http://www.wandtv.com/story/25207791/fitch-stable-chicago-pensions-many-years-away

Comment: Still waiting for somebody to see what should be obvious First Amendment issues in the dirty work the AFT is having state pensions do, which we updated here. http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/09/support-the-free-market-the-american-fed

Passage would have required approval of all House Democrats, but first-term, Democrat Scott Drury of Highwood says “he will not support House Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s constitutional amendment that would impose a 3 percent tax surcharge… We cannot rebuild Illinois’ fiscal house without a comprehensive plan, but that’s what we are being asked to do,” said Drury. http://www.illinoisobserver.net/2014/04/09/extra-madigan-gop-kills-millionaire-tax-amendment-1-billion-local-schools/

Comment: “Critical Juncture”? Hell, we were at that 15 years ago. That’s the same vacuous phrase Quinn used in his State of the State address two years ago. These rating agencies are out to lunch. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-09/illinois-fiscal-health-approaches-critical-juncture-s-and-p-says

Comment: The state’s debt/revenue ratioo is absurdly high compared to private sector companies, as this article show. They might also have said the same thing about resulting employment. For all this revenue and debt the state has only about 70,000 jobs, far less than, say, Walgreens which has over three times that.   http://politics.rebootillinois.com/2014/03/25/uncategorized/bbergman/illinois-debt-like-nobodys-business-literally/2325/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rebootillinois4/9/2014

http://politics.rebootillinois.com/2014/04/09/uncategorized/kevin-hoffmanrebootillinois-com/tax-breaks-fall-short-job-creation-business-boosting-targets/3664/

Mayor Gary Manier said he isn’t sure if his city’s share of $45 million in state aid will get the job done. http://www.wics.com/news/top-stories/stories/washington-mayor-state-aid-not-enough-recovery-efforts-16515.shtml

Comment: Though state “Buy-American” laws are appealing, they have been subject to legal challenge for decades as violations of the foreign commerce clause in the Constitution and U.S. trade agreements. http://herald-review.com/business/local/lawmaker-pushes-american-made-state-vehicles/article_95c66b17-7f0d-5b48-9831-f36ff28f1026.html

“Madigan outlined changes in the new version and took questions, some of which he couldn’t answer, such as how the city intends to fully cover its higher contributions. He was could not answer how the city intended to address its police and fire fund woes, and a looming $600 million spike in contributions due next year under a prior state mandate.” http://www.bondbuyer.com/issues/123_68/chicagos-partial-pension-overhaul-passes-legsilature-1061441-1.html

http://www.everygoddamnday.com/2014/04/trying-to-defuse-pension-time-bomb.html

Pension funding by the numbers. http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140406/NEWS/140409371/1994/NEWS?rssfeed=true