Illinois: Microcosm of the United States
When an entity has no savings and the entity spends more money than it gains in revenue it must be going into debt.
This basic truth applies to people, households, businesses, governments and any other organization.
Many people and most governments don’t particularly care about this fact. Spending today and paying for it in the future is more politically popular than saving and fiscal discipline.
A great example of this recklessness and the ensuing crisis is Illinois. But the dire warnings aren’t coming from some fringe blog or conspiracy theorist. They come from Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza.
“I don’t know what part of ‘We are in massive crisis mode’ the General Assembly and the governor don’t understand. This is not a false alarm,” said Mendoza, a Chicago Democrat. “The magic tricks run out after a while, and that’s where we’re at.”
Source: http://www.seattletimes.com/business/official-warns-illinois-finances-in-massive-crisis-mode/
As of today the state of Illinois has a payment backlog of $15.1 billion. It’s not because the state isn’t making the payments fast enough. It’s because the state of Illinois doesn’t have the money to make the payments.
Source: http://ledger.illinoiscomptroller.gov/
Illinois hasn’t had a budget in 2 and a half years. The state’s debt has the lowest credit rating of any of the United States.
It’s also very telling what “solutions” are being proposed. Raising taxes and printing money.
Mendoza channels her inner Yellen stating: “Once the money’s gone, the money’s gone, and I can’t print it.”
The answer is never that there has been financial recklessness and irresponsibility. The answer is never that spending should be reduced. It’s borrow more, print money and raise taxes.
Illinois is a preview of the United States
The borrow, print and tax is a tired set of plays from an old playbook that doesn’t work. But I think it’s the same set of strategies the Federal United States government has been and will continue to use. The main difference is that the Federal government has a virtual printing press and can monetize the debt. Illinois doesn’t have it’s own currency that it can create more of out of thin air.
When the US Federal government has a debt that is due, they can issue more debt (US Savings Bonds, Treasuries, etc) and they find a willing buyer in the United States Federal Reserve as well as private investors and other governments.
When the Federal Reserve buys US government debt it is very harmful to the economy and it’s the reason why the US dollar has lost most of it’s value.
But knowing the playbook the government uses allows you to pick appropriate defensive plays. Insolvent governments try to raise taxes so investing in tax advantaged retirement vehicles is smart.
The government inflates the money supply so invest in assets like gold and silver that can’t be devalued by money printing.
Some folks like Simon Black even recommend US citizens getting a second passport so that if things get really bad, one can simply leave the country.
I’ll be keeping an eye on Illinois. It’s a example of how a government will react when it’s insolvent. I think it will look very similar to what the US will do when it’s debt problem hits the fan. The X factor is that Illinois does not have a printing press, so the effects of fiscal recklessness are much harder to paper over (pun intended). But the printing press only delays the inevitable. If a government could print wealth then Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Weimar Germany would be the richest countries in the world.