The town of Elkhart Indiana is drawing the attention of national news for one reason while the state of Illinois is catching notice for a dramatically different one.
Just to the east of Illinois is an Indiana town that is booming, the Wall Street Journal says…
ELKHART, Ind.—The self-proclaimed RV capital of the world gives a glimpse of what the American economy looks like when operating at full tilt.
High-school students around here skip college for factory jobs that offer great pay and benefits. For-hire signs sprout like roadside weeds. And workers are so flush that car dealers can’t keep new pickups on the lot.
Two hours west of Elkhart, the economic news is dramatically different:
CHICAGO, April 5 (Reuters) – Moody's Investors Service on Thursday rated $500 million of bonds Illinois plans to sell this spring one notch above junk, citing the state's big unfunded pension liability and chronic budget deficits.
The credit rating agency assigned the state's current Baa3 rating to the general obligation bonds. Illinois' first bond issue this year will be sold competitively with the proceeds earmarked for capital and information technology projects, according to a state official familiar with the sale. A pricing date was not available.
Moody's said the rating outlook remains negative, "based on our expectation of continued growth in the state's unfunded pension liabilities, the state's difficulties in implementing a balanced budget that will allow further reduction of its bill backlog, and elevated vulnerability to national economic downturns or other external factors."
You tell us … why is there such a dramatic difference?
