CHICAGO TRIBUNE
How Illinois politicians consciously created these debt and pension crises
Editorial Board
August 26, 2016

…The first revelation explains, in a way we’ve not seen before, how methodically Illinois officials dumped so much debt and unfunded pension obligation on taxpayers….While the typical U.S. state was spending an average of 5.7 percent more, year after year, than it had in revenue — a foolish habit, we think — Illinois governments together were spending 15.9 percent more than they had available. Imagine the compounded effect of overspending your income by 15.9 percent, year after year. Three-fourths of that overspending went to, yes, fat pension promises and other retirement costs. READ MORE