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.
Mr. Hynes shakes his head. “This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services,” he says. “That is obscene.”
That article is scary. It does contain one error, States can file for bankruptcy under chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code. It has been done, Arkansas filed in the depression era. If I were Pat Quinn or Arnold I would be looking at it a lot. Chapter 9 allows the courts to restructure pensions and labor contracts.
FWIW
jimB
What would happen it Illinois started issuing registered warrants (IOUs) like California, or even unregistered scrip like lots of depression era entities did?
Blago’s revenge.
You know what is really sick and wrong about all this? The tax payers payed their taxes, did their jobs, and went about their business counting on their elected representatives to do the jobs they had been elected to do. This stuff is malfeasance. I really think there should be prosecutions involved. Folks were elected to do a job and run the government and they have run the state to the brink of bankruptcy. There should be a nice block of cells filled with former politicians. That’s my 2 cents.
The problem is the definition of “absolutely essential services.” Until we come to grips with that question, there will be no solution.