Illinois: Broken and broke

The New York Times takes a critical look at the financial health of Illinois. If the Prairie State was a person, it would be declared dead. Six years of misrule of Rod Blagojevich and his running mate, Governor Pat Quinn, and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly created a monster that pays its bills six months late. The Times is right--state vendors I know have told me the same thing.

Illinois owes nursing homes, schools, pharmacies--all types of businesses--$5 billion. Its defict is $13 billion. Illinois' public employee pensions are the most underfunded in the nation.

Is there good news? Well, there is an election in November. Oh, and I received my state income tax refund last week--I didn't have to wait six months for that.

Doug Ross has a lot more.

Technorati tags: illinois politics Illinois Politics Blagojevich democrat chicago pensions Patrick Quinn pat quinn