Things are so bad in Illinois even the British are noticing. From Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph:Barack Obama's home state of Illinois is near the point of fiscal disintegration. "The state is in utter crisis," said Representative Suzie Bassi. "We are next to bankruptcy. We have a $13bn hole in a $28bn budget."
The state has been paying bills with unfunded vouchers since October. A fifth of buses have stopped. Libraries, owed $400m (£263m), are closing one day a week. Schools are owed $725m. Unable to pay teachers, they are preparing mass lay-offs. "It's a catastrophe", said the Schools Superintendent.
In Alexander County, the sheriff's patrol cars have been repossessed; three-quarters of his officers are laid off; the local prison has refused to take county inmates until debts are paid.
Alexander County is at the southern tip of Illinois, I was visited in 2008, and before Detroit-style "ruin porn" became the rage, I took a lot of photographs in Cairo, the county seat.
Hat tip to the New Editor.
Related post:
My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Cairo, Illinois--Slum Town
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