Waiting On Uncle Sam

 

Let me give you a lesson in Illinois economics.

Your household bills total $42,000….but you only have income of $37,000.

You and I would find a way of dialing back our lifestyle. But in Illinois, at least at the state government level, you borrow $5-grand hoping your rich Uncle Sam will fork up the difference. And if he doesn’t come through, it's his fault, not yours.

That’s exactly what is happening except we are talking about billions of dollars.

The Governor is saying this is all on Uncle Sam. The feds are supposed to be flooding the states with COVID-19 recovery cash. That money was going to be used to help the state pay itself out of the hole. J. B. Pritzker says he will have to make deep cuts if the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate doesn’t come through.

But Illinois is on the radar of people like U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin who told CNBC a few weeks ago that the President is “not going to bail out Chicago” which he claims was mismanaged prior to the pandemic. He’d be right on that claim.

Here it is in a nutshell. You can’t borrow money on the hope that someone else is going to pay it off for you. That’s drawing to an inside straight.

Next you cut budgets and dare state voters to vote down the constitutional amendment to create a “fair tax” in Illinois. Trust me, there’s nothing fair about it.

The Governor wants it.

…which is all I need to be against it.