpayer. Don’t blame the police, should local government start shelling out millions
Illinois Budget Stalemate
108 days
without a state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.
to keep officers up to snuff. It’s the state’s doing. At some point, the chestthumping at the Capitol will start taking a toll on everyone. If the cops can’t get a shred of respect from state officials, no one can. Only court orders and consent decrees keep the state partially running. Employees are getting paid. A couple of agencies, such as the State Museum, have flipped off the lights. A total shutdown would have been better. At least then, the unions, private service providers, local governments and citizenry would have all demanded a budget deal. But Rauner couldn’t get the shutdown he needed to thrust most of his agenda on General Assembly Democrats. And Madigan remains unwilling to admit that Illinois can’t continue spending more than it brings in. This isn’t governance. It’s testosterone-driven posturing. Even Senate President John Cullerton admits it. Lawmakers, last week, warned that the state could soon run out of cash, if the impasse persists. MADIGAN SHOULD embrace Rauner’s property tax freeze. The governor should agree to abandon his most anti-union initiatives and settle for something politically feasible. And the largest public unions should accept reality: The state’s broke. But everyone involved is more concerned with leveling defeat than scoring a victory. The acrimony is distributing pain and embarrassment throughout the state. And, in a time when cops are under mounting scrutiny, even they can’t catch a break from Springfield.
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