Young Democrats prove they can spin, too

Regarding the July 21 Guest View, "Refusing to walk away from chance to make Illinois better":

The above referenced article shows that young liberal Democrats can spin their "facts" as well as the older, longterm Democrats in Illinois and Washington.

The authors gloss over the financial plight of Illinois, ranked in the worst financial condition of the 50 states by The Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the doubling of its "out-migration rate" between 2011 and 2018 that currently results in a net loss of roughly 313 residents per day. Instead, they tout the underfunded state capital construction plan and their own plans to create new local Environmental Committees to "respond to the threat of climate change."

They also highlight that Illinois has 37 Fortune 500 companies but neglect to add that Lake County, where one of the authors sits on the county board, is losing three major companies with the loss of 2,700 jobs and is worried about a fourth defection by AbbVie with over 9,000 jobs.

They wrap up with a justification of higher tax rates using an example of Kansas, which recently had to repeal its 2012 tax cuts because of the impact on its state budget, implying that tax cuts are ineffective as an economic stimulus. They might do some homework and read the analysis in The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 14, 2017, which explains why it failed due to federal stimulus spending cuts, a 20 percent reduction in revenue, a failure to pass the proposed offsets of the elimination of "loopholes," and a number of other issues.

I can understand that local politicians should have a positive attitude, but facts matter and these two are living in a fantasy land.

David Swanson

Elgin