Illinois Stops Paying Bills

Quinn refuses to stop the bleeding:

• For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession. Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state’s bills and refuses to take the painful steps — cuts and tax increases — to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state’s budget.

  Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up.

  States cannot go bankrupt, technically, but signs of fiscal crackup are easy to see. Legislators left the capital this month without deciding how to pay 26 percent of the state budget. The governor proposes to borrow $3.5 billion to cover a year’s worth of pension payments, a step that would cost about $1 billion in interest. And every major rating agency has downgraded the state; Illinois now pays millions of dollars more to insure its debt than any other state in the nation.

Borrow $3.5 billion and cost Illinois another $1 billion in interest payments? That's what passes for fiscal discipline in Illinois? At some point, someone is going to have to act like an adult and put an end to this runaway spending by the Illinois Combine. We're aren't headed for a bad patch anymore - we're in the middle of it.