Free Republic

llinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper. But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people's money. Those "other people" include taxpayers who've abandoned the state. And now Illinois faces doomsday. So as the politicians meet in Springfield this week for another round of posturing and gesturing and blaming, we need a plan. And here it is:

I have refrained from commenting on California’s budget because it is still uncertain exactly what is going to happen in this year’s budget debate. This, however, is what we know up to this point in time. Last year, the Legislature approved, and the Governor signed, a budget that increased state spending by $11 billion. The government employee unions complained that it wasn’t enough. This year, the Governor proposed a budget that increased spending by an additional $7 billion. The government employee unions are complaining that it is not enough. The Governor’s budget spends $6 billion more than projected revenue. The...