Rauner pushes for term limits and reforms in State of State address

From ILLINOIS NEWS NETWORK

Illinois’ governor continues his push for lawmakers to curb the power of powerful politicians through redistricting reform and legislative term limits, and he applauded leaders in the Senate for working toward a compromise package to end the budget logjam.

Using his third State of the State Address in front of lawmakers in Springfield Wednesday, Gov. Bruce Rauner laid out the various accomplishments he said his office achieved. From ethics to hiring and technology reforms, Rauner said big strides have been made. But he’s looking for political reforms from lawmakers, as well.

“Please do the right thing,” he said. “Pass the bills to put term limits and fair maps on the ballot.”

Meanwhile, Rauner said Illinois can’t just raise taxes to fix its problems. Instead, he’s got a goal he’s certain will bring new industries to the state.

“We have the potential to create a technology and innovation center here in Illinois … that can rival Silicon Valley or North Carolina’s research triangle, creating tens of thousands of high-paying jobs,” he said.

Rauner said only with economic growth can Illinois be successful.

“We’ve got to remember: To keep budgets balanced in the future, our rate of economic growth has to be higher than the rate of government spending growth,” he said. “It’s simple math.”

The governor went off script and applauded leaders in the Senate for opening the discussion on the need for economic reforms as part of a balanced budget. Without endorsing the deal, Rauner said lawmakers should keep working together to grow the economy and protect taxpayers.

The Senate has more than a dozen bills that include versions of reforms sought by the governor, along with tax increases.

Trump Hits Populist Note in Inaugural Address

By Richard Tofel

ProPublica

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s inaugural address, it seemed no one knew exactly what to expect.

Today was clearly an occasion for the use of the teleprompters that Trump used to mock his predecessor for employing. But, with the prepared text scrolling before him, would Trump offer the sobriety of his speech after meeting the Mexican president last August, or that of Election Night — or the bellicosity of his convention acceptance speech? Sobriety won the day.

But the speech was much more than sober. It largely lacked lofty language, but contained a full-throated populist vision, delivered with confidence, and signaled this from the start in one of its most memorable lines: “Today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people.” This might be heard to echo Ronald Reagan’s 1981 statement that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” but that would actually miss Trump’s point: The speech did not oppose government — it opposed the governors.

Perhaps the most striking element of the speech is how positive it remained throughout. Yes, it painted a dark vision of the state of the country today, accentuating the negative in this respect as almost all presidents who succeed a person of the other party do. But the blame for these ills was cast only on two domestic players: an undefined “Establishment” and, most tellingly, “Washington” and “politicians,” implicitly of both parties, “who are all talk and no action constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.”

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://pixel.propublica.org/pixel.js" async="true"></script>Trump once again, as at his Convention, made a presumably conscious play for Franklin Roosevelt’s “forgotten man” of 1932. “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Everyone is listening to you now,” Trump declared. But while some on the right have tried to recast this phrase and return it to the meaning of William Graham Sumner, who used it first in 1918 to refer to taxpayers forced to pay for reforms, Trump made no such allusions. Government must be part of the solution to his promises, if only because those promises are being made by the new head of the government.

And therein lies the great risk of the speech. The new president pledged today to rid the country of the problems of drugs, crime, inner city poverty and closed factories, and to launch an ambitious program of infrastructure spending. He pledged to “eradicate completely from the face of the earth” what he predictably called “radical Islamic terrorism.” None of these promises are likely to be literally fulfilled. Trump’s pledge to “never, ever let you down” seems a dangerous echo of Jimmy Carter, who said the same thing, and received 40 percent of the vote when he ran for re-election. The question then will be whether enough has been done to avoid popular disappointment.

A striking contrast in the speech was that between its pleas for domestic unity — Trump twice called for racial tolerance — and international division. On the latter score, it is worth comparing this from John Kennedy exactly 56 years ago, “we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty,” with this from Trump today: “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.”

Other questions ahead of today’s speech went more to style than to substance. Would Trump be gracious and thank his predecessor, as each new president since Carter in 1977 has done? He did. Would he be afflicted by the nervous sniffling of his debate performances (and the Mexican speech), or display the self-confidence that made those exceptions stand out? He sniffled a bit, but not nearly as much as in the debates — he seemed much more confident today than he did then.

One of the few things Trump and his aides said about the speech in advance was that it would be short. In the event, it was. The President clocked in at 1,454 words. That compares with 1,366 words in JFK’s inaugural address — the most memorable of the modern era. It is far longer than FDR’s fourth inaugural, which, at 573 words, was the shortest modern address — and nowhere near Washington’s second inaugural, in 1793, which set an enduring record for brevity at 136 words. But it was considerably shorter than Barack Obama’s largely unmemorable first inaugural address (everyone, it seems, remembers the day, but, unusually for Obama, very little of what was said); that speech ran 2,409 words.

One thing was entirely predictable: how the speech would end. Anyone paying any attention at all for the last 18 months should have known its last point would be a call to “Make America Great Again.”

Tofel is the author of “Sounding the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address” and “Eight Weeks in Washington, 1861: Abraham Lincoln and the Hazards of Transition.”

www.propublica.org

Home sales strong in 2016, PAAR reports

Historically low interest rates continued attracting buyers to the local real estate market in 2016 and year-end sales nearly matched those of 2015, according to the Peoria Area Association of Realtors.

There were 5,454 homes sold in 2016, just 0.8 percent below the 5,499 units sold the previous year, which was the fourth consecutive year sales rose.

Fourth quarter home sales edged upwards 1.3 percent to 1,190 units vs. 1,175 sales in 2015, the association reported.

Locally, newly constructed homes sold through PAAR MLS totaled 1,343 units compared with 1,312 in 2015.

The median home sale price stood at $118,000, down 1.7 percent from $120,000 in 2015. The average sales price was $141,757, down 2.8 percent from $145,791. It took less time to sell a home in 2016 in the Peoria area; the average was 83 days, compared with 86 days in 2015. The price range that averaged the shortest days on market was the $125,001 to $175,000 at 72 days, the association said.

Seller activity increased 0.6 percent to 8,761 new listings, compared with 8,711 in 2015. There were fewer homes to select from with the inventory of homes for sale through December, down 2.3 percent to 2,503 from 2,563 in December of 2015.

“Homebuyer demand kept sales steady in the Peoria area to end the year on a strong pace even while supply was decreasing. Fourth quarter sales numbers for the Peoria area were up 1.3 percent from a year ago and November sales alone were up 23 percent,” said Jana Heffron, president of the Peoria Area Association of Realtors. “Buyers were able to ride the tailwind of historically low mortgage rates for a much longer period of time than anticipated. We may see more entry-level and move-up buyers eager to purchase in the first quarter in order to lock in rates before they inch any higher.”

This past week, mortgage rates moved in a downward fashion for the third consecutive week with the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaging 4.09 percent according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun predicts conforming loan rates will approach 4.6 percent by the end of 2017. Yun hopes continued job growth, any economic stimulus from the new administration and more millennials reaching their prime buying years will keep demand for the most part on solid footing.

Peoria area homes with the largest gain in sales activity in December were those in the $175,001 to $225,000 price range, increasing 5.7 percent.  A few of the areas in the Peoria region reporting home sale gains in 2016 included Edwards, up 17.2 percent; East Peoria, up 3.4 percent; Peoria Heights, up 9.6 percent; Tazewell County, up 1.7 percent and Woodford County up 2.6 percent.

“An improving national economy should be a positive sign for the 2017 Peoria area housing market, although local expansion or reductions in workforce announcements factor into the consumer confidence and decision making in housing,” said Heffron.  “One of the biggest challenges will be to make sure that the supply of inventory increases to keep pace with the demand of buyers in the market searching for properties in price categories where supply has tightened.

“The Greater Peoria region is very fortunate to have a diverse inventory of properties from affordable housing priced below $75,000 to higher priced properties above $500,000. From a seller standpoint, pricing a property is extremely important for a timely sale but is critical right now for upper price range properties where there are fewer sales. Hot price ranges currently exist below $125,000 and in the $225,000-$300,000 category.”

According to realtor.com, Midwestern cities continue to be hotbeds for millennial buyers going into 2017. A recent published study by SmartAsset looked at data on under 35-homeownership rates in the 200 largest U.S. cities to identify where millennials are buying homes. The study found Peoria, Ill. is popular for millennial buyers. From 2006-2015, the report found the under 35 homeownership rate jumped 8 percent in the Peoria market, the highest increase in the SmartAsset study. The data analyzed was from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 and 2006-1year American Community Surveys.

Millennials are expected to share about 33 percent of the market while baby boomers are expected to make up 30 percent of buyers in 2017.

“Millennials and first time buyers have the unique opportunity to get into the housing market affordably in the Peoria region. One of the greatest contributors to consumer wealth has been the growth of home equity. Renters are missing out on opportunities to begin building their financial equity through homeownership,” said Heffron.

 Peoria Area Association of REALTORS®

      YEAR-END SALES, AVErage & Median Sales Prices

INVENTORY NUMBERS

                                                   4TH QUARTER BY MONTH

*The Lamoine Valley Board of REALTORS® merged with the Peoria Area Association of REALTORS® in May 2015. Home sales adjusted to include Lamoine Valley totals years 2014, 2015 and 2016.

State farming community hopeful about Trump's Ag Secretary pick

From ILLINOIS NEWS NETWORK

Illinois’ agriculture community is hopeful President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help cut back regulations and lower taxes for farmers.

Illinois Farm Bureau President Rich Guebert said he and others in the agriculture community were a little worried. They thought the announcement was going to happen last week.

“I think all of agriculture was wondering if we were ever going to get a secretary appointed,” he said. “It was kind of down to the wire.”

News trickled out late Wednesday that former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue would be Trump’s pick for USDA.

Guebert said he is confident Perdue will help work on issues important to farmers like dealing overly burdensome regulations “and bring some common sense back to regulations, whether it has to do with the Clean Water Act or anything else that regulates Illinois agriculture — from water to air.”

Guebert said farmers want clean water and air so they can pass quality land to the next generation. They also want Perdue to work with lawmakers to repeal the estate tax.

“A death tax, you might say, is to pay taxes on that land again,” he said. “We pay taxes throughout our lifetime, property taxes on that land, and we just feel it’s a double taxation.”

Earlier this week, Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton, told the Illinois News Network he’s been appointed to the subcommittee that will begin the process of repealing the federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

Perdue will have to be approved by the U.S. Senate.