What a way to run a state (or country)

Here is an excerpt from Bloomberg.com

The text speaks for itself, but the real shame is that voters make such deceit necessary.

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Truth, justice and the American way

“July 31 (Bloomberg) — Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s administration is sending different messages to municipal- bond investors and voters about its plans to close the state’s $13 billion deficit.

Finance officials are telling overseas debt buyers that Illinois can balance its budget with a 2 percentage- point boost in its income tax, John Sinsheimer, Illinois’s director of capital markets, said in an interview. After Quinn’s Republican opponent criticized that amount, the governor vowed to veto any increase of more than 1 percentage point.

The difference between the two figures equals about $3 billion a year for taxpayers. The contrasting messages suggest that after the November election, promises may have to be put aside to address the shortfall, said Alan Schankel, director of fixed-income research for Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, a money management firm based in Philadelphia.

“They’re going to have to show they’re doing something, or their bonds will fall off a cliff,” Schankel said in an interview. “Once the election is over, they can do what they want and explain it away.”