WASHINGTON — Obama’s home state of Illinois is facing one of the biggest financial problems yet: its public employee pension crisis. Reuters reports that its recent legislature session failed to resolve the potentially damaging pension crisis.
Illinois’ governor Patrick Quinn, a Democrat, plans to hold meetings this week with lawmakers from both parties on how to address major pension reform and overhaul. But, without Republicans to blame the Democrats are in a bind.
The state faces a $100 billion unfunded pension liability and large structural budget deficit, due to the free-wheeling spending politics of Illinois Democrats. Illinois, home to the major city of Chicago, now has the lowest credit rating of all U.S. states. Even credit ratings agency Moody’s said that it could be lowered if no pension reform is passed.
The irony? Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a Chicago-based government finance watchdog group, blamed the legislature’s failures on “a lack of political will and political consensus.”
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