Illinois, Laughingstock of the World

Savvy Mary writes, after watching a BBC/America piece:

The BBC used Illinois, with its empty school swimming pools & unmet obligations to universities, meals on wheels & social services to the disabled, as the illustration for the sorry state of the U. S. economy. They actually made the state appear to be more of a wreck than I though it was. We are in really bad shape. But, will the pension issue ever be addressed?

And this:

According to the FT, the Fed will soon redefine "full employment" so that a higher lever of unemployment will now be the norm. If you can't solve the problem, change its definition. How very "Chicago".

We have our bumbling dufus of a Governor Quinn, who wants to borrow billions. Again. And raise taxes through the roof. Unemployment is in double digits in Illinois and this will just drive even more job-creating business out of the state. (And for what?!)

In contrast, a small country, Ireland has bitten the bullet:

But unlike Greece—where protests and strikes are expected to escalate this week after the government unveiled new spending cuts and tax increases after months of foot-dragging—Ireland took swift measures to snuff out fears of a default.

Irish teachers and police have had their gross salaries slashed by as much as 15%, with new across-the-board taxes taking an additional cut. Dublin also reduced welfare benefits, helping to turn the once-booming Celtic Tiger into the austerity leader in Europe. The European Union is now pressing Greece to do the same—and Portugal, Spain and Italy may not be far behind.

This map is from 2007, but it gives you the idea. Can we practice some sensible policies here, Illinois? Will we be shamed by our Irish brethren?

P.S. On that new measure of poverty. Pretty ridiculous:

Haiti would probably have a very low poverty rate when measured by the Obama system because the earthquake reduced much of the population to a uniform penniless squalor."