According to ratings agency Standard & Poor’s 500 Illinois’ credit rating is the worst among the 50 states. We are the only state in the country with an A- credit rating – on par with nations such as Botswana, Latvia and Slovenia And Illinoisans should be aware of the possibility that we could be headed...

Illinois has the lowest credit rating in the nation. And just like people with poor credit scores, the state must pay higher interest rates. Higher rates mean higher interest payments that drain the budget and leave less money for education, health care and public safety. For every $1 billion of new borrowing, Illinois taxpayers are...

When Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to SXSW to pitch Chicago as a destination city, he touted the city’s buzz. There’s no denying Chicago’s arts and tech scene is on the rise. But Emanuel failed to tell Austin crowds there’s a buzzkill on the way – the city’s fiscal collapse. Chicago continued its decline when two of...

In what’s likely to be a chain of credit downgrades for some of Chicago’s sister governments, Moody’s Investors Services cut the city of Chicago’s credit rating to Baa1 from A3. That downgrade follows the rare triple-notch downgrade the city received last year from Moody’s as a result of the city’s growing and out-of-control pension debt. Excluding Detroit,...

This week Illinois borrowed $350 million to pay for projects including roads, bridges and schools. The state issued 25-year taxable general obligation bonds, the first borrowing by Illinois since the state passed its pension “fix” in early December. But not unlike someone with a terrible credit score, Illinois must pay the highest penalty rate of...

Chicago’s recent triple-notch downgrade by Fitch Ratings is a stark reminder that Illinois’ inability to solve its pension crisis has consequences. Illinois has the lowest credit rating of all 50 states. In contrast, three of its neighbors have maintained their AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. Illinois has suffered 13 downgrades from the...

It’s taken as fact that Illinois’ five state-run pension systems have a $100 billion funding shortfall. That’s what the official reports say. But all that’s about to change. Moody’s Investors Service is making good on its promise to evaluate state pension plans on more realistic assumptions. The rating agency has long critiqued the pension funds’...

The price of Illinois’ bad behavior continues to go up.

Too bad Puerto Rico isn’t a state. If it were, Puerto Rico, and not Illinois, would have the nation’s worst-funded pension system and the country’s worst credit rating.