And, if something isn’t done about it now, the state could face a financial crisis of epic proportions. According to a recent series by Statehouse bureau chief Scott Reeder of our parent company, the Small Newspaper Group, the numbers are worse than bad, they are terrible. Consider this:

-- Illinois, the fifth richest state, has the worst-funded public pension system in the nation. Taxpayers owe almost $10,000 per household ($44 billion) in teacher and state employees pension payments.

-- Over the past five years, 778,000 more people are receiving Medicaid or other state-sponsored health insurance — a 67 percent increase. Meanwhile doctors, hospitals and nursing homes aren’t getting paid for many months for the care they’re providing, and the state is pushing those unpaid bills off from one year to another. The shortfall is estimated as high as $1.5 billion.

-- Illinois general obligation debt has more than doubled, rising from $8 billion in 2003 to $20 billion in 2008, or about $4,355 for every Illinois household.

It is against that backdrop that Gov. Rod Blagojevich is attempting to balance a budget also in the red by some $2.5 billion. And a critical capital building program that would put Illinoisans to work and increase tax revenues languishes in Springfield. A key reason? Lawmakers cannot agree on how to pay for it, or who will get the credit if they do.

As for the state’s five pension funds, with the terrible consequences of such staggering debt on the horizon, you’d think that somebody somewhere would do something about it. But instead of fixing the mess, the folks we elect to manage our money are playing politics with it, repeatedly robbing from one fund to shore up another. If taxpayers did that at home, they’d quickly find themselves on the street. That can’t happen to government. When it gets in trouble, it turns to you, the taxpayer.

Admittedly, fixing the problem is tough for states, not just Illinois, where employee pensions are constitutionally guaranteed. The state must pay them, however generous, without cutting benefits. Still lawmakers and governors, past and present, bear a lion’s share of the blame, says Roger Lowenstein, author of “While America Aged”. They refused to say “no” to powerful public employee unions, or to ask taxpayers to pay higher taxes to finance their generosity. Now, he says, “The alternatives states like Illinois face are pretty clear: cut spending on programs or increase taxes.”

Others suggest that the road to solvency runs through a constitutional convention. Voters will face the call for one in November. Should the system be reformed? Absolutely. Benefits are too rich for the blood of taxpayers who find themselves paying for plans that they can only dream of. We remain unconvinced, that opening up the constitution to tinkering is the way to go. If the Constitution must be changed to avert a crisis, we prefer amendment rather than a dangerous wholesale rewrite.

Of course, we are not suggesting that employee pensions shouldn’t be protected. Many enter public service for less money with the expectation that a good retirement awaits them down the road. But the numbers show that we cannot continue down this disastrous path. Thanks in part to generous lawmakers and pension “reforms” that did little more than push pension debt off into the future, our children and grandchildren will be paying a steep price for their failure.

We don’t pretend to have the answers. But we are convinced that there are smart people out there who can find them. The problem is nobody who can do anything about this mess is looking. Instead they continue to rob Peter to pay Paul, while advancing budget after budget that seems too good to be true because it is.

It’s Illinois’ $64 billion question, and it requires answers. The clock is running.