This week's chart is based on the first story in this email, Sheila's op-ed on the importance of citizens being informed. In 1994, Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar led a bipartisan pension bill to solve the state’s $15 billion pension deficit. The plan was supposed to resolve the deficit within 50 years. The problem is the plan doesn’t work. As indicated by the chart below, using this plan the state's pension debt has more than doubled since 2010 to $156 billion as of June 30, 2020. The state’s latest bond offering document emphasizes, “The State’s contributions to the Retirement Systems, while in conformity with State law, have been less than the contributions necessary to fully fund the Retirements Systems as calculated by the actuaries of the Retirement Systems.” Read the full story here.