“The graduated income tax proposal that forms the basis of so many of Pritzker’s plans requires a constitutional amendment—creating an opening to push through a pension fix at the same time. Pritzker won’t walk through that door, no doubt because the unions that helped him win office wouldn’t like it much. But the responsibility Pritzker won was to represent the interests of all Illinoisans, not just those who carry a union card.”

Census advocates worry that the lag in funding the groups’ efforts could hurt the state’s showing in the 10-year count, which determines how many U.S. House seats each state gets and how to distribute billions of federal dollars to local communities.

“I’ve argued before that it is shorter-term cash considerations that pose a danger for pension funds, and that the system will not suddenly blow up, but rather slowly unravel. Looking at aggregate numbers is misleading…if enough of the 6,300 state and local pension plans fail, it will cause legal and political changes that will likely end the current system of partially funded defined-benefit plans for public sector employees. That could happen in the next recession.”

“This is not poor leadership, but an absolute lack of leadership. I have lived in Illinois my entire 63 years and will be retiring soon. J.B., will you do what it takes to keep me from taking my money in retirement and moving to another state? You can be certain that there are many like me.”

It’s actually a Midwest index.