The Illinois Lottery kinda sorta doesn't have your winnings but is totally good for it, man

[dixiehack]

If you win more than $25k, you get a nice, shiny IOU until the state pulls a budget from the wreckage.

Tough luck for Illinois Lottery winners

 

[da man]

If Texas tries to pull that on me when I win, I'm gonna kick some ass!

 

[Captain_Kirk]

Wow, what a ****ed up state. Al Capone weeps in shame.

Talk about a good way to kill the lottery revenues.

How long until Illinois is completely dissolved and split between Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin? Or maybe time for the cheeseheads to invade and take over.

 

[da man]

Wow, what a ****ed up state. Al Capone weeps in shame.

Talk about a good way to kill the lottery revenues.

How long until Illinois is completely dissolved and split between Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin? Or maybe time for the cheeseheads to invade and take over.

Not enough deer to make it worth their while.

Or beer, for that matter.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Not enough deer to make it worth their while.

Or beer, for that matter.

Well, if they invade, they always can take over the Bears and merge them. Lacy and Forte would be a great running tandem, and Cutler would make a good third-string QB.

 

[Big Circus]

Elite thread title/avatar synergy.

 

[Gutter]

Or maybe time for the cheeseheads to invade and take over.

Already owns Chicago.

 

[playthrough]

This editorial is a joke. Of course there are other fish to fry in the Illinois legislature but if you're not going to pay out jackpots then that's a huge problem. Stop selling the tickets. The editorial dismisses it as an issue that affects "perhaps a couple dozen people," but is that how we're selecting our outrage now, with head counts? So you're not losing sleep over a guy waiting on his $50 grand. That's not the point.

 

[swingline]

Wow, what a ****ed up state. Al Capone weeps in shame.

Talk about a good way to kill the lottery revenues.

How long until Illinois is completely dissolved and split between Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin? Or maybe time for the cheeseheads to invade and take over.

Missouri holds up a picture of the DO NOT WANT wolf being offered a plate of broccoli.

 

[dixiehack]

How long until Illinois is completely dissolved and split between Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin? Or maybe time for the cheeseheads to invade and take over.

I started to ask why you were cheating Kentucky out of its share, then realized its share would be Cairo.

 

[dixiehack]

Two years later, guess who still doesn't have their **** together?

Powerball, Mega Millions may be victims of Illinois budget impasse, lottery officials say

 

[KJIM]

Wow, what a ****ed up state. Al Capone weeps in shame.

How long until Illinois is completely dissolved and split between Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin? Or maybe time for the cheeseheads to invade and take over.

If it's timed right, we can dissolve Illinois and gain Puerto Rico as a state. Saves the tax dollar of a flag redesign.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Illinois is in bad shape. This is a small thing. The public pension crisis it is facing, as well as its stagnant economy, is a very big deal that is not going to go away.

I have said that the U.S. is in a depression on here, and it makes people's heads explode for some reason. This is something I read the other day with regard to Illinois alone. It gives some good perspective about how things actually are:

Illinois’ economic growth is worse than during the Great Depression

 

[Jevans]

The pension crisis started decades ago when Illinois stopped funding the system properly.

Blaming a "depression" might extend an argument here. But it has nothing to do with the pension problem.

 

[The Big Ragu]

The pension crisis started decades ago when Illinois stopped funding the system properly.

Blaming a "depression" might extend an argument here. But it has nothing to do with the pension problem.

The pension problem is at crisis levels BECAUSE of the stagnant economy. The two go hand in hand. This is the paradox of running up debt to live a fantasy. As long as you are bringing in enough money to fund enough of your current liabilities, you can stay on your treadmill for a while. But when your revenue falls way off, due to a depressed economy, you suddenly have a mountain of debt, a structural problem that continues to run up debt. ... and your revenues are falling short of keeping you on your treadmill that kept the fantasy alive for a while.

Their public pension system had a huge number of state employees retiring in their 50s (something like 60 percent), many receiving full benefits. You are right, that in itself was just a bad promise made by politicians that was sure to bankrupt the system eventually. The stupidity is being fueled by debt, which is escalating at a massive rate -- $111 billion of debt in 2015, $130 billion last year. It's unsustainable. At the same time, the economy is languishing in a (yeah) depression, and their state budgets can't keep up with the stagnant tax revenues that economy produces, let alone help out with the massive pension shortfalls.

The whole thing creates a death spiral. They run state budget deficits, have a massive public pension shortfall (I agree, all of their making over decades -- but it is coming to a head now for a reason), and all of the debt they are running up rather than dealing with their structural problems ensures a credit crisis.

I didn't say that the pension put the state's economy in a depression, the way you read it. I said that there is a pension crisis at the same time the economy is in a crapper. The debt mess they are creating as a result, can not possibly end well.

 

[cranberry]

The government should give the numbers racket back to the mob. At least they know how to run the game.

 

[Jevans]

No. The Illinois pension crisis started decades ago. This is not a result of current economic woes.

 

[The Big Ragu]

No. The Illinois pension crisis started decades ago. This is not a result of current economic woes.

You aren't responding to what I posted.

Two decades ago, Illinois' public pensions as a share of Illinois' general revenue fund were less than 3 percent. A decade ago it was somewhere around 5 or 6 percent.

Today, it is close to 25 percent.

The crisis is now, not "decades ago." There are a number of reasons for that, and a HUGE part of it is that Illinois' economy has stalled. They could live a fantasy in 2005 without facing an imminent crisis, for example, because the Illinois economy was producing enough state revenues to fund more of their liabilities without having to run up escalating amounts of debt.

In the context of what I posted (not the post I didn't make that you seem to be responding to), it is part of a death spiral that ensures the spiral gets worse. They go hand in hand. As yearly pension costs (being funded by more and more debt) consume a bigger and bigger percentage of the state's general fund budget (close to 25 percent now!), it is crowding out spending on other things.

 

[Jevans]

It is getting worse now. But the problem started long ago. Just paying the 2005 liabilities in 2005 wouldn't have addressed past and future problems.

 

[User 11148]

It is getting worse now. But the problem started long ago. Just paying the 2005 liabilities in 2005 wouldn't have addressed past and future problems.

You seem to be hung up on this "underfunded and therefore disconnected from today's economy" bit. A pension regime that is adequately (perhaps excessively) funded with GDP growth at 5% can be terribly underfunded at 3% growth.