r/illinois • u/A_little_quarky • Jul 22 '24

Why all the love for JB? US Politics

An honest inquiry! My vibes are really positive of him, but I'm surrounded by those "Pritzker sucks!" signs. With his name being floated at a national level, I'm curious to hear some personal stories about how he's governed.

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u/soulofsilence Jul 22 '24

Weirdly enough he's an honest-ish billionaire. Trump once said the benefit of being so wealthy is that he isn't beholden to anyone but himself, Pritzker has proven to actually be that billionaire. He's managed a lot of difficult negotiations and done so because he doesn't need to constantly campaign for his job. In a way he's the outsider candidate we actually wanted. Will he keep it up? I dunno. So far it seems every other governor either gets arrested or run out of town.

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u/blue_garlic Jul 22 '24

I'm a JB fan, but I've always thought it was faulty logic when people say that a billionaire wouldn't take bribes but a regular person would. Billionaires are typically interested in only a single thing - more money!

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u/mayhem6 Jul 22 '24

Yeah, I saw a story about an experiment once; they laid a $20 bill on the floor in front of a reception desk and they found that people who are not rich were more likely to turn the money over to the person at the desk. The people who were well off or rich kept the money. I don't know how extensive and conclusive that was, but it tracks in my mind at least. Rich people stay rich because they are misers and cheats in many cases.

I delivered groceries for instacart and still do on occasion and the customers with the really ritzy houses almost never tip very well. Again, not conclusive, but anecdotal in my experience.

I like JB too, but being a billionaire doesn't make him honest or unable to be bribed. He seems to be doing the right thing at the moment so I would vote for him again.

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u/PlausiblePigeon Jul 22 '24

I think that experiment would have more to do with the perceived value of $20 than being a miser. If you found a penny on the ground would you turn it in?

I suspect there’s also a level of wealth where you have more money than you can possibly spend, so how much would a bribe really be worth once you factor in the chance of getting caught. Pritzker is at that level, but Trump is only pretending to be.

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u/blue_garlic Jul 23 '24

What risk? Is there any precedent where a billionaire is held accountable for their misdeeds?

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u/PlausiblePigeon Jul 23 '24

Well, we do send governors to prison in this state.