Illinois and its budget - the Obama partners are not doing so well

Meanwhile, Back In Barack Obama's Illinois (1):  The state is broke, broke, broke.

Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois's comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet.  Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.

He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.

"This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university — and it's getting worse every single day," he says in his downtown office.

It would be unfair to blame Obama for all of this balance sheet, or even most of it.  But it would be fair to blame Obama's political allies — and Obama — for most of it.

The state has been controlled for years by allies of Obama, notably former governor Rod Blagojevich.   If Obama saw anything wrong with the way they were bankrupting the state, he didn't say or do much about it.  And he could have, both as a state senator (with a safe seat), and as a US senator representing Illinois.

The state's fiscal recklessness is hitting many Illinois citizens hard.

In Illinois, the fiscal pain is radiating downward.

From suburban Elgin to Chicago to Rockford to Peoria, school districts have fired thousands of teachers, curtailed kindergarten and electives, drained pools and cut after-school clubs.  Drug, family and mental health counseling centers have slashed their work forces and borrowed money to stave off insolvency.

In Beardstown, a small city deep in the western marshes, Ann Johnson plans to shut her century-old pharmacy.  Because of late state payments, she could not afford to keep a 10-day supply of drugs.  In Chicago, a funeral home owner wonders whether he can afford to bury the impoverished, as the state has fallen six months behind on its charity payments, $1,103 a funeral.

Since this is the New York Times, you won't be surprised to learn that the reporter, Michael Powell, favors tax increases to solve the state's fiscal problems.  And tax increases may be necessary; Illinois is that broke.  But anyone with a little knowledge of Illinois politics will know that the state wastes immense amounts of money.

(I numbered this post because I expect many more such examples.

Californians will be pleased by this line:

"We are a fiscal poster child for what not to do," said Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a liberal-leaning policy group in Illinois. "We make California look as if it's run by penurious accountants who sit in rooms trying to put together an honest budget all day."

It isn't true, but it may make them feel better to know that another state is in even worse shape.)

- 2:59 PM, 3 July 2010   [link]

http://www.seanet.com/~jimxc/Politics/