UPTOWN — Protestors will air their grievances about Gov. Bruce Rauner's vision for the state of Illinois Tuesday in Uptown.
An alliance of those harmed by "cuts to human services and the front-line service workers will protest Rauner's 'inhumane' priorities" outside Bank of America, at 4758 N. Racine Ave. The protest, which is organized by the Alliance of Community Services, will begin at 4:30 p.m., according to a news release. Rauner will give his second State of the State Address Wednesday.
The group chose Bank of America to bring attention to the administration's cuts to "child care agencies and employee health insurance premiums," while continuing "swap payments to big banks."
"They say the state is too broke to hire staff and fund services, but they hand over $68 million per year to the big banks, just in swaps payments. That money could pay for over a 1,000 caseworkers. Without enough caseworkers — and community-based programs, we cannot get the decent service we deserve," according to Department of Human Services consumer Katy Powers.
"Thousands of people have lost Medicaid and other services, agencies have cut jobs and the administration is proposing a series off administrative policies that will harm consumers," the press release said.
A new report from the Refund America Project, said the 19 hedging interest rate swap deals, "which backfired in light of the 2008 financial crisis," could cost taxpayers $1.45 billion. Through the end of the 2015 fiscal year, the state has paid firms such as Bank of America, Loop Financial, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup "$618 million in net swap payments."
The state continues to pay the banks another $68 million a year on these deals is expected to pay $832 million over the remaining life of these deals from fiscal year 2016 through 2033," the report said.
“This report shows that these toxic swaps have been an unmitigated disaster for the state, failing in almost every way. If state officials knew then what we know now, it would have been financially irresponsible for them to have signed these deals,” said Saqib Bhatti, Director of the Refund America Project, according to Chicagoist.
For the full report click here.
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