Is Illinois the worst run state?

Don't get me wrong. Some of the small rural towns in Illinois can be pure magic especially those small rural river towns and especially those small rural river towns when they are seen in that infinite span of time that only seems to happen in the midwest...you know, the span between the unexpectedly late end of a hard-bright day and the onset of that dark-dark part of night that never seems to come. And then there is Chicago. Chicago is one of the true jewels of big cities, not just in the US but in the world. On the other hand...

I was thinking about Illinois today for several reasons. First because I have always asked my advisors to steer clear of Illinois bonds (the only state, so far, where I have a hard "no") because of their dysfunctional finances that always seem to favor special interests at the expense of the taxpayers, future taxpayers, children of future taxpayers, and, of course, rural counties. Second, I have recently added corporate and muni bond trading to my personal repertoire, a capability that is among the very last frontiers of what I physically need from a formal advisor (if we skip over things like lending facilities -- though I have solved that too -- or private placements but I have forsworn placements for the foreseeable future). This means that I have recently been perusing bond offerings and have been considering, along with the obvious financial and time terms, their various risks and ratings. Third, because there was a good letter to the editor in the WSJ today about the perverse alice-in-wonderland feats and foibles of the entrenched Illinois political "combine" that made me wonder "how bad can it be, really?"

Here is how bad it can be. This is an excerpt, without any further comment (though I suppose we could discuss New Jersey? ...and the fact that there is currently no interest rate on the planet that would induce me to lend to IL; I'd almost rather lend to Venezuela), from ballotpedia.org/State_credit_ratings: