Like many states, Illinois has its share of questionable spending. In 2008, for instance, it spent $500,000 to administer its "tanning facility permit law," and the Springfield Figure Skating Club got $40,000 from state taxpayers, Citizens Against Government Waste pointed out.
Predictably, Illinois' financial situation has grown worse. So the state hatched a scheme to cut costs by setting lots of lawbreakers free from prison early. Even some violent criminals were turned loose.
The result? Over just a three-month period, more than 50 of the freed inmates were accused of new crimes. That will end up costing the state plenty in legal expenses, not to mention the pain suffered by the newly freed criminals' victims. Illinois' governor now admits the plan was "a big mistake," according to news accounts.
Government's first job is to protect the public. When it loses sight of that priority by wasting money on less important things, the public suffers.
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Over the last several decades,cities,states and the Feds have increased pay and pensions above private sector levels. Unwinding those imbalances is going to be a bruising fight that will take years.
Public sector spending only has one direction it can go.