Illinois is broke:)

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Drover

I think you forgot the zero after "15."

Well I was trying to be specific to the person I responded to in years he/she can relate to.

[M TYPE X]

The money(supply) comes from Cook County. The politicians (demand) come from every state in Illinois. They just need to be careful that they don't kill the golden goose (Chicago), because after that, you basically have a slightly more productive Iowa.

Chicago has a lot of overrated suburbs. The more it grows out, the more odd exurban sprawl you see. For example, Naperville-Chicago would be more than enough of a commute for me, although I get the idea that a lot of people who live there really don't work in Chicago, but in the west burbs. Unless you need to live there to work for some serious brand name company, you might as well live in Des Moines and pocket the savings. If it's standing still, Illinois taxes it. If it's moving, Illinois caps its knees and then taxes it. "The New Jersey of the Midwest"

I like Illinois but I don't like high gas prices and taxes. One could argue that taxes aren't that much higher than Michigan or Wisconsin, and that having Chicago outweights the price premium. Still, living way downstate makes no financial sense ... which explains why much of downstate is dead. Stop kidding yourself and move to Kentucky or Missouri then.