Gee, Barry was a legislator from Illinois, along with most of his major White House staff....you don't suppose...............

Maybe Obama can dispatch Larry Summers. Just look what he did for Haavad not to mention that whole stimulus thing.

Man,I love this state! Home to the Jug-Eared Douche, my big Dick in the Senate (Durbin), and my fa-a-a-vorite Rep, Debbie "Dumbass" Halvorson. That's the national scene. Then I have my local incompetent Kosel - a RINO if there ever was one.

Time to scurry out and pick up a new 'piece' and ammo to defend the home front.

In Alexander County, the sheriff's patrol cars have been repossessed;

I'm sorry, but that cracks me up. I mean, I know it's bad that the police can't get around, but it's just so purely "theater of the absurd" that I can't help laughing. They financed their police cruisers?!?

The third (or fourth?) shoe to drop will be New York. And honestly, I am looking forward to it because nothing short of bankruptcy will wake the morons in Albany, and the really morons who vote for them from their depravity.

Well OBVIOUSLY "the rich" are not paying their fair share!

Obviously this is all Bush's fault.

Same in Pennsylvania. We're facing a $3B budget hole (out of about $27B budget)....and Gov proposes a coming-FY budget that assumes receipt of as-yet-to-be-legislated-or-appropriated $850M from Washington. Pure genius.

Illinois, the definition of dysfunctional democratic government. Not to mention, crooked, corrupt, and F'd up. The tax rate is about to go through the roof, but they won't admit it. The union pension problem is going to be a GYNORMOUS problem that nobody is paying much attention to. Plus we have probably some of the most dimwitted morons in the senate and house. Yet the people of this country elected a product of this system on the platform of "Hope and Change" like that has happened in Illinois in the last 50 years. mpw

"Barack Obama's home state of Illinois..."

Wait a minute. Isn't Hawaii supposed to be Obama's home state?

Or, uh, the first Pacific President?

No wait, Citizen of the world! That's it!

Now, I'm even more glad I live in Texas...

I *almost* feel sorry for them, except for the fact that they voted for this all by themselves. The Democrat party will rue the day they started playing kick the debt down the road with the hope that it would never comes due.

Obviously 'The Won' will save the day with a taxpayer funded bailout like he has for all the rest of his pals so far.

If unbridled debt is the plan, then Barry's the Man.

It's not surprising at all to find that Illinois is in trouble, nor California. As they tried so very hard to be European-like with burgeoning social programs, it's also not surprising to find that Spain, Germany, France, Greece, etc are also teetering on the precipice of fiscal disaster.

We're also treated to the spectacle of European citizens in these countries going on strike and protesting vigorously against any attempts by their home governments to rein in spending - particularly in regard to social programs. Can the citizens of Illinois and California be far behind?

The people want, want and still want. And when they find that they can't afford it and the treat of losing their goodies looms overhead they throw a tantrum.

Most of the lessons I've learned in life were by observation of others mistakes. Why aren't we paying more attention to those in Europe that so many of us wish to emulate?

That should read "the threat of losing their goodies". Gah.

You guys are all wrong about this. Illinois is doing so badly because they let their soul, their light, their life, Barack Hussein Obama, go live in Washington. They never had any of these problems when he was living in Chicago. They lost the key stone to their arch and now they are crumbling into the abyss.

As a life-long Illinois resident, we could see this coming decades ago, but the powers in Springfield and Chicago continued their old parlor tricks of spend, borrow and tax.

Obama was a key member of the Illinois Senate; at least that's what he ran for US Senator and President on ... his 'experience' and 'leadership'. He was responsible for part of the problem, which he brought over to the finances of the entire country. Chicago-style accounting; thank you Chicago, ACORN, Soros and MSM.

I too have lived my whole life in Illinois up until last Oct.

During that time the dems have controled the state legislature for as long as I can remember. It has never been run with anything resembling fiscal responsibility. The last ten years have been remarkable only for the increasing trend to pay off political factionas and interests and attenpts to buy votes with givaways of taxpayer funds.

The Olympics is one such example. $200 M spent on friends and cronies. The constant battle for a third airport, the only thing which delays it is deciding which group of political insiders gets to dictate where it goes so the friends and family who have bought up land in that area can recieve a windfall.

With the CTA (public transportation) facing cutbacks and insolvency, the governor decided it was time to let all senior citizen ride for free. WTF? This was little more than vote buying.

Beholden to the unions the dems cannot make any meaningful stand for financial discipline. The RINO party (there are few conservatives in the Illinois GOP) is hardly any different.

A pox on both their houses. No longer living there I will enjoy watching the disaster from a safe distance.

Clearly the state needs to start increasing benefits for the poor, after all, they'll be hardest hit. And maybe start some capital improvement projects to create some jobs. That's the ticket...

A pox on both their houses. No longer living there I will enjoy watching the disaster from a safe distance.

I'm not sure there's any location within the borders of the U.S. that's safely removed from the consequences of a financial meltdown in Illinois, New York, or California. I expect there will be calls for rescue by the Federal government to mitigate this man-made disaster (dems say it's a Bush-made disaster). That means more federal debt and that impacts all the U.S. The real danger is that once any single state gets a special rescue then every state will be in line for the same rescue.

I have a great idea. I don't know who is sitting in Obama's old state Senate seat in Illinois, but someone needs to contact him/her right away and tell him/her that all he/she needs to do is blame Obama's term in office for the state's woes.

Wouldn't it be fun to see how he reacts to having the same "blame the last guy for everything" tactic turned on him?

With all the thugs, criminals and shysters Hussein has moved from Chicago to DC, you'd think problems in Illinois would be resolving themselves. But I guess democrat thieves breed like democrat voters--indiscriminately and gleefully!