Because they're more broke than they've let on. All the debt, that's primarily government pensions. Hundreds of billions worth, for a state of just 12 million people. But they also have issues elsewhere that don't show up in the numbers of Illinois debt, like with infrastructure. Illinois has some of the worst condition infrastructure, from roads to bridges. Stuff that haven't been replaced since the mid 1900's. There's easily hundreds of billions more in infrastructure repair needed. So more realistically, Illinois is actually at least half a trillion dollars in debt, both to debtors and itself.

What they're trying to hide is that Illinois has already gone the way of Detroit.

The only difference is that they tear down homes into empty lots so you don't see the vast amounts of abandoned homes. "Land banking" is a huge thing there. What they do is take decrepit/condemned property owners that can't sell their properties (because no ones buying) after having robbed them of economic prosperity which caused things to become decrepit, bulldoze the properties down into an empty lot, turn it into a grass field, then the cities fine them and put liens for not mowing the property (because the owners have since moved far away and can't afford to keep up the property) then the city simply buys the property for an ultra low value, in exchange for forgiving the liens/taxes against the property. Then the cities do whatever they want with that property, primarily sitting on it.

So the state pays what might be a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for plot of land that used to have a $50K-$100K house on it, that because of Democrat policies was only worth $30K. Then get the owners to bulldoze the property to further reduce its value so that the cities can buy them out and "land bank". Then after some time, maybe even many years, the cities resell the properties to someone for 10 times or more than what the city originally paid, turning $2,000 in cost, into $18,000 in profits. And it's very much worth it, because where in the stock market can you make that kind of percentage gains in 10 years?! Now multiply that by thousands upon thousands of properties. You're looking at tens of billions in profits for the state, over a 10-20 year period, without actually having to produce anything and all they need to do is sit back, wait, and collect eventually.

Basically, they are robbing their citizens blind through bad policy, economic warfare, and government bureaucracy.

Because they're more broke than they've let on. All the debt, that's primarily government pensions. Hundreds of billions worth, for a state of just 12 million people. But they also have issues elsewhere that don't show up in the numbers of Illinois debt, like with infrastructure. Illinois has some of the worst condition infrastructure, from roads to bridges. Stuff that haven't been replaced since the mid 1900's. There's easily hundreds of billions more in infrastructure repair needed. So more realistically, Illinois is actually at least half a trillion dollars in debt, both to debtors and itself.

What they're trying to hide is that Illinois has already gone the way of Detroit.

The only difference is that they tear down homes into empty lots so you don't see the vast amounts of abandoned homes. "Land banking" is a huge thing there. What they do is take decrepit/condemned property owners (after having robbed them of economic prosperity which caused things to become decrepit), bulldoze the properties down into an empty lot, turning it into a grass field, then the cities fine them and put liens for not mowing the property (because the owners have since moved far away and can't afford to keep up the property) then the city simply buys the property for an ultra low value, in exchange for forgiving the liens/taxes against the property. Then the cities do whatever they want with that property, primarily sitting on it.

So the state pays what might be a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for plot of land that used to have a $50K-$100K house on it, that because of Democrat policies was only worth $30K. Then get the owners to bulldoze the property to further reduce its value so that the cities can buy them out and "land bank". Then after some time, maybe even many years, the cities resell the properties to someone for 10 times or more than what the city originally paid, turning $2,000 in cost, into $18,000 in profits. And it's very much worth it, because where in the stock market can you make that kind of percentage gains in 10 years?! Now multiply that by thousands upon thousands of properties. You're looking at tens of billions in profits for the state, over a 10-20 year period, without actually having to produce anything and all they need to do is sit back, wait, and collect eventually.

Basically, they are robbing their citizens blind through bad policy, economic warfare, and government bureaucracy.

Because they're more broke than they've let on. All the debt, that's primarily government pensions. Hundreds of billions worth, for a state of just 12 million people. But they also have issues elsewhere that don't show up in the numbers of Illinois debt, like with infrastructure. Illinois has some of the worst condition infrastructure, from roads to bridges. Stuff that haven't been replaced since the mid 1900's. There's easily hundreds of billions more in infrastructure repair needed. So more realistically, Illinois is actually at least half a trillion dollars in debt, both to debtors and itself.

What they're trying to hide is that Illinois has already gone the way of Detroit.

The only difference is that they tear down homes into empty lots. "Land banking" is a huge thing there. What they do is take decrepit/condemned property owners (after having robbed them of economic prosperity which caused things to become decrepit), bulldoze the properties down into an empty lot, turning it into a grass field, then the cities fine them and put liens for not mowing the property (because the owners have since moved far away and can't afford to keep up the property) then the city simply buys the property for an ultra low value, in exchange for forgiving the liens/taxes against the property. Then the cities do whatever they want with that property, primarily sitting on it.

So the state pays what might be a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for plot of land that used to have a $50K-$100K house on it, that because of Democrat policies was only worth $30K. Then get the owners to bulldoze the property to further reduce its value so that the cities can buy them out and "land bank". Then after some time, maybe even many years, the cities resell the properties to someone for 10 times or more than what the city originally paid, turning $2,000 in cost, into $18,000 in profits. And it's very much worth it, because where in the stock market can you make that kind of percentage gains in 10 years?! Now multiply that by thousands upon thousands of properties. You're looking at tens of billions in profits for the state, over a 10-20 year period, without actually having to produce anything and all they need to do is sit back, wait, and collect eventually.

Basically, they are robbing their citizens blind through bad policy, economic warfare, and government bureaucracy.