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* One year ago today. Chicago Sun-Times, June 9, 2016: “Drops in state’s credit rating could be ‘wake-up call’ for pols”…
Illinois’ “political gridlock” prompted two major credit rating agencies to downgrade the state’s credit rating — two levels above “junk” status — but that one-two punch could motivate politicians to end the messy budget impasse. […]
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said Thursday’s downgrades by Moody’s and S&P will have an “enormous impact on the state financially” that should light a fire under Rauner and Democratic legislative leaders.
“This downgrade is going to cause tens of millions of dollars in additional borrowing costs that could have been used to help our most vulnerable citizens and, instead, will just evaporate into higher debt service costs,” Msall said.
“There’s no denying the financial and reputational wreckage caused by the State of Illinois not having a budget. It is well beyond the time for our elected officials to resolve their differences and allow the state to move forward. If the Legislature and the governor needed yet another wake-up call as to how dangerous the situation has gotten in Illinois, they now have it.” […]
Rauner’s office on Thursday said the governor had already warned the “super majority” about a pending downgrade before legislators left Springfield without a budget.
“This report underscores the need for real structural changes to repair the years of unbalanced budgets and deficit spending by the majority party on Illinois’ finances,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement. “Every rank-and-file Democrat who blindly followed the Speaker down this path is directly responsible for the downgrade.”
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 10:57 am
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Previous Post: Somebody, please, help us out here a little
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If no one listened to the stories of people at risk of serious health issues, disruption of college educations, lost daycare funding putting jobs at risk, I see no reason to believe that bond ratings will move them. We are well aware of the interest expense from delayed payments currently, yet no one has applied a tourniquet, much less a blood transfusion.
Comment by Cynic Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:12 am
Getting the feeling it all may just be to late….
Comment by JDuc Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:15 am
If Rauner thinks Republican primary voters are going to blame anyone but him for this, he is sadly mistaken.
Comment by William j Kelly Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:16 am
If Rauner thinks ANY voters are going to blame anyone but him, he is sadly mistaken.
Where are we now vs. before he took office? Who is the Buck Stops Here Guy? Is there more than one head of the state? What can anyone say is a positive achievement under his reign?
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:25 am
There will always be particular demographics that will always vote party line, regardless of facts, incident, truth, or lie.
Comment by Ractin Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:28 am
‘Every rank-and-file Republican who blindly followed the Governor down this path is directly responsible for the downgrade.’ CK must have left this part off her statement
Comment by zatoichi Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:30 am
===“This report underscores the need for real structural changes to repair the years of unbalanced budgets and deficit spending by the majority party on Illinois’ finances,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement. “Every rank-and-file Democrat who blindly followed the Speaker down this path is directly responsible for the downgrade.”===
Hmm.
Mr. Schrimpf, do you concur?
In 2014…
===“Illinois’ credit rating has been downgraded 13 times under Pat Quinn and now, because of his failed leadership, our state’s economy and finances are still broken. Pat Quinn put special interest politics ahead of Illinois workers. We need to change direction before it’s too late.” – Rauner campaign spokesperson Mike Schrimpf…===
The Rauner Word Jumble was obviously recalibrated in between these two statements… ?
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:34 am
Rauner’s wide awake. He knows what he’s doing, destroying “collectivist” institutions through fiscal recklessness.
His loony, lying rationales make him sound like an idiot, but that’s just a bad act.
Makes you wonder, though, about his supporters who actually buy his nonsense.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:40 am
The revenue generated by these so supposedly critical structural changes that the Administration insists they have to have, according to the administration’s own numbers, will only amount to about 8% of our projected deficit is for the current fiscal year. Is that worth the damage that they are inflicting on the state? The answer is a resounding no. In those TV ads that Pritzger is running they need to educate the public on this ridiculous argument.
Comment by The Dude Abides Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:45 am
—
Makes you wonder, though, about his supporters who actually buy his nonsense.
—
Well, he has a lot of supporters. Including all the media outlets. So, yeah, he’s loony — but loony will win. It always does.
Comment by Mr. K Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:31 pm
Oh Kelly:
Right now, around these suburbs anyway, GOP voters still first blame Madigan for Springfield failures. During the next 9 months, Rauner ad spend will ramp up, and we could well have a required tax increase. Rauner is a lock for the primary.
Comment by walker Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:50 pm
It’s crazy to me that everyone blames Rauner when this issue was a factor when Daley and Quinn was in office and this coming from someone who use to vote democrat. Wake up people and stop making everything about political parties. People are sick of high taxes, crime and promising change yet nothing gets done. Which party has held office all these years? Look at the facts and stop listening to lies.
Comment by LW Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:55 pm
LW, come on, at least recognize that Rauner is doing a terrible job. You think our state has been mismanaged for decades and it’s 100% democrats fault, okay, whatever, I can agree with that to an extent, but Rauner has been throwing a tantrum for not getting his way, while at the same time doing everything he can to make EVERYONE not work with him to get what he says he wants. Punching someone in the face until they agree to buy you brass knuckles so you can punch them harder is NOT an effective strategy to get what you want. I’m not even going to talk about the merits of his demands, just how he has tried to achieve his goals by itself shows that he is either unbelievably incompetent, or else achieving his goals of destroying the state. And that is not hyperbole, either he is lashing out at random (incompetent), or if everything is going according to plan then he is trying to do irreparable harm to out State to line the pockets of rich people like himself.
Comment by Perrid Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 1:07 pm
“This report underscores the need for [a] real [balanced budget] to repair the years of unbalanced budgets and deficit spending by [both parties] on Illinois’ finances,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly [might have] said in a statement.
Comment by 37B Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 2:01 pm
All Rauner’s opponents have to do is ask one question: are you better off now than you were 4 years ago? Voters usually vote their pocketbook.
Comment by RNUG Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 2:46 pm