We're Screwed

According to the New York Times, some state debts are now at a crisis point.

Here's what they had to say about Illinois' debt:

In Illinois, the state comptroller recently said the state was nearly $9 billion behind on its bills to vendors, which he called an "ongoing fiscal disaster." On Monday, Fitch Ratings downgraded several categories of Illinois's debt, citing the state's accounts payable backlog. California had to pay its vendors with i.o.u.'s last year.

"These are the things that can precipitate a crisis," Mr. Rauh said.

This problem is not going to solve itself, and its not going to go away. The standard Democratic playbook is to raise taxes, and that's what Gov. Quinn wants to do here in Illinois. But raising taxes in this bad economy are only going to make things worse, as it just means more bills to pay when people are already having a hard time paying off the ones they have.

I do not like the sound of this. We're just one economic jolt away from some truly catastrophic events here.