The transcripts as well as video may be found at the CBS site:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml?tag=hdr
60 Minutes investigated the alarming and persistent economic crisis confronting a handful of states including Illinois. While there are many important and enlightening aspects to this report, the implication that Illinois must constrict spending seems particularly relevant to the incorporation question. I believe this report argues strongly against trusting projections of future state payments to local governments.
The report describes Illinois as the worst financial basket case of all the states:
And nowhere has the reckoning been as bad as it is in Illinois, a state that spends twice much as it collects in taxes and is unable to pay its bills.
"This is the state of affairs in Illinois. Is not pretty," Illinois state Comptroller Dan Hynes told Kroft...
"It's fair to say that there are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people waiting to be paid by the state," Hynes said...
"And who do you owe that money to?" Kroft asked.
"Pretty much anybody who has any interaction with state government, we owe money to," Hynes said...
It's not just the social safety net that Hynes has to worry about: there have been Illinois legislators that have been evicted from their offices because the state didn't pay their rent, and stories about state troopers being turned away from gas stations because the owners refused to take their state credit cards...
"Yeah. I mean, the state of Illinois is known as a deadbeat state. This is a reputation that has taken us years to earn and we've reached, you know, the heights of, I think, becoming the worst in the country," Hynes said.
The report indicates that Illinois may be forced to pursue severe measures to resist sliding further towards bankruptcy. It seems unlikely cutting state payouts to local governments would be beyond consideration.
State payments to municipalities have been running at least 4 months late. Last spring Governor Quinn proposed cutting state income tax payments to local governments by 30%. That proposal was shelved but reduced payments can be revisited anytime the legislature is in session.
The austerity measures New Jersey employed:
In some ways, Christie is the political canary in the coal mine of the state fiscal crisis. He slashed New Jersey's budget by 26 percent, including a billion dollars in cuts to education, forcing the layoffs of thousands of teachers. He got rid of 1,300 state workers and drastically reduced funding to New Jersey cities, counties and villages which have their own financial problems.
The whole 60 Minutes report is worth a read IMO.
Randy Budreau