By Ted Dabrowski, includes “Politicians initially said inflation would be short-term, but the increases have been higher and they’ve lasted longer than originally expected, meaning officials can no longer maintain the charade. … Local lawmakers could provide relief by bringing down taxes, but they’ve done nothing. In fact, lawmakers have been doing the opposite by boosting spending and costs. Worse, Illinois politicians were some of the primary cheerleaders of the federal bailouts and spending that got the country into this inflation mess in the first place.”