Quinn Thinks He's the Bees Knees

By his reckoning we should all move to Michigan, which outranked IL on the BEES index because it was even more bankrupt, coming back from a lower bottom. Granted, back in November auto sales pulled them into growth, but as taxpayers, how can we forget we bailed them out bigtime.

As for Illinois, we're on the verge of another credit downgrade, with unpaid bills piling up despite a massive tax increase last year. Wisconsin, in contrast, has balanced its budget through Gov. Walker's reforms, and property taxes have gone down. Unemployment in Wisconsin is at 6.8%, vs. Illinois at 8.8%. Chicago's is 9.6%.

Then there's housing:

From the peak, September 2006, to the data released yesterday for February 2012, Chicago-area prices are down 37.8 percent—their lowest level since June 2000. They are down 7 percent from February 2011, and down 2.6 percent from last month. The news was even bleaker for condos. From their peak in July 2006, condo prices were down 45.3 percent in February, taking them to October 1999 levels. From February 2011, they are down 10 percent, and from January 2012, down 2.5 percent.

And how about this chart.

Illinois, still the poster state for failure.

More. Quinn was on with blowhard demagogue Ed Schultz. Gov. Walker was on with respected CNBC's Larry Kudlow. Watch: P.S. Then there's the Dem corruption, which is always with us.

One more: Meredith Whitney: State Finances Are Still Doomed – These Three States Are In The Most Trouble:

Meredith Whitney was on CNBC's Closing Bell Wednesday.

Jeff Cox at CNBC.com spotlights one area where she's wildly bullish. She likes the agriculture and commodity states that are 'right-to-work' where businesses are creating jobs:

"I am wildly bullish on the U.S. in particular markets...I think the U.S. market looks terrific (though) as a collective the U.S. market is not going to grow all together," she said during a "Closing Bell" interview.

"There's opportunity from Texas all the way up to North Dakota, and you can play every industry on that basis," she added. "It's the agriculture-commodity belt — also the Right to Work states. That's where businesses are moving because it's easier to operate and create jobs. So you see a massive demographic shift to those areas."

But there are three stats in particular she doesn't like: California (which is the worst) followed closely by Illinois and New Jersey. In Illinois, in particular, she cited something new about parents being forced to pay for school busses because finances have gotten so bad.

...You can donate to Gov. Walker to defeat the fatboy gov public unions trying to recall him in June, for the crime of eliminating the $3.6 billion deficit left by the previous porky Dem administration. A win for Walker is a win for freedom-loving Americans in every state.