Quinn’s Illinois Budget Greeted With Sound of No Clapping
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No one interrupted Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s budget presentation with applause yesterday. There’s nothing to cheer about in the financial condition of the fifth-largest U.S. state.
Its pension and Medicaid liabilities plus $9 billion in unpaid bills have a ravenous quality. They represent roughly half the state’s proposed $33.8 billion general fund budget, and are gobbling dollars that might otherwise pay for education and hospitals.