Illinois has compiled $14.6 billion in unpaid bills. It’s running a deficit of $6 billion and its pension liability has soared to $130 billion. That’s not the worst of it. The state’s nearly two-year failure to pass a budget has sent its bond ratings careening toward junk level, downgraded a staggering eight notches below most other states.
Ah, the joys of decades of Democrat domination! Democratics in California and Oregon are struggling mightily to catch up to the state in terms of financial liabilities. One creative approach to finance that Illinois has engaged in for years has involved the "borrowing" of pension funds to pay some of their expenses, which is why they have such a large pension liability today. And unlike many other states, they have no cash set aside in a "rainy day" fund.
I was especially amused by a letter to the editor that appeared in the local newspaper:
"Still disgusted with Trump's election and wondering what you can do? Consider boycotting red states.
It's easier than you think. For example, instead of buying Wisconsin dairy products, buy Oregon's Tillamook or Umatilla brands. Instead of Kansas corn-fed beef, buy Washington's grass-fed beef; it's better for you anyway. For a western vacation, Colorado and New Mexico are blue, but Utah and Arizona went red. Don't go fly fishing in Idaho, Montana or Wyoming, go to Canada instead. Stick to the West Coast for an ocean vacation, avoid the Gulf Coast states. For the Great Lakes choose Minnesota (blue) over Wisconsin (red). New England and the Northeast coast went blue except for Pennsylvania, but everything south of Virginia, including Florida, turned red. And the middle of the country, well, they're not called "fly-over" states without reason.
Enjoy your summer by not supporting Trump states."
Paul Oman, Oceanside
Paul doesn't seem to realize that Tillamook and Umatilla dairy products are produced in "red" counties in Oregon and Washington, as is the grass-fed beef he touts. Especially amusing is that he lives in Tillamook county on the northern Oregon coast, which went...yes, for Trump in the election. Maybe he should move to Illinois; he'd likely be happier there.
Interestingly, one of the "fly-over" states that Paul dismisses is number 1 in the nation for retirees, although winters there can be bothersome, from what I understand. That state is Nebraska. Florida dropped into 29th place, while "blue" state Oregon came in at 49th place.
