Blue State, Red Ink

Yesterday I attended the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce's Legislative Committee meeting. State Rep. Tom Cross (R) gave a power point presentation titled "Mortgaging Their Future". It was essentially how Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his Democrat pals have left Illinois awash in debt. A quick look at the numbers:

• A pension scheme that raids pension funds of $3.5 billion over five years that will cost taxpayers $38.5 billion to repay.
• The Governor has increased the general obligation bond debt by 167% in three short years, from $7.6 billion to $20.3 billion.
• The liability for Medicaid has increased about 30%. The Governor has pushed an increased amount of current expenses into the next fiscal year, from $1 billion to $1.8 billion since FY03. Three years for the Medicaid year-end debt to increase 80%.
• The Governor has borrowed almost as much in three years as had been borrowed in the previous 20 years.
• Just these items mean that each Illinois citizen, man, woman, and child, has had an increased amount of debt of more than $4700.

More later...