Illinois

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The state of Illinois has not passed a budget for close to three years.

Arguably it’s just as well because Illinois budgets for decades have been nothing but a moth-eaten collection of lies, one time deficits repeated endlessly, and financial wizardry statements designed to disguise Illinois’ real problems: failure to rein in spending coupled with a very business unfriendly environment.

Authored by Michael Lucci via IllinoisPolicy.org,

Illinois’ total state economic activity has increased by only 4 percent since 2007, which is lower than the U.S.’ 10 percent GDP growth during the worst decade of the Great Depression.

Picking up where he left off last week, when Bill Gross told Bloomberg that U.S. markets are at their highest risk levels since before the 2008 financial crisis "because investors are paying a high price for the chances they’re taking", in his latest monthly investment outlook, the Janus Henderson bond manager says that investors should be wary as low interest rates, aging populations and global warming which inhibit real economic growth and intensify headwinds facing financial markets:

On June 1, first S&P the Moody's almost concurrently downgraded Illinois to the lowest non-Junk rating, BB+/Baa3 respectively, with both rating agencies warning that the ongoing legislative gridlock and budget crisis need to be resolved, or else Illinois will be the first ever US state downgraded to junk status.

Authored by Kevin Hoffman via RebootIllinois.com,

Illinois has been operating without a state budget for two years.

In that time, the state’s credit rating has been downgraded eight times, the backlog of unpaid bills has surpassed $14.5 billion, more than 1,500 employees at public universities and community colleges have been laid off, and countless social service providers are struggling to keep their doors open as they wait up to seven months to receive payment from the state.