What Does Illinois Need?

I know, that's kind of a loaded question. We need lots of things in this state, primarily money. According to a report out by Reboot Illinois, we've got some serious cash problems (among other things).

• Currently sitting at around $111 billion, Illinois' unpaid pension debt is the highest in the nation. A pension fund is considered to be "fully funded" when it has 80% funding. Illinois has a 41.9% combined funded ratio of the state's five pensions.

• Last year, the state brought in $31.93 billion in total revenue. We spent $36.55 billion, leaving us a general funds deficit of $4.63 billion.

• Our state's backlog of unpaid bills is $9.03 billion.

The list (although somewhat depressing) is available in a really cool infographic by clicking here.

Back to the original question on what Illinois needs. I Googled that question, and here's what people are saying (in no particular order):

• You
• A new commitment to higher education
• Rauner to hang tough
• Real school funding reform
• A total shakeup (of the University of Illinois football program)
• Paid sick days
• Lawsuit reform
• Better fiscal planning
• More teachers
• More cool theme parks
• A better self image
• To cut Chicago loose from the rest of the state
• To annex Southern Wisconsin

Yeah...about that last one. Something tells me that after looking over our state's finances, Wisconsin might not be so agreeable to annexation.