[updated 3.15.13] Illinois politicians are not honest about the depth of the state’s pension crisis. They chronically understate the scale of the problem to taxpayers and state workers. According to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the state has misled investors as well. Today the SEC announced it was charging Illinois with securities fraud. From a...

by Kristina Rasmussen This bit of news is creating quite a stir in certain circles: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the state of New Jersey Wednesday with lying and withholding information to investors in billions of dollars worth of municipal bond deals. The allegations involve $26 billion of bond offerings from 2001 to 2007 in...