Chicago City Wire

High taxes and violent crime are driving businesses out of Chicago, best-selling author Jim Rickards said in a tweet June 23.

"For big city Democrat mayors who think that violence, crime, high taxes, and homeless tent cities don't matter, guess again," the author wrote. "One of the world’s largest hedge funds is leaving Chicago and heading to Miami. Who can blame them? Say goodbye to Lori Lightfoot."

The tweet followed an announcement by billionaire Ken Griffin, formerly the wealthiest Illinois resident, that he has moved to Florida, and he's taking hedge fund Citadel and its partner company Citadel Securities with him, Market Watch reported.

“Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois,” Griffin wrote in a letter to employees. “Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York, and our other offices around the world.” 

Griffin is among the 50 wealthiest people in the world, with an estimated worth of $28.9 billion, according to Market Watch.  His announcement is the third in the last two months of major companies pulling their headquarters out of Illinois. Citadel officials said crime was a factor in Griffin's decision.          

As of June 19, there had been 282 murders, 1,148 shooting incidents, 935 sexual assaults, 3,659 robberies, 2,553 aggravated batteries, 3,235 burglaries, 7,770 thefts, and 5,869 motor vehicle thefts reported in Chicago since Jan. 1, according to data from the Chicago Police Department. Compared to the same time last year, burglaries have increased 31%, motor vehicle thefts have increased 40%, and thefts have increased 65%.  

Caterpillar announced June 14 that it is relocating its headquarters from Deerfield, Illinois, to Irving, Texas, according to a press release.

“We believe it’s in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar’s strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world,” said Chairman and CEO, Jim Umpleby.           

Boeing announced in May that it is relocating its headquarters from Chicago to a suburb of Washington, D.C., NBC reported.

“We are excited to build on our foundation here in Northern Virginia,” Boeing President and CEO, Dave Calhoun, said in a statement. "The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders, and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent."  

Chief Executive magazine conducted a survey of around 700 business owners from every state and ranked Illinois 48th overall, meaning it is the third-worst state in the country for business, The Center Square reported. Only California and New York were ranked worse than Illinois. Texas, Florida, and Tennessee ranked as the top states for business.

“We’re too corrupt," Wirepoints president, Ted Dabrowski said. "Our taxes are way too high. We have way too many regulations and we have massive debts, and that is plenty of reason enough for companies to not want to locate in Illinois, not to mention the state is shrinking in population so it's  not a growth state to put your business in.”