Illinois politicians have been banking on a bailout for years. Don’t give it to them. – Illinois Policy Institute

"Illinois has not balanced a state budget in 20 years. Leaders refuse pension reform to reduce the debts driving those deficits. To buy time and keep political backlash to a minimum, they have borrowed money with bookie-like abandon and slashed social services that lack sufficient political clout to keep their doors open. That borrowed money funded the most corrupt government in the nation, with nearly 900 public corruption convictions in Illinois since 2000, close to one per week."