Could Illinois Be the First State to Go Bankrupt?

The Fiscal Times ^ | June 12, 2017 | Eric Pianin

[samadams2000]

“A democracy can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury.”

[Little Ray]

If a state goes bankrupt, it should revert to territorial status, and have its entire elected state government arrested for misfeasance and malfeasance.
Their property should be confiscated, and the remainder of the debt should be paid by the residents of the state in a ‘bail in.’

[arrogantsob]

Remove the city’s economic clout and the rest of the state would be in deep do-do. That is a fact whether we like it or not.

[arrogantsob]

The Governor is not responsible for this disaster, why should he be punished?

[so_real]

Didn't Michigan already win that race? Illinois will be a close second. Praise the Lord that Governor Walker pulled Wisconsin out of the competition.

[PapaBear3625]

Chicago Democrats are bankrupting the state of Illinois. The only solution is for the rest of the country to bail them out.

No, the only solution, LONG TERM, is to refuse to bail them out. Let them default.

One thing I WOULD do, is stop ALL welfare in Illinois, and fire all the people administering the programs. Have it be that you would have to move to a different state if you wanted to apply for welfare.

Illinois would be Republican for a century afterwards. At least, the places that escaped being burned down.

[JesusIsLord]

The only solution is for the rest of the country to bail them out.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......NO!

They made their bed, let them sleep in it. If they want new leadership, new laws, new policies that will turn the state around, let them vote for conservatives. Bailing them out only perpetuates the corruption and tells voters there is no consequence for voting in corrupt politicians.

[PTBAA]

Time for the City-states.

Carve CHI, NYC, and LA your of their respective states and give the rest of the people in IL and NY a chance. The House will be unaffected and at least in IL and NY the Senators will cancel each other out, so we’re to the good there.

[Bon mots]

Connecticut is the same. Very bankrupt.

[CatOwner]

Damn. I had it all riding on California.

Californiqa *is* bankrupt. It's just the financial part of the equation hasn't gotten there, yet.

[Boomer]

If a state goes bankrupt, it should revert to territorial status, and have its entire elected state government arrested for misfeasance and malfeasance. Their property should be confiscated, and the remainder of the debt should be paid by the residents of the state in a ‘bail in.’

I like the first idea about the state reverting to a territory. While the rest sounds good on the surface it blames it all on the current pols when in fact decades of bad management is to blame.

In IL is a republican really any different than a dem? I ask because the majority lives in Chicago, an extreme left city population, so what are the chances of a real republican getting elected? They would have to be so moderate that to us they would appear leftist.

[oldasrocks]

Maybe if they would vote in Universal health care for all it would help (sarc)

[Huebolt]

how would their reps vote?

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Believe it or not, we moved to Illinois from TEXAS. (People here cannot quite believe that, trust me.)

The state is mostly middle of the road politically speaking, but is totally poisoned by Chicago. (mayor Ramadan Emmanual emetic supreme)

Think about it, a Republican Governor...

[AlaskaErik]

The once highly popular Democratic governor was ousted in 2014 by Rauner, who spent $20 million of his own money on the campaign.

If I had $20 million, I'd have fled the state. Rauner had to know there would be no dealing with DemocRATS. Has he never heard of Don Quixote?

[virgil]

The problem is if you live in a border state. They’ll all move to another state and bankrupt them.

[catnipman]

FT did a commendable job in inserting irrelevant attacks on Trump and insinuating the Illinois Republican governor is somehow partially responsible for the impending bankruptcy of Illinois.

[virgil]

Some people are just content to say it’s everybody’s fault and so it’s nobody’s fault. That’s Illinois. They should go back to being a territory. As a territory they will lose their state powers and right to make laws. They become under the direct control of the federal govt.

[grania]

Connecticut’s got to be pretty high on that list.

[PeterPrinciple]

Why couldn’t the Framers had made it easier for portions of states to form their own states.

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It was done with West Virginia. Interesting history.

[Keyhopper]

I’m in if they include Florida