[Noilemaillilm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/bu...=MYWAY&ei=5065

Illinois Stops Paying Its Bills, But Can’t Stop Digging Hole

CHICAGO — 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.”

For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession. Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state’s bills and refuses to take the painful steps — cuts and tax increases — to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state’s budget.

Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up.

[amagmasia]

The federal government (read: Congress) must grow some balls and start authorizing some help for the states. As the Gulf disaster grows larger, umemployment will rise and spread. Now is not the time for the federal government to cut spending. This country needs large-scale infrastructure projects, heavy investment into new energy enterprise, and much tougher regulations on corporate entities. We aren't going to move this economy forward by nickles and dimes.

[frequensearules]

Well, we could always start another war. War was what got us out of the Great Depression.

Oh, wait, we're still IN the war we started, as well as the one we should have fought.

Anybody got a Plan C?

[globjgtyf]

Anybody got a Plan C?

Move to Europe?