Illinois is very, very ill!

Dammit, just as I find a fascinating subject on which I would like to wax lyrical and at length, it turns up on a day when I am rather busy.  I suppose it could be summed up by suggesting that the State of Illinois is the deadly cancer at the heart of America.  As so often, I am obliged to Zero Hedge for pointing me in the right direction, in this case, a site called Wirepoints which offers a devastating critique of the metastasising cancer ripping through the State.  Of course, we were all brought up on the, er, colourful nature of gangsterdom in Chicago but today it has spread to the entire State of Illinois and even worse, and far more dangerous, it has been accepted and condoned by virtually the entire population.

Illinois inherited assets most states and nations envy. Its GDP remains larger than all but fifteen countries of the world. More importantly, it inherited constitutional self-government.

But it’s failing.

Illinois is bankrupt. The state and many of its towns and cities sink further into insolvency each day — the facts and numbers are irrefutable. Its moral insolvency is less quantifiable but no less apparent. Graft, both legal and illegal, is exposed incessantly, usually to no end. Scandal fatigue overtook the state long ago. Numbed voters left politicians free to do little good and plenty wrong. Not a single major reform, fiscal or otherwise, is currently under serious consideration in Illinois.

How can a democracy have done this to itself?

Well may you ask but there is an even greater problem building up for the future - what can be done about it?  Alas, it appears that the solution will require the full resources of constitutional law going back to the era of the Founding Fathers, and that is the legal/political equivalent of a jungle sown with landmines and boobytraps!  Even worse, it also involves the 'Great Goddess of Democracy' because not the least of the problems stems from the fact that the dreaded 'Peeps' of Illinois have, over the decades, been utterly complicit in the corruption.  The solution, if there is one, will have 'yuuuuuuuuuge' repercussions throughout America .

Tin-hat time, I fear!

Comments

[Whitewall]

"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves”. One state at a time. One country at a time.

[Cuffleyburgers]

The cancer has a name, Duffers.

Leftism.

[Wigner's Friend]

And don’t forget that the sainted Nobel Peace Prize recipient Barack cut his political teeth in Chicago.

[Bob]

I've seen plenty of Illinois politicking up close, and the article is silly and overwrought. Illinois' problems are somewhat more entrenched than other states', but they certainly don't represent a failure of democracy. The most powerful dynamic is the push and pull between Chicago and the rest of the state, which for the most part is rural and conservative. It's always been difficult to agree on the distribution of resources and taxes at the state level. Illinois is not unique in this. Other states have declared bankruptcy for similar reasons, usually during economic downturns.

The authors would like to blame everything on politicians, public employees and average citizens. This is not exactly original or unbiased. A look at who edits 'Wirepoints' shows they are mainly two men who call themselves "fiscal realists"; one of whom spent 16 years with Citibank, one of the most predatory banks in America, and a venture capitalist. Just regular guys, eh?

[David Duff]

You mean, Bob, a couple of guys who understand money and how to make it!

[Bob]

No David, I mean a couple of rich guys who look at life with a limited and self-entitled point of view. I've known a few of them myself.

What do you think? Does the economy exist to sustain people or do people exist to sustain the economy? Maybe you think there would be a mutually beneficial relationship. Not everyone else does.

[Hank]

David

It's not that bad.

And it is worse.

As Bob notes there are a few problems with that article.

My father explained the thing many years ago.

In the old days politicians were on the take, but they had an informal rule, don't take so much that there won't be some to take next year. Or a buss9ness school person would say manage the enterprise for the long term. This had the side effect that ordinary people had enough money to live a reasonable comfortable life. -- For the last few decades the have been using the take all you can get and run. Leaving the small guy in trouble.

There is still enough base left to rebuild. But will it happen????

All fingers crossed.