By Justin Carlson, includes “Bad accounting has helped Illinois politicians avoid balancing the budget for 20 years, despite a constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget each year. … the modified system effectively operates as cash-based accounting, in which revenues are counted when they are received but expenses are not counted until they are paid. … Imagine homeowners ‘balancing’ their monthly budget by refusing to pay their $100 electric bill, instead counting it toward next month’s expenses just because the bill went unpaid. …”