The Federal Reserve announced unprecedented plans to directly purchase up to $500 billion in state and local government bonds. States with poorly managed finances, such as Illinois, stand to benefit most, but long-term threats loom without structural reforms.
Illinois finds itself at a crossroads: will it empower minorities and poor people to unleash their potential, or will it perpetuate an inequitable status quo? For far too many Illinoisans, opportunity is unfairly and unnecessarily out of reach. Illinois ranks in the bottom ten among all states in social mobility and last among Midwest states...