-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
In all, Chicago owes $31.79 billion to its four employee pension funds representing police officers, firefighters, municipal employees and laborers, according to the 2019 Certified Annual Financial Report. That is an increase of nearly 5.6% from 2018.
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
29 Comments
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
2 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
March 31, 2026
11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The only solution is bankruptcy. The sooner the better.
Members of those four unions better wake up and not continue to rely on politicians to adequately fund their benefits. Rich Daley screwed it up and left. Rahm made it worse and left. Lori will let it get worse and leave as well. The members and beneficiaries are the ones who are going to get stuck. If union management doesn’t step up and address the problem, who will? If they do nothing, it will be hard to feel sorry for all the little people who get hurt. The numbers are just too big to ever get paid.
Business are not reopening. Things are going to get UGLY real fast.
Leave Chicago and Illinois as fast as you can.
Anywhere is better, I mean anywhere.
Illinois “Land of Slavery”
And if LL does not get on the bandwagon of encouraging all Chi businesses, large and small, to open full-speed ahead, well, she’ll she may find herself with a new attitude toward the Feds. Won’t that be special.