Illinois Faces Hurdles Steering Budget to Navigate a Recession – Bloomberg/Yahoo

“Reasons why Illinois continues to be the lowest-rated state is less budget resiliency for a recession compared to other — higher-rated — US states,” said Ty Schoback, a senior analyst for Columbia Threadneedle Investments, which owns Illinois debt. “This takes the form of longer track records of fiscal prudence, higher budget reserve build-ups, and better funded pension funds which have a better ability to absorb the impact of a recession to capital market valuations.”