Discussion of the Governing Magazine

After reading the online article about Governing that compares LA and IL, I was very surprised to hear a lot of information that was provided. According to Governing Magazine, Louisiana that has undergone a terrible crisis and has suffered great economic loss scores higher than the third largest city in the United States. I believe that Louisiana scores higher on the scale because Illinois leaders cannot come up with a resolution on how to manage fundamental areas. Louisiana has received plentiful amounts of money due to federal funding coming into the state as well as the state investing their money into things that are more so needed and not wanted. Illinois on the other hand is not an easy state to manage considering troubled revenue streams and outstanding bills. Illinois has struggled for years with a pension system that is underfunded. Although the governor has imposed issuing bonds to generate $26 billion towards the pension shortfall, Illinois still has other problems that hang in the balance such as funding for higher education, roads, schools, bridges, and etc.

Even though it seems like there is a lot of work to be done to get Illinois back up in the rankings with states like Louisiana, there is still some hope to clearing the political atmosphere. One example would be the legislative and Blagojevich working together to expand the state’s pre-school program and children’s health insurance. In my opinion, this is somewhat of a major success knowing that the educational system in Illinois is ranked very low compared to other states