Illinois fell to the bottom of all 50 states in the rankings of a major credit ratings agency Friday following the failure of Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers to fix the state’s hemorrhaging pension system during this month’s lame-duck session.
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service downgraded Illinois in what is the latest fallout over the $96.8 billion debt to five state pension systems. The New York rating firm’s ranking signaled taxpayers may pay tens of millions of dollars more in interest when the state borrows money for roads and other projects.
“It’s absolutely bad news for taxpayers,” said Dan Rutherford, the Republican state treasurer.
Illinois received its bottom-of-the-pack ranking when it fell from an “A” rating to “A-minus.”
via Chicago Tribune.
Well there you have it. The Machine, the Illinois combine has driven us straight into the gutter. The cost of the billions and billions of debt is going up and up. The taxpayers are stuck with the bill.
It’s old news but I’d like to review this for the record. I have only three (3) Republicans that represent me. Every single other elected official that represents me is a Democrat.
Alderman Bob Fioretti – D
Mayor Rahm Emanuel – D
Chicago City Clerk – D
Cook County Clerk of Courts – D
Cook County Treasurer – D
Cook County Assessor – D
Cook County Recorder of Deeds – D
Cook County States Attorney (DA) – D
Cook County Board Member – D
Cook County Board President – D
IL House Seat, Derrick Smith (Current under indictment) – D
IL Senate Seat, Patricia Van Pelt – D
IL Governor, Pat Quinn – D
IL Lt. Governor, Sheila Simon – D
IL Attorney General, Lisa (I won’t investigate my father) Madigan – D
IL Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka – R
IL Treasurer, Dan Rutherford – R
IL Sec. of State, Jesse White – D
US House, Danny Davis – D
US Senate, Mark Kirk – R
US Senate, Dick Durbin – D
US President, Barack Obama – D
What is that? 3 of 22? If you just take the State folks it’s 2 of 17. 2 of 17. That’s 11.76% of my elected persons are not Democrats.
So let me ask you, if I was looking to blame someone for the mess that we’re in where would be a good place to start?