Posted on 10/10/2017 11:47:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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 it.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
“This will be a lesson in what to look for regarding California and the U.S.”
CA will be the very last to fail.
While there are no words left to describe the fiscal largess and radical irresponsibility in CA, they are still wallowing in money.
Incredible sums of money that could be taxed, at will, by the uniparty legislature.
Truly fabulous wealth.
Damn straight that "ascertaining the precise nature of the state's PAST-DUE obligations and liabilities is an essential component of" a DEMOCRAT comptroller!!!
So what happens when the vendors cut off their credit, and insist on cash up front?
RE: Oh, wait, are there Republicans in state government?
The governor of Illinois is a Republican, elected to help control the state dig out of its financial mess. It would be ironic if bankruptcy occurs under his watch.
I think that could trigger the second civil war. When people who live in states that have sacrificed and lived within their means are forced to subsidize the pensions of others that they could never dream of having themselves....well, that's when a bunch of people will snap.
RE: When declared insolvent, the state of Illinois should revert to a territory.
Nope, if history is any guide, Illinois will ask Congress to bail them out, and Congress WILL. That’s just the way things have always worked in the past.
Cal has enough money to spend 18-22 billion a year on services to illegals. The real bomb that will go off is public employee pensions, because Brown and his two predecessors ignored it, in fact, Davis contributed to it by increasing the formula raising pension payouts.
Gee, I didn't know that. No wonder he's making the big bucks.
xlnt
Weinstein must be travelling by air again.
My only concern is having to bail them out. Ill. created the problem so it should be theirs alone to solve.
Illinois new slogan, “A bunny in every pot”
Seriously asking, what happens when a state defaults?
Libtards will fight to the deat to preach that California-ism, Obama-ism and all of the other ‘isms (besides Capitalism) works.
YOU MEAN LIKE THE GOVERNOR?
Illinois must cut their Defense spending..
Oh wait!!
Hey, Illinois could just raise the taxes on the rich folk again...
Oh....
WAIT....
They EXEMPTED the rich people from the last big increase, to keep them from fleeing the state, and the Middle Class got screwed. Surely, that couldn’t happen again, right?
Hahaha. DIMs/LIBs should never be given any position of authority or responsibility.
Because we are armed.
The bundy ranch standoff was a thing to behold. That could have been “it”. And it is a battle the feds would have lost handily, which is why it was kinda scary. We all know it would not have been the end of it, but could have been the start of something very, very bad.
This will be a lesson in what to look for regarding California and the U.S.
*************
The federal debt of $20 trillion will never be paid. And that doesn’t even include the U.S, unfunded liabilities — a whopping $107 trillion more.
And just imagine what will happen to pension funds in the event of a significant stock market decline. I don’t know when it will all unravel, but it will.
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