CHICAGO TRIBUNE
After Gov. Pritzker, Boss Madigan budget, let’s change state slogan: Illinois-Shut Up and Take It.
by John Kass
June 7, 2019

…Illinois’ new state slogan should be: Just shut up and take it…Especially now that Gov. Big Boy and his boss, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and the iron-fisted Democratic legislative majority have passed an amazing $40 billion operating budget and another $45 billion capital spending plan chock-full of pork and dripping with pork fat. They’ve done it in just days, in the shadows, crafting $85 billion in spending for a state that’s broke, on the edge of insolvency, a state with billions in unfunded public pension liabilities, a state that can’t pay its bills. A state that can’t withstand even a tiny recession. READ MORE

ILLINOIS POLICY Illinois state lawmakers introduce, pass $85 billion in spending in 12 hours  Lack of solid budgeting basics has played a large part in giving Illinois the lowest credit rating of any state, billions of dollars in unpaid bills and the highest pension-debt-to-revenue ratio of any state in history.

ZERO HEDGE Pritzker’s Untruth: Illinois’ Budget Is Billions Out Of Balance Politicians on both sides of the aisle can pat themselves on the back all they want for passing a budget. But the truth is they’ve just made Illinois’ debt crisis even worse. They’re not paying what they should, nor have they passed a single structural reform that would help lower the annual cost of retirements. (In fact, they’ve done the opposite by reboosting pension spiking for teachers.)