In the pages of the Peoria Journal Star yesterday, Jim Runyon, director of grants and governmental affairs for Easter Seals in Illinois, put the state's backlog of bills to social service providers like himself in interesting terms: "We're basically acting as the state's banker," he said.

And that's exactly right.  By letting the pile of unpaid bills to human services agencies, schools, and medical providers grow to a projected $6 billion by the end of this year, the state is essentially borrowing from these contractors as they put off raising revenue (much the same way they've done with the pension system).  Meanwhile, many of these small nonprofits are themselves borrowing from the banks to stay afloat.  Today, the Tribune highlighted the case of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, a home care provider that is owed $6 million by the state:

"We borrowed money, so now we have that extra debt, and now we have to decide if we have to close our doors or not," [executive director Homer] Ashurian said. "At this point, we can hardly drag ourselves to the end of April. I don't know what happens in May."