Ted Dabrowski

Illinois owes $73 billion in retiree health insurance benefits for state workers, yet doesn't have any money set aside to pay for it.

Ted Dabrowsky is President of Wirepoints.com, a fiscal-policy focused site that "delivers original research, commentary and hand selected articles from other sources about Illinois’ economy and government."

As a native Illinoisan, I'm rarely surprised by the goings-on in Springfield. I mean, after the recent multi-billion dollar tax hike, coupled with dubious claims of balancing the budget that we know aren't true--how could the idea of the state reaching even further into our pockets come as a surprise? It doesn't. But, it's still making me angry.

I'm guessing that when you go out shopping, you don't just pile items in your cart without looking at what they cost. Unless you're a highly-compensated professional athlete, lottery winner, or all-around rich person, you just can't do it like that.