Rockford, Danville, and Peoria are also in the bottom 25 percent. 
Congratulations (of sorts) to Illinois for Bloomington’s 100% bottom ranking. No other metro area in the nation is worse.
Rockford is also notable for negative GDP since 2019. Only 4.4 percent of the nation’s metro areas were worse.
Danville, my home town, is in the bottom quartile along with Peoria, and Carbondale.
The above chart and stats are from the Wirepoints article What Illinois needs to grow again
I recently visited the owner of a large, successful business headquartered in Illinois. Among the issues we discussed were his frustrations with operating in Illinois and just how unfriendly the state has become to business. He then told me he was no longer expanding in Illinois and that 100% of his expansion was happening in other states. Some in the Midwest, but mostly in the South. That’s where the real growth is, he said.
Then he pointed to a map on the wall. Pins representing both existing and soon-to-be-done expansions were spread across many states. Sadly, there were no new pins in Illinois. Investment and jobs are passing us by.
That’s an anecdote, but the data we’ve pulled up shows it’s anything but. Economic growth in Illinois’ metro areas has been poor for a long time, but in this piece we focus on growth since 2019.
Start with the Bloomington metropolitan area. It suffered the worst economic performance of any metro area in the nation between 2019 and 2023, the most-recent data available. With a drop of 17% in real economic output, it’s dead last among the nation’s 384 metro areas tracked by the federal government.
Rockford’s metro area is almost in the same predicament. It, too, shrank (down 3%) and at rank 367 is almost at the bottom of the list.
The Danville, Peoria, Carbondale and Springfield area economies have also stagnated, growing just 2% to 3% in total since 2019.
The Chicago area isn’t much better, growing by just 4% since 2019. Illinois’ “economic engine” is ranked just 268th out of the 384 metro areas. It’s also the slowest growing among the nation’s 15 largest metros.
Illinois’ state and local policies – from high taxes to overwhelming pension debts to strangling union powers to persistent overspending – have ruined that for Illinoisans. Overall, Illinois’ economic growth has ranked 4th-worst nationally over the last six years.
We have a pro-growth prescription for Illinois: do the opposite of the above. Cut taxes, reduce public union powers and slash wasteful spending. Only then will companies, investment and growth come back.
Chicago Is Worst of the 15 Largest Metro Areas
Pathetic and Shocking?
Pathetic yes. Shocking no.
Illinois is the most corrupt state in the nation. It’s under total control of the public unions, especially the Chicago Teachers’ Union.
I have been writing about Illinois for two decades, and Chicago manages to elect someone worse in every election.
Mayor Brandon Johnson is one kind. Then again, we all thought the same about his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot.
Spotlight Macomb, Illinois
The Wall Street Journal article covered Macomb in its recent article America’s College Towns Go From Boom to Bust
At Western Illinois University, an empty dorm that once held 800 students is now a police training ground, where active-shooter drills have left behind overturned furniture, rubber-tipped bullets and paintball casings.
Nearby dorms have been razed to weedy fields. Two more dorms are set to close this summer. Frat houses and homes once filled with student renters are empty lots. City streets used to be so crowded during the semester that cars moved at a crawl. No more.
“It’s almost like you’re watching the town die,” said Kalib McGruder, who was born in Macomb and worked 28 years for the Western Illinois campus police department.
Macomb is at the heart of a new Rust Belt: Across the U.S., colleges are faltering and so are the once booming towns around them. Enrollment is down at many of the nation’s public colleges and universities, widening the gap between high-profile campuses and struggling schools. Starting next year, there will be fewer high-school graduates for the foreseeable future.
Even worse, the number of students graduating from American high schools is expected to start falling next spring, after reaching a record high this year. In 2007, the number of U.S. births peaked at 4.3 million and has been falling almost every year since.
In Macomb, about 140 miles west of Urbana-Champaign, the city’s population fell 23% to an estimated 14,765 from 2010 to 2024. The enrollment at Western Illinois University’s Macomb campus has fallen 47% since 2010, to 5,511 from 10,377.
Falling enrollment shifts more of the financial burden to state governments, and government funding hasn’t kept up with rising costs, a Western Illinois spokesman said.
A budget standoff in the Illinois statehouse froze state funding for almost two years between 2015 and 2017, forcing layoffs and budget cuts.
The freeze hit Western Illinois particularly hard, given its falling enrollment. School officials cut programs and raised fees, making it tough to attract new students, employees said.
Some cuts are easy to see—in needed repairs to sidewalks and buildings, according to Justin Schuch, the university’s vice president for student success. A state bill to increase funding for struggling universities is the talk of the town.
Spotlight Danville, Illinois
Having grown up in Danville, I can discuss it first hand.
Danville had a population of at least 44,000 from signs I remember. I think the largest was 46,000 or so.
Here are some interesting stats from World Population Review.
Danville has a 2025 population of 27,590. It is also the county seat of Vermilion County. Danville is currently declining at a rate of -1.1% annually and its population has decreased by -5.29% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 29,130 in 2020.
The average household income in Danville is $63,431 with a poverty rate of 25.07%.The median age in Danville is 38.9 years: 37.9 years for males, and 40.1 years for females
The 1970 census lists Danville’s population at 42,750. The decline since then is 35.5 percent.
In 2021, WGN reported Danville is Ranked One of the Most Dangerous Cities in America.
Danville is east of Champaign near the Indiana border. The study found it was the 6th most dangerous metro area in the country in 2020 and the most dangerous metro area in the state.
There were 785 violent crimes reported in the metro area in 2020, or 1,050 for every 100,000 people. There also were 13 homicides in Danville in 2020, a murder rate of 17.4 per 100,000. That is more than double the national average of 6.5 per 100,000.
Illinois Crime Stats 2021
- Danville, IL (6th most dangerous city in US):
- Violent crime rate: 1,050 per 100,000 people (785 total crimes)
- 1-yr. change in violent crime rate: +12.3%
- Homicide rate: 17.4 per 100,000 people (13 total homicides)
- Poverty rate: 16.5%
- Rockford, IL (17th most dangerous city in US):
- Violent crime rate: 771 per 100,000 people (2,566 total crimes)
- 1-yr. change in violent crime rate: +21.5%
- Homicide rate: 10.8 per 100,000 people (36 total homicides)
- Poverty rate: 16.1%
- Springfield, IL (28th most dangerous city in US):
- Violent crime rate: 667 per 100,000 people (1,369 total crimes)
- 1-yr. change in violent crime rate: +14.1%
- Homicide rate: 5.8 per 100,000 people (12 total homicides)
- Poverty rate: 12.2%
What Happened to Danville?
Danville was once home of candy maker Chuckles. Danville was also the home of a General Motors foundry, Petersen-Puritan (one of the world’s largest aerosol bottling companies – think deodorant sprays), a Coca Cola bottling plant, a Quaker Oats facility, and the Hyster fork lift truck manufacturing company. All have left except Hyster which still exists in a non-manufacturing role only.
Petersen-Puritan turned into an EPA superfund cleanup site.
Danville had the world’s largest grain elevator, Lauhoff Grain Company. It’s now the Bunge Corporation.
Inquiring minds may be interested in the History of Chuckles, no longer made in Danville.
Superficially, one might conclude this is another “hollowing out of America story”.
However, presume Petersen-Puritan was still in Danville. How many would it employ? Ask the same about Quaker Oats, or Coca Cola. Except for shoes, iPhones, and clothes, most manufacturing is all automated now.
Trump want to revive manufacturing but those jobs are lost and gone forever.
Problems run much deeper.
Danville made no move towards a service economy other than more fast food restaurants. Danville now has 9 pizza parlors vs 3 when I grew up despite 36 percent less population now.
Other than University of Illinois, about 35 miles away, the surrounding land is all farms. It’s miles and miles of corn and soybeans in every direction.
Who exactly does that appeal to?
On July 31, 2018 I discussed Spotlight Danville, Illinois, My Home Town
Spotlight Pensions
WirePoints reports Illinois Mayors Have Little Control Over Pension Costs.
Ask Danville, Illinois, Mayor Scott Eisenhauer if he has any control over his police and fire pension mess and you’ll quickly see frustration set in. “Springfield makes all the rules but localities have to pay for them.”
For decades Illinois has prided itself on being a “local control” state. Local control was originally meant to push authority for policy decisions down to the lowest levels of government – as close to the people as possible.
The reality, however, is just the opposite, and nowhere is that more evident than in the state laws mandating pension benefits for police and firemen across Illinois. State lawmakers impose one-size-fits-all government benefits and local governments – meaning local residents – have no choice but to pay them. For some cities, that’s bringing on bankruptcy.
Eisenhauer is quick to describe one of the reasons why cities like Danville are in such a mess.
Of the five major components that impact a community’s pension costs – the number of active workers, the number of pension beneficiaries, salary levels, benefit levels and the pension fund’s actual rate of return – he argues he has partial control over just one: the number of active workers employed by the city. Even then, “minimum manning” laws – which require a city to keep a certain number of firefighters on duty at all times – prevent the mayor from having full control over headcounts.
More than half of Illinois’ 650 public safety funds are less than 60 percent funded, according to the most recent data from Illinois’ Department of Insurance
Pension funding, unions, and massive corruption all played a part in the downfall of Danville and other similar cities.
Illinois law does not allow bankruptcy which is unfortunate because cities like Danville cannot and will not recover unless they can write off debts and untenable pension obligations.
Danville High School Scorecard
- Took at Least One AP® Exam 29%
- Passed at Least One AP® Exam 8%
- Mathematics Proficiency 9%
- Reading Proficiency 11%
- Science Proficiency 38%
- Graduation Rate 68%
There is no draw to Danville. Actually, there is a negative draw to Danville evidenced by the huge population decline.
Secession from Illinois? It’s a Long Shot, but 6 Six Counties Voted Yes
On February 8, 2025, I commented Secession from Illinois? It’s a Long Shot, but 6 Six Counties Voted Yes
Long shot is a huge understatement, but the sentiment alone says what you need to know.
Can any other state boast that six counties voted to leave?
On July 2, 2024, I noted In Chicago There’s Under a 50 Percent Chance Police Show Up If You are Shot
Good luck in Chicago getting the police to show up if you are shot, stabbed, a victim of domestic violence, or any number of other serious crimes.
On November 25, 2024 I asked When Do Mayor Brandon Johnson and the City of Chicago Finally Implode?
Chicago slashed 2,103 public safety job but added 184 administrators. The budget deficit is nearly $1 billion.
Recap
Illinois problems run deep, much deeper than the hollowing out of America story that politicians like to sell.
Public unions and corrupt politicians run the sate. Chicago has one of the worst mayors in the nation.
Illinois tax policy is a disaster. That’s why Illinois has a hard time attracting business. Six counties want to secede to Indiana.
Places like Danville are lightyears removed from growth stories like AI and medical research.
Manufacturing would not revive Danville even if it did return (and it won’t).
For national discussion of manufacturing and why it won’t happen, please see Trump’s Plan to Make Manufacturing Great Again in Pictures
$14.25B Revenues reported last Qtr. 4/30/25
Caterpillar’s manufacturing headquarters, while formerly located in Peoria, Illinois, is now in Irving, Texas. While Peoria remains a significant manufacturing hub for Caterpillar, with a large workforce and various facilities, the company’s global headquarters relocated to Irving in 2022. Peoria still houses a major manufacturing operation, a demonstration and learning center, and a visitors center…,
Mish, where is your “Plan” that turns the current situation around? You imply that simply moving South is the answer for those left behind. How about making CAT move back 100% to Peoria? Put that money to work kicking out the crime and corrupt politicians. Change the LAWs. It’s not the Unions – that BS about Unions creating this mess went out in the 70’s man. This is 2025 and Unions still here. You can ask BOEING why.
ZERO Work Ethic and failure to act on opportunity is why you are “watching” Danville make more Pizzas. How about you outline a program to turn it around there. Your home town first, then mine in Cook County, then the rest.
Chicago made millionaires out of many Italian immigrants that did not speak one word of English when they landed. HARD WORK was the only language around my town. Seen it start in 1969 at the age of nine with my first job delivering newspapers, bread (lol the OG Door-Dash) along with them. There is no reason “watching” is anyone’s solution.
You continue to push the falsehood that “we want a big welfare state and we dont have/want to pay for it.” The solution is not letting people who benefit from these govt programs flee to another state which will provide whatever services one way or another eventually BUT you wont have to pay for them. More so the moving of businesses to other places like Bangladesh, where again, you get a shirt that lasts a year, but the businesses dont have to pay the tax for services the world population wants. And the only unions that matter are the cop and fireman unions (and you try to tell them what they can and cant do). How do 30,000 Chicago teachers tell 2.9 million Chicago residents what to do? And finally, about the only thing I agree with you on is baby boom #2 peaked in 2008-9, and from this day forward for about 25 years, you will see fewer and fewer 16 yo’s which will close high schools and colleges, and its no ones fault. My grandma and her sister ran like hell from their little town in Minnesota, run by old white farmers that controlled their wives, children, animals, the land, everything. Sometimes things need to die.
What a double whammy. I grew up in Danville and graduated from Danville High in 1988 and then graduated from Western Illinois in 1992. A vast majority of my high school class went to college and never came back. The GM plant closing hit hard followed by a GE plant closing.
Interesting that science proficiency can be 38% when reading and math are around 10%. Reading and math are prerequisites for science. This must be where the government workers were educated who say, “Trust the science”(TM).
Isn’t Bloomington home of State Farm Insurance?;I guess that doesn’t help their economy as much as I would have thought.
It also has an adjacent sister city, Normal – which is home to Illinois State University.
Yes! State Farm’s radio commercials end with their HQ location, which is Bloomington, IL. I just visited Phoenix and was amazed at the ginormous campus State Farm has there on the Salt River! State Farm Stadium is where the Arizona Cardinals NFL team plays. So it’s safe to assume that the HQ is in Illinois but the job growth areas are in other locations. 3M is the same way – HQ’d in Minneapolis but their job growth areas are in other states.
Politics and better weather climates in the south have been the basis of northern decline
AC was a boon for back water places around the globe. from southern usa to mideast to asia to africa and mexico and on and on. probably the biggest invention implementation of my lifetime. way bigger than internet.
Given that almost 2/3 of the US population lives in large metropolitan areas, it’s understandable that most attention is focused on the shifting fortunes within this part of the country. But more attention should be paid to the serious decline of the rural areas (about 15 percent of population), where crime has been jumped during Covid and average GDP per capita is by now only half of what it is in urban areas.
So much for Jay Pritzker and I suppose Rahm Emanuel as a standard bearer for any kind of national politics.
geography and demographics explain most of human primate migration. sometimes towns become ghost towns. sometowns towns become huge great cities. sometimes towns and cities are buried under sand, forests or oceans. read some anthropology like david graeber “dawn of everything” or “debt, 5000 year history”. seems like danville was a short lived town and will be abandoned in another century or so. nobody cares about others experiences that much. my home nyc has morphed and changed from dutch to capitol of usa with GW sworn in on wall street. he was correct to name it the empire state. he knew where we were heading. the 70s and 80s and early 90s in nyc were a bit wild and nasty. nobody cares. we celebrate the burning of kingston ny, the first capitol of ny. the british burned in 1778.
When I was growing up in the island of Crete, I learned that cities that survive the test of time are either “commercially advantageous” (trading ports) or “naturally desirable” (natural resources, weather, landscape).
Aside from Chicago’s port location, I still can’t find a reason for people to move and invest in “The Middle of a Frozen Cornfield” and pay taxes for it.
News about the decline of the putrid university industrial complex was pure joy.
My age may be showing, but i spent my middle and high school years a few miles from Mish, and it was a great place… starred in three sports in high school, President of Student Council, okay GPA, took train with brother into the loop for culture and train took my music teacher retired from Chicago Symphony to hotel next to train station every Saturday. Mish’s Danville newspaper owners gave me four year scholarship that covered out of state tuition and full costs at Wisconsin.
These towns are just not needed anymore, no more than the little towns in Kansas that had bigger cities steal their buildings for nearby bigger downtowns like Colby. The economies of scale in agriculture did the same to Central Illinois, some of the best farmland in the world. Many have just not died yet. Mish and many of his followers believe, “we will never get manufacturing back” as BMW, Honda, Subaru (right next to Purdue twenty miles from Danville) a score of boat manufacturers, Bass Pro Shops, etc plop down in god awful places and thrive over the last thirty years. Just because it”s been done mostly in the South (and Ohio) doesn’t mean it won’t eventually happen in downstate Illinois. Just because it’s Thump, doesn’t mean re industrialization might grow in the US.
In the meantime, Danville sits half an hour from University of Illinois and an hour to Purdue where services and jobs are plentiful.
Chicago’s 4% Real GDP growth in 2023 was, sadly, noteworthy? How about the 1.1% growth since Brandon Johnson took office 5/15/23? Per ChatGPT: (which I have found to be extraordinarily liberal-biased): “Looking ahead, economic forecasts for 2024 suggest a slowdown. Moody’s Analytics projects a 1.1% GDP growth for the Chicago area in 2024, compared to a 1.7% national average . Additionally, the Empowering American Cities project forecasts a modest 0.1% GDP growth for the Chicago area in 2024, ranking it 43rd out of the 50 largest U.S. cities.”
One of the most dynamic, architecturally rich cities in the world is now an example of mismanagement? And Chicagoans expected a better performance from the mayor THEY elected? Their choice was one of the most racist (have you seen the video of him touting, with pride, the number of black folks he’s chosen for Chicago leadership?). Johnson is the poster boy for DEI (as opposed to “most competent/best suited for the responsibilities”). My fellow citizens, we can do better.
Rockford REALLY screwed up because they have a Collins Aerospace / Raytheon site. That’s payroll tax on good paying jobs.
Now extrapolate………. Corruption kills societies & countries….. The Grifter in Chief will make this national.
Perhaps it would be salutary to send the leaders of these cities, especially Bloomington, on a free vacation as guests of Mr. Bukele. A year of so might inspire them to come back and get to work.
A statewide party machine will do that. Thank God Ohio didn’t develop into that system. It probably comes from Illinois being dominated by one huge city while Ohio has several urban centers and none can dominate the others.
Im from Granite city,Il.
Escaped in 1976.
In 1976 the population was over 40K.
Today the population is 17K.
What was once the 6th largest fully integrated steel mill in the world has been shuttered for over 5 years.
Add that area to your list of Illinois failures.
To its credit……..Madison county which GC is located voted to secede.
Sauget: a hazardous waste incinerator across from a strip club.
Still some chemical companies around. That’s where the first cars on that East Palestine train originated from. The Better Living Through Chemistry Company.
Yeah….Sauget is a real garden spot.
Surprising that anything grows there.
Danville sounds the the town in the b&w movie, The Last Picture Show’
Q: “Who exactly does that appeal to?”
A: Locusts
Illinois? meh It could be Texas: Musk’s SpaceX town in Texas warns residents they may lose right to ‘continue using’ their property
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/29/elon-musk-spacex-starbase-texas.html?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
How did I know that Danville, Illinois would be near the border of Indiana before I looked at a map? Because of the violent crime rate aggravated by the guns easily purchased in Indiana. How did I know it leaned Republican? Because it is a lower educated community that has relied on tired industries – sugar/candy is out as is soda and do we need to talk about the aerosol bottling company? Danville and I suspect the other right leaning communities around it, are stuck in the past never shifting to service industries. And, an abundance of farm land…so much opportunity (solar arrays, organic farming) yet we blame the poverty on pensions and protective regulations.Stop spending money on red hats, Trump bitcoin and go back to school instead of attending Trump rallies.
Hurricane/Tornado season is upon on and it is never a good look for the South. Danville should be preparing for a return of people who want their onw farm land and would be happy to work in the green economy.
Yeah, all the Indiana hicks in their pickup trucks drop off cases of guns every Thursday night at 47th & the Dan Ryan. It must be true, Father Flakey has been saying so for decades.
Jen, might I kindly suggest you expand your horizons?
Have you compared the violent crime rates of cities as measured against the strictness of their gun control laws (i.e. Chicago & pretty much all of Illinois)? I know it’s old and worn out, but can you deny, “Guns don’t kill people; people do.”
And, yes, exorbitant government pensions are bankrupting states and cities (um, kinda like “The Land of Lincoln” and “the Windy”).
I’m 100% with you on the idea that sugar, candy & aerosols sprays are detrimental to human health. So, why do we allow folks using food stamps (who are also on taxpayer-funded Medicaid) to purchase them?
Saving money instead of buying red hats resonates, but “going back to school?” Do you realize that in one significant culture the concept of “earning a good education” labels you an “Uncle Tom” and is vehemently discouraged?
If we are ever to emerge from the increasing morass that is encompassing this globe, we’re gonna need to eschew the vitriol and focus on what’s best for humanity.
Can we work together?
According to the chart, Chicago had the worst economic growth among the 15 largest metro areas. Los Angeles was 14th. Apparently, left leaning communities are stuck in the past, as well. California has a lot of gun regulations, but that has not stopped gun related crime. Criminals don’t obey the law. Recently, someone who intervened in a catalytic converter theft was shot and killed. Months ago, a former Soap Opera actor was shot to death during a similar theft.
Here ya go –
https://cwbchicago.com/2025/05/drive-by-gunman-injures-7-near-st-sabina-50-rounds-fired-at-crowd-ignoring-dispersal-orders.html
This is GrandMaster level trolling. Nobody is this Stupid.
That’s what happens when the best and brightest(Mish and commenters below) get fed up and leave sinking cities. High taxes, poor services, sanctuary cities, money going to illegals. Add to that education systems where the teachers and administrators get rich while students suffer.
Sadly, we will see this over and over again as liberal mayors try to spend their way out of trouble. Schools will suffer everywhere as woke policies will drive the rich and hard working out of public schools. Public school will become nothing more than a glorified daycare for poor and lazy families.
But have they conquered micro aggressions, dead naming, the wrath of climate crisis and systemic white supremacist racism? As if money were important!
From article — Among the issues we discussed were his frustrations with operating in Illinois and just how unfriendly the state has become to business.
Just that sentence — should confirm the continuous downward spiral for Illinois.
Hi, Mish, I grew up (to 17, I ran away from home and moved to Cal) in Crystal Lake. I moved to Cal and had enough HS Credits, as a new Senior, to simply take fun classes in Menlo Park. So, of course, I took advanced Science courses, College Level, at 17 to 18.
My brother still lives in Woodstock. I would bet that HE knows nothing about the state of the State of Illinois. Peoria is very close to his place out in the Country.
I never looked back and now I have of course FLED CAL and live in Oregon and both are liberal shit shows but Oregon is just less populated where we spend summers. My father-in-law, who just lost his wife, continues to see his Insurance, Taxes and Up-keep killing him in his 5500 square foot home which he refuses to dump.
Bloomington Illinoise voted overwelmingly for Kamala as did Illinoise the state . No further info is needed . I think Mish said at one time as far as Illinoise get the hell out ASAP if you can .
With:
Took at Least One AP® Exam 29%
Passed at Least One AP® Exam 8%
Mathematics Proficiency 9%
Reading Proficiency 11%
Science Proficiency 38%
They achieved a graduation rate of 68%.
Now it all makes sense.
Just a side comment, but as a chemical engineer, how can you have 10% pass at grade level for reading and math, but science at 40%
Singapore math?
“maff is hard”
And racist
I believe eastern Oregon has about 9 counties ready and willing to join Idaho: common characteristic is democratic strongholds.
You are right, Dave. They have toned it down OR the mainstream news is not covering it (likely the latter). CENSORED with a big huge RUBBER STAMP, right?
Thirteen counties have voted for secession from Oregon. I watched Oregon turn from red to blue over the past fifty years. The people in rural areas have no say in their governance anymore. Perhaps a solution could be found by having the state senatorial representation by county rather than by politically drawn population districts.
No. cut the state off at Cascade Locks, Wilsonville, and Hillsboro/Forest Grove. Then Rename that area Democrapic Sudetenland, and turn the rest of the state into Outer Banks Boise. Elect Bob Livingston as Governor and disallow all sanctuary sh…t, and keep the damn kicker rebate on the books!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_v._Sims#:~:text=Sims%20%2D%20Wikipedia-,Reynolds,Sims&text=Article-,Reynolds%20v.,be%20roughly%20equal%20in%20population.
It would require a constitutional amendment to allow state senatorial representation by county.
The countryside supplies the cities with cheap food, cheap energy, cheap building materials and often water. The cities will not give that up willingly.
Ah, the Warren court again.
great post and lots to take in but let’s start with the fact that an economy, at the most basic level, is about the exchange of goods and services between people. Once the people leave, the economy is going to die a slow death and no amount of fed rate jiggering, tax policy, or circus antics will fix it. You can’t grow an economy if you don’t have growth in population; It’s something I have been hammering on here for years and Trump is doing to the nation what Illinois did with Danville, decimating the population and implementing horrible policies. It’s not all Trump’s fault, it’s been happening for 50+ years now.
It took a long time for Danville to deteriorate but it won’t take that long for the US to get to the same place. By 2030, just 5 short years from now, there will be 80 million socialists collecting social security and draining medicare costing $5 trillion/year by my estimates. While the population isn’t “leaving” in this case, they are effectively unemployed drain on the system, consuming but producing little or nothing. The “Danville-ing” of the US is happening right before our eyes. There is no fix from any clown politicians, there is only pragmatic escape to new realities elsewhere.
Mish did good to leave Illinois but when it’s my turn I’m going much further out than Utah, much much further out.
Got exit strategy?
Before I got deathly ill, we were in the final stages of moving to Europe for good. HIGHER FOOD quality and the health care is good there, but my wife is nervous about leaving our Power Base here in Oregon. SO, we winter in Portugal and come back here in Oregon in May each year.
So sorry to hear about your illness. Please get well soon. I’ve traveled through Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, CZ Repub., Poland, Greece, Morocco, Mexico, South America. We have investigate me re-uping my Cz Citizenship, and looking into an area just north of Nice, FR. The more I look at the messes in ALL those countries the harder I wish to move to Alsea, OR and just “hide-in-plain-sight.” I wish you well.
Thanks. Alsea is great. We are in Newport.
Wow. Small world. Early childhood as refugee/immigrants in Waldport is a familiar sight. Great memories. Back then it was great to be citizens of USA. 🇺🇸. Now persona non grata is perhaps safer. Hence the fly fishing 🎣 on the Alsea, and the open wilderness East of Mary’s Peak and on the edge of the Willamete Valley. Of course there is always Oregon State University in Corvallis. And The famous Ducks 🦆 in Eugene. Stay safe and well.
AB and SK are going to take the northern part of BC with them.
California has been doing it to itself for years. That Orange and San Diego County are now low income areas for households earning less than $100,000 a year, makes it difficult to live in metro areas. Citizens have been leaving the state, while illegal aliens have been entering sanctuary.
Bill Gates and other globalist elitists have a problem with population growth due to 8 billion people on the planet. They want the world experiencing what Japan is, population de-growth. Canada is even expanding it’s eligibility for the MAID assisted suicide program. Also, Net Zero is economic de-growth.
The interesting thing about exit strategy, is that if so many do the same thing, it just creates a mess somewhere else, as the mass migration exit from Africa and middle East has done to the EU.
You blame Bill Gates and global elitists but they have done nothing to prevent you from having children. That’s a choice you make all on your own. The real issue with the global population is that it’s aging very rapidly and old people don’t tend to produce much other than whining and complaining on blogs. The elders put pressure on the young to pay for their social programs, food, healthcare, etc. when they should just move on to the next life.
I hope Canada’s MAID comes to America soon, it’s one of the tools to fix the coming elder apocalypse.
So when would you prefer I commit suicide? Is there a hard age limit or is it health related?
You are an idiot. Gates is part of the problem as is fauci. You move on to Canada 🇨🇦. You will see the socialism grafted into the nation from their collective English roots. Starmer??? Also you too will someday be old. Can you hump a weight belt for 4 miles at less than 100 beats per minute? Didn’t think so. I paid into the System for 60 years. Just enjoying my just rewards. Be well. Stay safe. Blessings be
They certainly do a lot of whining on this blog! Ha ha
I grew up in Chicago. My Dad hosted gin-rummy every 4th Friday night: he was an import merchant, another was a political lawyer, other an Alderman in City government, other real estate developer. My job was to empty the ashtrays and keep the CocaCola fresh (most were AA members). One interesting dialogue occurred when the Alderman described in detail the planned route of the expressway linking the loop to O’Hare, including the steps for eminent domain. You can probably complete the story…
I remember my folks playing Gin Rummy! Mom was a problem smoker and Drinker and Dad was straight on both. She died early.
Chicago was simply Scary in the 60’s. We avoided it but for the Museum of Science and Industry.
I won the State Wrestling Championship in 1969.
Danville is 57% white. What was it when you were a kid?
Crystal Lake was 99.99999% white and the only people of “color” were the immigrant Cubans.
Has the demographic makeup of Danville changed? I’ll bet it has, and I’ll bet I know how it has. You missed the most important aspect of the story.
I went to graduate school in Chicago in the late 1970s. Back then Chicagoans bragged about how their city was better than New York. Maybe so, but coming from Texas I thought the city was corrupt and social services, like snow removal, were politically driven and lousy. Sad to see the decline of a great American city, but it was all predictable.
It sure was! Illinois in the 50’s to the late 60’s, my era, was really great. Small town Illinois was wonderful, with Sledding/Toboggans and ice Skating and Lake Fishing and swimming. We went everywhere on our bikes all day long and the only rule was to be back my dinner time.
“Passed at Least One AP® Exam 8%” seems shockingly low, but then I thought my very highly rated high school (Wayland, MA).
Class of 1966. I would guess that 25/162 (15%) took AP exams. The ‘pass at least one’ was probably close to the 15% as most kids who an AP exam took 2-4.