As Gov. Pat Quinn surveyed Madrid during his recent four-day trip to Spain, at least he had the satisfaction of knowing Illinois’ financial status was better than that of his hosts.

Spain’s finances are rocky, indeed. The country is in the midst of negotiating a 100 billion euro bank bailout plan with the European Union to prop up its troubled banks.

The government is struggling to reduce its budget deficit to about 3 percent of its annual economic output of $1.5 trillion. That will take cuts of $80 billion over the next 30 months, according to the Associated Press. Spain’s staggering 24.3 percent unemployment does not help matters any.