The Illinois legislature is gone from Springfield again, and they still haven’t provided for a way of balancing the budget except to borrow more money and continue to delay paying the State’s bills. Of the three major credit rating agencies, two now rate Illinois second lowest in the nation, lower than any other state except California. The other has Illinois tied with California for the worst credit rating in the nation. And the reason: Our politicians in Springfield didn’t build up a nest egg in good times, and they now refuse to make tough decisions on spending and taxes.
If you want to see what was happening in Illinois government back when the economy was doing good, take a look at the Blagojevich trial in Chicago – and remember who was supporting him at that time. Remember who was a co-chairman of his re-election campaign in 2006. Remember who was his running mate in 2006.
So what are our politicians doing now that Illinois’ finances in a terrible situation? There are some who would raise taxes to pay our bills and keep spending. There are others who would cut spending so our pay our bills and not keep borrowing. Another group would do some of each.
But the biggest group, and the group that ultimately controls things, especially in the Illinois House of Representatives, refuses to do anything. They would rather just borrow and borrow, and follow Rod Blagojevich’s policy of not paying the bills, instead of making a decision that they think might hurt them politically. They won’t raise taxes because the other party might use it against them in November. They won’t cut spending because their own supporters would be mad.
So they put it all off until tomorrow – except that, for them, tomorrow never seems to come. They would rather dump it their successors – and their children – than do anything that might hurt them politically today.
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