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| John Kass's modest proposal for the dissolution of Illinois: Carve up the failed state and let the rest of the Midwest have it. (Ryan Marx) |
From the Chicago Tribune comes this satire by John Kass (dated June 20, 2017):
Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper.Read the rest HERE.
But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people's money.
Those "other people" include taxpayers who've abandoned the state. And now Illinois faces doomsday.
[...]
The best thing to do is to break Illinois into pieces right now. Just wipe us off the map. Cut us out of America's heartland and let neighboring states carve us up and take the best chunks for themselves.
The group that will scream the loudest is the state's political class, who did this to us, and the big bond creditors, who are whispering talk of bankruptcy and asset forfeiture to save their own skins.
[...]
The alternative is hell. Illinois hasn't had a state budget for years. The state continues to spend money it doesn't have, and the state's credit ratings have dropped, increasing the cost of borrowing more money we don't have to keep the rotten shebang going....
Comments are interesting, too; those comments run all along the socio-political spectrum.
One commenter opined:
Between the crooked Madigans, Dalys, and now stubby Rahm...we are being robbed right in our faces daily. We have no checks and balances from the crooked mayor and aldermen because they themselves are paid for.Yes, Kass's essay is satire.
High crimes from the thug blacks who have daily shooting contests and nothing is done about that. A state that is giving "OUR" money to illegals while REAL Americans struggle to keep their house or apartments, pay their bills, keep food on the tables, oh and BTW keep their jobs and pay. The list goes on but nothing gets done. The Feds know that every politician is corrupt yet they do knowing. For those lucky enough to be able to leave(running) from this shit hole we used to love and sell their homes, the others have to continue enduring this crime. The continued rise in all types of taxes so that they can pocket that money also.
For the moment.
Seriously, though, can a state within the United States go belly up and dissolve?
If a state cannot dissolve, what is such a bankrupt state supposed to do when the breaking point arrives, as it surely will?
Are any other member states of the United States approaching the same financial precipice as that of Illinois?
And does the nation as a whole have any responsibility to rescue a bankrupt member state?
Additional reading: The man behind the fiscal fiasco in Illinois (Reuters, February 8, 2017) and Could Illinois be the first state to file for bankruptcy? (CBS Money Watch, June 16, 2017).
At least Michigan didn't get burdened on the conservative side of our state with portions of Chicago.
ReplyDeleteI left Illinois back in the rust belt days when Springsteen was singing about closing down the factories and JC Mellencamp brought us "Rain on the Scarecrow." It's a wonderful down home state destroyed by greedy, corrupt politicians.
ReplyDeleteWhy would any of the surrounding states want a "piece" of the financial mess that is "Illinois?"
ReplyDeleteFJ,
DeleteI think that idea is to abandon to destruction those pieces of Illinois that are in the most financial distress. Maybe I'm mistaken, but that's how I read the essay at the first link.
Fertile farmland, gas and oil, great forest, and fishing lakes, rivers and streams, and wonderful, hardworking people.
DeleteThe surrounding states would fight each other over that.
The bigger fight would be over who is forced to take Chicago. Maybe they could make that its own state, which would be appropriate, since the corrupt Chicago Democrat Machine already runs the state (into the ground).
If you were to ask me, it's like putting a spoiled potato into five barrels filled with perfectly good potatoes...
DeleteGive them to Canada!
DeleteThe root of Illinois' problems is Chicago. Illinois has around 12 million people.
DeleteChicago and its suburbs, collectively known as Chicagoland, has a population of 9 million, and Chicagoland votes overwhelmingly Democrat.
Only four counties outside of Chicagoland voted democrat in 2016, and they are light blue.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteAnonymous,
DeleteYOU YOURSELF are abusing the bandwidth for which I pay.
Buzz off.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteLook here, joker. You don't tell me how to run this blog. Buzz off.
DeleteThis blog is one of the best on the blogosphere and is almost always on moderation or frequent observation...that this junk got ignored is only a matter of the Blog Owner's limited time.
ReplyDeleteIt's nothing what you call it and it's a pleasure to stand up for AOW as she often has to for me. A GREAT pleasure.
You "clean it up"...your smut mouth doesn't help.
Yep.
DeleteZ & Ed,
DeleteThank you for your support.
Good grief! I am absent a few hours to work on some therapy for my back, and I come back to a smut mouth blabbing on and on about how to run this blog.
Apparently, some people don't have enough to do.
I will now take out the trash.
Are you sure it was satire? Sounds like a pretty good idea to me! Two less liberal Senators to boot!
ReplyDeleteThere is that. Brilliant!
DeleteI suggest we add California as well... or better yet for the good people of Northern California, split her in two..they aren't far behind.
ReplyDeleteI can see the possibility of three states squaring off over the issue of who gets stuck with Chicago ...
ReplyDeleteINSANITY!
ReplyDeleteIllinois is a mess; no doubt but it's not alone.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usadebtclock.com/
This is the same solution we need with Washington DC. It was originally intended to revert to Maryland from whence it was carved if DC'ers wanted to be in a state. I vote to narrow the scope of the District to the capitol complexes and K Street and give the rest back to Maryland.
ReplyDeleteWe can make up for the loss of Illinois by breaking central and eastern California from the rest of the state. (And they can control the water to the lefties :) )
What to do with Chicago? Make it a tax-free business hub for 50 years at a declining rate.
Baysider,
DeleteI vote to narrow the scope of the District to the capitol complexes and K Street and give the rest back to Maryland.
They'd be squabbling over Nationals Baseball Park. **wink**
I don't believe that KY or MO would take East St Louis. It's just a smaller version of Chicago.
ReplyDeleteresourceful page
ReplyDelete