The 'Chicago' way
Looks like it's business as usual in the great state of Illinois.
From
MS/NBC/New York Times:
Illinois facing 'outright disaster' amid budget crisis
Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois�s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.
He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.
�This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university � and it�s getting worse every single day,� he says in his downtown office.
Mr. Hynes shakes his head. �This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services,� he says. �That is obscene.�
For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession.
Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state�s bills and refuses to take the painful steps � cuts and tax increases � to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state�s budget.
A bit more:
The governor proposes to borrow $3.5 billion to cover a year�s worth of pension payments, a step that would cost about $1 billion in interest. And every major rating agency has downgraded the state; Illinois now pays millions of dollars more to insure its debt than any other state in the nation.
�Their pension is the most underfunded in the nation,� said Karen S. Krop, a senior director at Fitch Ratings. �They have not made significant cuts or raised revenues. There�s no state out there like this. They can�t grow their way out of this.�
A bit more:
Few budget analysts are surprised to see Illinois, with a limping economy and broken political culture, edge close to the abyss. Two of the last six governors have served jail terms, and a third is on trial.
The article goes on -- the culture of corruption; borrowing money to fund today's debts with zero thought to tomorrow's payments.
There is a guy who became politically active in this culture, considered it to be the norm and we gave him the keys to the Oval Office a year ago. No wonder the USA is in such dire financial straits right now.
Posted by DaveH at July 3, 2010 9:33 PM