Illinois Commerce Commission tabs first male Black executive director SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Commerce Commission has named its first male Black executive director. Michael Merchant started his position with the state regulatory agency on Tuesday. He replaces Christy George, the commission’s first Black director, who joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration as first assistant deputy governor
Illinois Commerce Commission tabs first male Black executive director
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Commerce Commission has named its first male Black executive director.
Michael Merchant started his position with the state regulatory agency on Tuesday. He replaces Christy George, the commission’s first Black director, who joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration as first assistant deputy governor for budget and economy.
Merchant is responsible for supervising approximately 200 commission employees and managing the agency’s budget.
The agency provides support for a quasi-judicial body of five commissioners who set rules governing public utilities, transportation of freight and railroad safety, and provide consumer education.
Merchant most recently was an administrator with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, leading the business enterprise program and managing the agency’s COVID-19 response.
Prior to that, he was director of government affairs for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns and manages the McCormick Place convention complex.
He has a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and a law degree from DePaul College of Law.
LIMITED SPENDING
Much of $1,200 checks issued in the first round, as part of the CARES Act, did not generate spending sprees. The National Bureau of Economic Research found that almost 60% of the money went to pay down debt or into savings.
Researchers at the University of Chicago found that households on average spent 40% of the first check, mostly for food, beauty items and other products that people hoarded in the early days of the pandemic. Little went to purchases like cars or appliances.
Economists reasoned that with lockdowns in place last spring, there were far fewer options for spending the money.
One other factor to watch this time, given the size of the checks: Economists say that the greater the check, the less likely people are to spend it.
BILL PAYING
A survey in early January by Bankrate.com found that 71% of people said the second-round $600 checks they expected to receive for every adult and dependent child in a household would only sustain their financial well-being for less than a month. Four in 10 people surveyed said they would put the funds toward monthly bills such as rent or mortgage payments and utility bills.
ERASING DEBT
Almost 5 million people in Illinois age 18 and older said someone in their house received a relief payment in the previous seven days, according to data collected by the Census Bureau between Feb. 17 and March 1. Of those who detailed their plans, almost 2.4 million said it would be mostly be used to pay off debt.
SAVING
With the third round of relief payments, Bank of America anticipates more of the funds will be saved in one way or another, not spent. In its survey of 3,000 people in late February, only 36% of respondents said they planned to spend the money. The rest had other plans: 9% planned to invest it, 25% would save it and 30% would use it to pay off debts.
It’s not good news for sellers of food, clothing and other necessities. Planned use of the money in those categories is anticipated to be down almost 5% from what people planned to do with the payments last year. One bright spot is vacation and travel, which saw big gains compared with earlier surveys but it was still a small part of overall picture.
Bank of America found that every household income group planned to save much more than normal. Among high earners, people with household incomes of more than $120,000, 79% said they either planned to save it, pay off debts or invest it. That same sentiment was echoed by 53% of people surveyed who had household incomes of less than $30,000. The lower-income group also reported the highest intentions of spending it on food, clothing and other needed purchasers.
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