Oh, Indiana

[Content Note: Unemployment; homophobia.]

On her way to visit Shakes Manor this weekend, Eastsidekate snapped this picture (which I am sharing with her permission) of a billboard, one of many along the Indiana-Illinois border, which is part of a campaign to try to bring business to Indiana:


I have written many times about the way the Indiana state government, which is seated in the central part of the state, is hostile to and exploitative of Northwest Indiana, where I live, known throughout the rest of the state as "The Region." Like, using us as an ATM and privatizing the roads we use to get to Illinois, where the jobs are.

This latest campaign is a perfect example of the fuckery wrought by our state government. Because, first of all:

The latest marketing campaign to try to persuade Illinois businesses to jump across the Indiana line contrasts the business climates of the neighboring states. A major focus will be that Illinois' corporate income tax rate is 9.5 percent, while a newly signed law will lower Indiana's corporate tax to 4.9 percent in 2021.

...A promise of lower tax bills has helped persuade a string of businesses, including AM Manufacturing Co., Tec Air and Carl Buddig, to move operations to Northwest Indiana from south Cook County in recent years.

Still, Illinois has far outpaced Indiana in economic development, pulling in more than three times as many significant business investments last year, according to Site Selection Magazine data.

Last year, Illinois ranked third nationally by attracting 383 projects that involved more than $1 million in investment, at least 50 jobs, or 20,000 square feet, according to the trade publication. Indiana had 103 such projects, which was at least 60 fewer than all of its neighboring states and second-to-last per capita in the Midwest.

Which is partly because businesses are reluctant to do business in states that are actively seeking to codify discrimination against potential employees, and, instead of making their state friendly for workplace diversity, the state legislature continues to lower corporate taxes while continually cutting education funding. Because nothing attracts business like a poorly educated workforce!

So, the campaign is garbage because Indiana politics are garbage. But it's also garbage because many of the residents of Northwest Indiana travel to Illinois every day for work because that's where the jobs are!

It would be laughable for the irony, except for the fact that our state government, who refuses to invest in The Region in a way that will revitalize the economy after the collapse of the steel industry, is posting belligerent signs that stand to piss off Illinois employers and coworkers.

Which doesn't affect anyone in Indianapolis.