Sen. Mark Kirk on Tuesday said Illinois is nearly insolvent and put the kibosh on the likelihood that the federal government would be able to offer any sort of bailout.
"We have a falling federal credit rating as well. And given the votes in the House of Representatives, it's highly unlikely that the federal government would ever bail out a spend-thrift state. Therefore, Illinois needs to fix this on its own," he said in releasing his report on Illinois' debt.
According to the new report, Illinois' debt is rising, it has the 48th worst business climate of any state, and the worst credit rating.
The freshman Republican called the findings a call to action for state leaders to fix the problem, pointing out that in the city of Chicago, the city, county and state debt for every family totals about $78,000.
"You owe twice as much as citizens in Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri," said Kirk.
The report was put together by Henry Feinberg, a venture capitalist and former chief executive of Skokie-based Rand McNally.
"Can Illinois go bankrupt? By law, it cannot. However, does it have all the symptoms of bankruptcy? Absolutely," said Feinberg.
The full report is available on Kirk's website at kirk.senate.gov.
