On the Saturday edition of Open for Business I had the opportunity to speak with Ryan Zipprich who is active in Republican politics in Illinois.

We spoke about the recent shooting in Washington, DC that included an Illinois Republican.

We also spoke about the financial problems that Illinois currently finds itself in. They are too the point where they are going to be forced to stop selling lottery tickets because they can’t pay off the winners.

If you win over $25,000 you may have to wait until 2018 to get your money.

Illinois is also way behind in payments to Medicaid and they are unable to fund all their pension plans.

The Illinois legislature passed a 32 percent tax increase that the governor vetoed but the legislature overrode that veto.

Illinois's state income tax rate will rise from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent, costing an extra $1,200 a year for a family with a net income of $100,000.

People are exiting Illinois by the thousands for better opportunities and more favorable tax rates elsewhere. Illinois has the worst personal income growth of any state.

Illinois bonds have been downgraded to the lowest rating.

Unlike cities and towns, states can’t declare bankruptcy. So will the US taxpayers have to come to the rescue?

Illinois has funded only 45 percent of their pension obligations. The worst in the US.  Montana by contrast has funded 70 percent of their obligations. As hard as it might be to digest California has funded 78 percent of it's pension funds — What?

California's pension plans are in better financial shape than Montana? On what planet does that work? Will Montana eventually need a bailout too?

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