NEOFEUDALISM: Illinois ranks near bottom in social mobility.

Ugaste told The Center Square. “Those who are in dire economic straits, giving them a handout, more SNAP benefits or putting them on Medicaid isn’t a help. That’s a safety net to help them get over a hump. We have to have good paying jobs with good benefits.”

With Archbridge Institute researchers defining social mobility as “the ability to better oneself and those around them,” based on such factors as institutions and rule of law, entrepreneurship and growth, education and skills development and social capital, Illinois now ranks 38th across the country, including behind at least five other midwestern states that were all ranked in the top quarter.

Data also points to the state’s ongoing struggles with economic growth, high regulations and persistent corruption by elected officials as some of the biggest drivers for its poor overall standing.

Illinois’ lowest rankings came on institutions and predatory state action at 49th, followed by entrepreneurship at 45th and judicial system quality at 40th.

Big Government is how the well-connected use state power to protect their status and freeze out any rabble who might otherwise become competitors.