david swenson teaches in the economics department at iowa state university. micheline maynard is senior editor of "changing gears"-- a public radio project on the future of the industrial midwest. well, this bus trip was mostly aimed at rural areas. give us a snapshot of illinois where the president was today. >> well, the economic situation isn't the worst in the great lakes but it's close to the worst in the great lakes. unemployment is over 9%. when the year started, the state had a $13 billion budget deficit. its pensions were under threat and the first thing that happened here was that income taxes were raised. i think what you see is issues in chicago of unemployment in particular. some crime this summer. we have a new mayor, rahm emanuel, who has basically said, look, i'm going to have to cut things and he actually got the unions to come to the able and present their own suggestions. and the rest of the state it's a little better. places like decatur, illinois, which we featured in a report, have seen some hiring going on. it's not as bad in the rural