When the New York Times reported on Sunday about the increasing number of states whose unemployment funds are drying up, we wondered how Illinois’ accounts are doing. What we found was a bright spot in an otherwise dreary fiscal landscape: the Prairie State’s unemployment fund is flush with cash.

That’s right, flush. The Illinois’ unemployment insurance trust fund had $1.6 billion on hand at the end of November, compared with $1.9 billion last year. Even with the economy in dire straits and a growing number of people dipping into the fund, the state is prepared, the Department of Employment Security’s Greg Rivara tells us.

That being said, the Times found that our neighbors to the east aren’t doing as well:

Indiana’s unemployment trust fund went insolvent last month, and has borrowed twice from Washington since then — the first such loans to the state since 1983. It also expects to request an additional $330 million early next year.

Not so long ago, Illinois was facing the same sort of doom and gloom when it ran out of cash and was forced to borrow from the federal government to cover benefits in 2003. As the Times points out, many states find themselves in this situation because state lawmakers refused to raise corporate taxes:

In many cases, states that have kept unemployment tax rates artificially low — or in some instances decreased them — find themselves in the worst pickle now [...]

The situation puts states, many of them facing huge deficits, in an even tighter vise. As more people lose their jobs, the revenue base that the benefits are drawn from shrinks, making it harder to pay claims. Adding to that burden is that states will eventually have to pay back what they borrow.