How Low Can You Go?

Illinois now has the distinction of having been awarded the lowest bond rating that Moody’s has bestowed on any state:

Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — Illinois had its general-obligation bond rating reduced by Moody’s Investors Service to A2 from A1, making it the company’s lowest-graded U.S. state.

The downgrade to the sixth-highest level came after a legislative session that “took no steps to implement lasting solutions to its severe pension under-funding or to its chronic bill payment delays,” Moody’s said in a report. Illinois, it said, has “weak management practices.”

We’re one notch lower than California. No word on whether Moody’s considers all but two of the Illinois governors of the last fifty years having been convicted of corruption as “weak management”.

This follows the sharp tax increases the state of Illinois enacted a year ago on personal and corporate income. I wonder how many times the governor and members of the legislature believe they can go to that well?