The financial collapse of Illinois is accelerating

John O’Connor of the AP has just broken the news that the unpaid bills of the Great State of Illinois have reached the awe-inspiring sum of $16.5 billion.

Illinois is chasing a moving target as it tries to dig out of the nation's worst budget crisis, and a review obtained by The Associated Press shows $7.5 billion worth of unpaid bills — as much as half the total — hadn't been sent to the official who writes the checks by the end of June.

Although many of those IOUs have since been paid, a similar amount in unprocessed bills has replaced them in the last three months, Comptroller Susana Mendoza's office said Monday. That's in addition to $9 billion worth of checks that are at the office but being delayed because the state lacks the money to pay them.

Various bureaucratic tricks are being performed to slow down payment, but they all amount to stiffing the vendors, borrowing their capital at no immediate cost.

In some cases, agencies were waiting to send their receipts to Mendoza because lawmakers haven't approved the spending. For example, the Department of Corrections had $471 million in unpaid bills on hand as of June 30 largely for that reason.

"Ascertaining the precise nature of the state's past-due obligations and liabilities is an essential component of responsible cash and debt management," the Democratic comptroller wrote in a letter to Republican Rep. David McSweeney, a budget hawk from Barrington Hills who requested the review.

O’Connor covers the maneuvers going on to the finesse the problem away, none of which will solve the it.

In the long run, which is running toward us now, vendors refuse to do business with you when you finance yourself with accounts receivable, the business jargon name for what Illinois is doing. And when you can’t buy stuff, the financial collapse becomes too acute to disguise.

http://www.americanthinker.com...is_accelerating.html

Anyone that thinks any human agency or "ism" is above this kind of corruption and treachery is a fool.

Anyone that thinks a state or government can't be run on a balanced budget because "it's not like a household" is twice the fool.

Thanks for the update chellim1.

If HRC had won they'd be writing up their federal bailout request right now. Thank God for President Trump.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

Liberalism really is a disease.

The big question to come is what do we do about not just Illinois, but California and Puerto Rico? Liberalism causes economic collapse. If we bail them out, we spread the disease.

We experienced the results first hand a couple of days ago. We drove from southern Il, to Wisconsin. Two out of every three rest stops was closed.

The highway was a wreck. 10-15 mile stretches of highway had lane closures down to one lane with no crews working. We drove 4 sections like this. The lane that was open was a mess. I don't see how this gets fixed.

The house needs to collapse, then rebuilt without any federal aid.
Unfortunately I fear the same house would be rebuilt.

Simple solution.

Chapter 7.

Sell off all state assets to pay creditors.

Cancel any remaining debt including retirement accounts.

Move all federal assets out of the state.

Stop all federal funding from going to the state gov.

Revoke statehood and turn it back into a territory.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Simple solution.

Chapter 7.



Cancel any remaining debt including retirement accounts.



Stop all federal funding from going to the state gov.

Revoke statehood and turn it back into a territory.

Good idea. Ruin the lives of those who have done nothing wrong other than work in some cases, their entire adult lives in service to the State and it's citizens. I like it. Punish them for the wrong doing of others.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Simple solution.

Chapter 7.



Cancel any remaining debt including retirement accounts.



Stop all federal funding from going to the state gov.

Revoke statehood and turn it back into a territory.

Good idea. Ruin the lives of those who have done nothing wrong other than work in some cases, their entire adult lives in service to the State and it's citizens. I like it. Punish them for the wrong doing of others.

I wonder how many adult humans in the United States actually believe these retirement schemes are truly creating wealth out of thin air?

Also, is it fair to blame the person working to correct something? Is it punishment when someone brings reality to a flawed scenario?

I'm not blaming the victims as much as wondering out loud. If the victims are to be spared the pain and suffering, who would you transfer it to? Me? My children? Am I to blame for the ignorance of the victims, and the willful corruption of those in the know?

Should we be using the power of the gun (Federal Government) to force those that have done nothing wrong other than work, in some cases, their entire lives in service to a neighboring state and its citizens, to compensate for the mismanagement of Illinois?

It's a huge problem for Illinois and other states in the same boat. Working people with healthy incomes are fleeing Illinois while welfare people just stay with their hand out and breed. Illinois is now in the top five states for total tax burden. Further tax increases will just accelerate the abandonment of Illinois by tax payers. The democrats have zero desire to do any meaningful reform and they control everything other than the governors office but have found they can get tax increases through without him because of their massive numbers in state house and senate. The bubble is about to burst.

IMO Illinois is heading to be Detroit and people will abandon even nicer homes because they can't sell them even with plummeting real estate values and can't afford the property taxes. Neighborhoods deteriorate rapidly when people can't afford/don't want to to maintain their homes and property. I am already starting to see that around here.

Illinois should be buying lottery tickets, not selling them!

quote:

Originally posted by grumpy1:
It's a huge problem for Illinois and other states in the same boat. Working people with healthy incomes are fleeing Illinois while welfare people just stay with their hand out and breed. Illinois is now in the top five states for total tax burden. Further tax increases will just accelerate the abandonment of Illinois by tax payers. The democrats have zero desire to do any meaningful reform and they control everything other than the governors office but have found they can get tax increases through without him because of their massive numbers in state house and senate. The bubble is about to burst.

IMO Illinois is heading to be Detroit and people will abandon even nicer homes because they can't sell them even with plummeting real estate values and can't afford the property taxes. Neighborhoods deteriorate rapidly when people can't afford/don't want to to maintain their homes and property. I am already starting to see that around here.

You are right abiout the Dem's controlling everything but I would now add the Governors office. I voted for Rauner but never again. He's just a Democrap in disguise. And it get's worse. Look who's running for Attorney General. We get rid of one misfit (and I wonder what her game plan is. Chicago Mayor, Governor?) only to see the Dems slate another misfit. But the saddest thing is that I'd lay odds that the Dems in Illinois will win big again in the next election.

quote:

You are right abiout the Dem's controlling everything but I would now add the Governors office. I voted for Rauner but never again. He's just a Democrap in disguise.

What a disappointment!
I had high hopes for him. He doesn't need money... so he would be hard to corrupt.
Unfortunately, he doesn't stand firm because he doesn't like the media saying bad things about him. He turned into a squish.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Simple solution.

Chapter 7.



Cancel any remaining debt including retirement accounts.



Stop all federal funding from going to the state gov.

Revoke statehood and turn it back into a territory.

Good idea. Ruin the lives of those who have done nothing wrong other than work in some cases, their entire adult lives in service to the State and it's citizens. I like it. Punish them for the wrong doing of others.

I did not claim it was "easy," "good," or even "fair"; I said simple.

Since the money for peoples' retirements no longer exists, save for in the form of Illinois bonds which are heading for junk status soon and default soon after that, where do you plan to get the actual money to pay those retirees?

The USG? That is penalizing everyone for the benefit of a few.

From the market? Who in their right mind will trust Illinois bonds once they impact and make a Yucatan-sized crater?

Institute fiscal discipline and economic austerity? Like that will happen - absent a complete socio-economic-political upheaval n the scale of the extinction of the dinosaurs.

My favorite character, Taylor Mason, in Billions has this to say on a town:



I just finished Taleb's Anti-fragile, Things That Gain from Disorder‎. Its not the easiest read, but anyone who hang out here can plow through it. Its quite the eye-opener.

Ill State and some of its Cities have dug gigantic holes with respect to pensions.

We can see clearly now that promises were made with no real plan in place to fund them. You might say these promises were unrealistic. You might say the beneficiaries must/should share the responsibility for accepting these unrealistic promises. It sounds harsh but you could make that argument.

Or you might say it's just a big unfortunate set of circumstances and the best outcome is to raise revenue outside of the State to cover these promises. That argument sounds even harsher to me. A bailout hits the pocket books of citizens who played no part in the bargain and received no benefits from the services rendered.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
...He doesn't need money... so he would be hard to corrupt...

Corruption isn't about money, it's about power. Money is used to grease the wheels, to get co-operation and compliance from the cigar chompers, while those in power control everything. Why were guns illegal in Chicago, and why does Illinois have such a crappy Concealed Carry law? Because that's what Those In Power wanted. New York's Sullivan Law was passed by one corrupt political party to keep another political party disarmed. These are examples that we here can see and understand, but it's pervasive in this state.

Rauner may not have been corrupt when he ran for Governor, but it didn't take long for him to succumb to the temptations.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
....Chapter 7....Cancel any remaining debt including retirement accounts....

Good idea. Ruin the lives of those who have done nothing wrong other than work in some cases, their entire adult lives in service to the State and it's citizens. I like it. Punish them for the wrong doing of others.

In CA, outside of Silicon Valley, working for the gov't is much less demanding and much more lucrative, in terms of total compensation/benefits, than working for private industry. I think Illinois might have similar conditions.

The CA unfunded public pension liability (the amount that the present value of money going out exceeds the present value of money coming in, given current demographics/actuarial forecasts, and given realistic rates of return on the fund, is a deficit of around $1 Trillion.

What should CA (and maybe Illinois) do? Three choices are bankruptcy; or triple the taxes (which would drive away much of the money and likely cut tax collections); or cut the generous public comp/benefits (which would effectively shut down gov't as the employees would riot). There is a fourth choice, kick the can down the road until the inevitable economic tsunami sinks the whole state.

quote:

There is a fourth choice, kick the can down the road until the inevitable economic tsunami sinks the whole state.

Inaction is always the easiest course of action... so the fourth choice, kick the can down the road, is the course they will take.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster: There is a fourth choice, kick the can down the road until the inevitable economic tsunami sinks the whole state.

You don't think California might sell itself to China for 20 trillion dollars? <joke> or maybe DJT will do it, to lower the deficit.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
There is a fourth choice, kick the can down the road until the inevitable economic tsunami sinks the whole state.

Based on the working assumption that, willingly or not, the federal taxpayer will have to step in to make everything right - without actually changing any of the conditions that created the problem.

Puerto Rico used to suffer from the same delusion. I think they're in the process of coming around right now.