Even the Yew Nork Times can no longer avert its eyes from what has happened to the state that sent us all The Winner of The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, whose cronies have run the place for years.
It's worth the time to read, if only to see how the cracks in the official story line that The One, having been elected, would lead us all to The Promised Land. Remember?
So, here's a taste of reality in Illinois:
...Illinois is caught between blue state convictions about social safety nets and a red state aversion to taxes. For years, the Democratic-controlled legislature has passed budgets that are, in effect, in deficit. Lawmakers routinely skip around the state’s balanced-budget law, with few consequences. (Republicans are near monolithic in voting against any tax increases and borrowings. When one broke ranks to try to keep the pension solvent, he was stripped of a committee position, reducing his pay and pension.)
The state’s income tax burden is not terribly high — Illinois ranks in the bottom half of states — and its government is not terribly large. (The budgets in New York and California, per capita, are much larger). Even if the state cut out all family and human services spending, more than half of the budget deficit would remain.
As comptroller, Mr. Hynes has trained his attention on the public and nonprofit agencies that rely on state money; he tends to roll his eyes at the notion that slashing alone is a solution.
Let's remember, this is a state run by The One's friends, where Himself cut His political teeth. This is the model he knows an endorses, the one set into motion when he moved to Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment