jay robert “j. b.” pritzker is the governor of Illinois. The people of that state have voted him into that office twice. And he has rewarded them by, among other things, providing a balanced budget.
Uh….if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Here is the reality check, via excerpts from Catrina Barker’s article for The Center Square, via msn.com:
Budget gimmicks, pension debt and late financial reports are leaving Illinois taxpayers in the dark, according to Truth in Accounting which gives Illinois another “F” grade.
Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting, said Illinois leaders continue to rely on “political math” to claim balanced budgets while debt quietly piles up.
“Illinois has a balanced budget requirement, but it all depends on how you count,” Weinberg said. “They use political math to pretend their budget is balanced while they’re putting the state in debt.”
Truth in Accounting’s Financial State of the States report found Illinois taxpayers now carry an average burden of $38,800 each, the third-worst in the nation. The report ranks Illinois 48th overall, with only Connecticut and New Jersey faring worse.
“The governor continually says, ‘Hey, we balance our budget,’ and sometimes even claims surpluses,” Weinberg said. “This gives people a false sense of the true financial condition of the government.”
Illinois also earned the worst ranking in the nation for unfunded pension liabilities. According to Truth in Accounting, the state has only 43 cents set aside for every dollar it has promised in pension benefits.
Weinberg noted that the state is actually underfunding pensions by $5 to $6 billion annually. On top of that, Illinois owes $21.7 billion in retiree health care benefits, which the state’s Supreme Court has deemed constitutionally guaranteed, yet the state continues to leave these obligations entirely unfunded.
Weinberg also warned that Illinois has become increasingly reliant on federal money since the pandemic. During COVID-19, federal aid to states doubled from $750 billion to $1.5 trillion. Even as aid declined to $1.2 trillion in 2024, Weinberg said Illinois remains dangerously dependent.
Translation: underfunded and unfunded pension benefits (that future administrations will have to figure out how to deal with), enormous federal handouts….and presto. Abracadabra. j.b. pritzker has “balanced” the budget…
…thus giving him all the time he wants to go on tv and attack Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for doing its job, while pretending that the violence being visited on ICE agents in Broadview, IL and elsewhere is nothing more than peaceful protesting.
Here’s a question for you: what has pritzker actually done that is beneficial to the residents of Illinois? Take your time. You’ll need it.
j. b. pritzker is about as poor excuse for a state governor as you can find anywhere. And – incredibly based on his performance, but not so incredibly based on his ego – he apparently apires to the Democrat presidential nomination in 2028.
If I were a Republican, I would be salivating at the thought.
