Marathon Pundit: Tied with California for worst: S&P lowers Illinois credit rating again

Illinois' dysfunctional government is unable to address its underfunded pension crisis, although the Pat Quinn administration did produce a bizarro video featuring "Squeezy the pension python."

Oh, personal income taxes were raised by 67 percent in 2011. But Illinois is still broke.

This afternoon Standard & Poors, citing the pension mess, again lowered Illinois' credit rating--it is now at A-, a rating it shares with California. But Illinois is truly worse off--S&P gives the Tarnished State a positive outlook, while Illinois' is negative. The next step down is BBB, which is only one step above junk. And S&P says BBB could be next for ILL-inois

Since 2003, Illinois has suffered under one-party rule. The Democrats now have a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly, thanks to aggressive gerrymandering. If the legislators--and the governor--had any sense of honor they would resign en masse.

As for replacements, I think we need to utilize the William F. Buckley option--just pick people from the telephone book. I don't believe we can do any worse.

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