State of Illinois, meet Reality

[Geee]

American Thinker:

Illinois, while not the most populous state, has led the nation in unfunded pension liabilities and bond debt. Now, however, its borrowing binge may be ending

The change has not come about because the state is defaulting on its payments or seeking bankruptcy. As of now Federal bankruptcy law does not allow states to file in Federal court for bankruptcy protection. The real reason for the change is that the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) charged the state of Illinois with securities fraud for misrepresenting its financial position from 2005 to early 2009. In most of those years the Governor of the State was Rod Blagojevich, the carefully coiffed chief executive who was convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama's senate seat when he resigned to run for president.

The governor was convicted of corruption and is now serving a 14-year sentence. Unfortunately, the damage he did to the fiscal stability of Illinois and the taxpayers of Illinois will last much longer than his incarceration. Under his leadership, the state consistently passed wildly irresponsible budgets, and even though the state constitution requires a balanced budget, the budget was "balanced" by issuing bonds every year.