The pandemic has hit us hard. In other words, I think that a little generosity is good and we should help states adversely affected by the pandemic.
Unfortunately, Illinois does not have a pandemic problem. Of course, the pandemic has hurt but the issues are lot more complicated than blaming the virus.
Why do we have such little faith in Illinois pols to manage the people’s money responsibly? Because we, like you, live here.
Since 2003, Democrats have controlled the state legislature and failed to address rising pension unfunded liabilities. That year, under Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Illinois borrowed $10 billion and still shorted the pension funds. Lawmakers skipped full payments to the pension funds in 2006 and 2007, then borrowed again to make partial pension payments in subsequent budget years.
Even after raising income taxes 67% for four years in 2011, and after another tax hike in 2017 with GOP support, this state’s balance sheet remains a mess. We’ll ask: How is it possible to accumulate for more than a decade billions in unpaid bills and unfunded pension obligations, and still leave Springfield every May claiming to have a balanced budget?
So we have learned: Give Illinois money, and the politicians will mismanage it.
No kidding they will mismanage it.
Many in Illinois think that a President Biden and Congress will be more generous than a second term President Trump. I don’t think so.
Our next president will face a huge budget deficit and it’s hard to see how he can send billions of dollars to Illinois without throwing the economy into further recession.
Candidate Biden may be saying what Illinois wants to hear. Reality will be different because I don’t think that the country is in the mood to bail out corruption and obvious mismanagement.
