CHICAGO — Illinois' annual audit released this week put the hole in the state's general funds budget at $9.6 billion.
That doesn't include a $130 billion in unfunded pension liability, a $33 billion obligation for state retiree healthcare and an assortment of other bills that stand at $12 billion, according to a Reuters report.
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza calls the situation "abysmal."
Exactly how much is $9.6 billion?
Using the "Grasping Large Numbers" portion of the Endowment for Human Development site, here are some calculations:
• $9.6 billion in one dollar bills piled in a stack would measure 651 miles.
• $9.6 billion laid flat would cover 38.4 square miles.
• $9.6 billion placed end to end would be 930,240 miles long.
• $9.6 billion spent at $20 per second, 24 hours per day, would take someone about 15 years to go broke.
• Calculatorsite.com says counting to 9.6 billion would take a person more than 250 years.
Mendoza said the state cannot generate enough cash to pay its expenses on time. Reuters says Illinois' credit rating is the weakest among the states.