Comment: Read this for yet another surprise about something in the recently passed “budget” that nobody understood.

House Bill 2622 would create a state-run workers’ compensation insurance company, while failing to address the real problems with Illinois’ workers’ compensation system – the most expensive in the region.

The sale of up to $6 billion of bonds by Illinois to shrink its enormous unpaid bill backlog, an action the governor has yet to take, could protect the state from a credit rating downgrade to junk, S&P Global Ratings said on Tuesday.

Comment: Move your credit card debt over to your mortgage. That’s fine by the ratings agencies because they care only about near term default risk.