Getty Images

Illinois is close to making history as the first state to file for bankruptcy.

We learned from S&P Global Ratings earlier this week they’re on track to lower Illinois’ debt rating to “junk bond” territory –- a status around which they’ve hovered in recent years.

The only other counties and cities with such a distressed debt rating are Chicago, Atlantic City, and Detroit. You can take a wild guess as to what the political party is in charge there.

While Democrat legislatures have become a rarity in recent years, Illinois is one of the few states still suffering with one -– and the results are about as you’d expect.

According to the Daily Wire:

The state also has $130 billion in unfunded pension obligations that it needs to take into account. In short, Illinois is on the verge of filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, which could shut down the entire state. The actual cause of much of the state’s financial problems originated in 2011 when the state, led by Gov. Pat Quinn (D), decided to hike the tax rate to address a looming pension shortfall as well as offset a $12 billion deficit to account for a $35 billion state-wide budget.

Despite all the aforementioned problems — and the fact that the State has ignored its own constitution and failed to pass a budget this year — they did have time to make progress on the “Obama Expressway!”

As Zero Hedge summarized:

1. Illinois has been without a budget for two years and its bonds, already the lowest in the nation, face a downgrade to junk.
2. On June 15, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner called a special 10-Day legislative session to finalize a budget.
3. We are now in the eighth day of the special session.
4. The special sessions cost Illinois taxpayers $50,000 a day.
5. The special sessions have lasted from 10 to 23 minutes at the longest.
6. Progress was announced yesterday: sources state that by an 84-0 vote, part of I-55 will be renamed the Obama Expressway.

In other words, as the State’s fiscal house of cards crumbles, all they can manage to do is name something after the man who added nearly $10 trillion to the national debt.

How fitting.

[Note: This post was written by Matt Palumbo. He is a co-author of the new book A Paradoxical Alliance: Islam and the Left, and can be found on Twitter @MattPalumbo12]