No surprise; this was always their game plan

score!

Chris Talgo, American Heartland Institute:

COVID Rescue Plan is Just a Blue State Bailout

For years, states like Illinois have been hoping for a federal bailout. Illinois currently carries a mind-boggling $224 billion debt burden.

Well, Illinois lawmakers must be breathing a big sigh of relief, considering it appears more likely than ever that the federal government will pump out $350 billion to states and local governments, under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

The bill, which also includes provisions for $1,400 stimulus checks, a $15 federal minimum wage, and all sorts of pork-barrel spending projects, will likely head to Biden’s Oval Office desk by the end of March.

This could not come soon enough for blue states drowning in red ink. Case in point is Illinois.

For decades, Illinois lawmakers have kicked the debt can down the road.

Here is a snapshot of Illinois’ finances: $224 billion total debt burden, $6 billion deficit for the current fiscal year, more than $8 billion in outstanding bills, and hundreds of billions in unfunded future pension liabilities.

Because Illinois cannot print money like the federal government can, Illinois is supposed to have a balanced budget every year. The last time Illinois had a balanced budget: 2001.

Yes, for 20 straight years, Illinois, my home state, has been operating on borrowed money. That is fiscal ineptitude on steroids. However, Illinois is far from the only blue state with money problems due to profligate spending and out-of-control public pension obligations.

The same scenario is playing out throughout the United States, from New York to California.

Such is why many blue-state lawmakers are absolutely giddy about the prospects of a $350 billion federal bailout.

Just a few quibbles with Talbo: before it gave up the charade, Illinois “balanced” its budget by simply moving its massively underfunded pension liabilities off the books, just like New York and Connecticut have done Second, these states weren’t just “hoping” for a federal bailout, they were counting it, and have been spending away, knowing that, sooner or later, the right combination of Democrats would gain control and pay off much of the debt with other people’s money.

This reduction of the states’ debts will just free them to continue their spending spree, so look for a repetition of the “crisis” soon; maybe they’ll invent another flu pandemic..

Of curse, we’ve been doing this on a national level for just as long as the states, but the feds can extend the day of reckoning far longer because it can print and inflate its way past the graveyard, until it can’t.

oh, for the good old days