Quinn Spends Another $1.5 Billion We Don’t Have

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday signed into law an extra $1.5 billion in spending for road construction and child welfare investigations, even as Republicans decried the measure as including ill-timed, pork barrel money. via Chicago Tribune. What is wrong with...

IL Finances Heading to Social Unrest

“I think it’s going to reach a point where there’s either social disorder or bankruptcy before people will act,” he said. via Crain’s Chicago Business. Ya, that sounds about right. But let’s back-up a little.  This is a quote from a...

Illinois’ Pensions are the Worst

A new report being issued today — see the bottom of this post — from the Pew Center on the States says that Illinois once again ranks 50th of the 50 states in assets relative to liabilities. But while Illinois’ absolute position did not sink — a mathematical...

JP Morgan: Public Employee Pension’s Set to Explode

But they wanted to keep the story to themselves: JPMorgan recently circulated a “strictly confidential” report among leaders at the bank and with trusted hedge fund allies outside of the bank which details an impending public pension crisis. And we mean big time...

How Retirement Benefits May Sink Illinois

We’re national news again. …  Indiana’s debt for unfunded retiree health-care benefits, for example, amounts to just $81 per person. Neighboring Illinois’s accumulated obligations for the same benefit average $3,399 per person. Illinois is an...