basically, some wise-cracker economist from Moody's has decided that Illinois has started to recover financially and is no longer in danger of recession.
WHAT??
he may have studied all sorts of financial data and run it thru all sorts of analytical programs, but has he been to our state?
has he witnessed the ineptitude taking place over in Springfield?
has he seen our school districts having to cut, cut, cut everywhere they can in order to keep the doors open?
has he heard about the state facilities that have been shuttered and the state employees that have been forced to reduce hours?
has he seen the faces of the unemployed, or the underemployed?
2 quotes I love from the article above:
"Much of the improvement in Illinois' economy is pegged to Chicagoland, but he says downstate manufacturers could also soon see an improvement in exports overseas."
(There is so much more to this state than Chicago, where the economy *may* be improving but homicides happen as frequently as accidents on the Tri-State.)
"The latest unemployment numbers show Illinois is ranked 49th in the nation, just three-tenths of a percentage point ahead of Nevada."
(yeah! 49th!! go us!!!)
IMPORTANT NOTE: I have not given up on Illinois. We are a great state made of of great people. We will recover. Just not sure quite how we're gonna do that. The piggy bank is empty.
for more absolutely fantastic news (can you sense the sarcasm??) about the state of our state, see:
out for now.....
Matt