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No place has done it yet, but Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey and New York City are the largest governments teetering toward borrowing to balance their budgets unless the federal government steps in with more financial support.
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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.
Stimulus no longer needed after President Trump’s Executive Orders. No longer any deadlock. No need for any more negotiation. Illinois is not getting its bailout, not that it would have achieved anything for the private sector here.
Any funding would have been diverted to the public sector and pensions. Taxes are going up in any event.
God help us.
I was watching some you-tube vids about the deterioration of the 100-yr old Hudson River tunnel, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy. I guess a new tunnel will have to wait.
Has a single AFSCME or SEIU member been laid off by the State of Illinois since Wuhan Virus started in March? Perhaps Preitzker/Madigan should start with these sort of cuts before looking at more borrowing but that assumes that they arent completely owned by Illinois public sector unions. Everyone else can suffer while the precious union members are coddled and protected.
Bankruptcy Now. Its the only and the inevitable solution.
Well that is what happens when you don’t make cuts earlier like other companies did in March. Illinois budget did not balance and the new one is based on money they didn’t have. Now that is bad leadership.
What I can remember, in the 1980s, Private Business were laying off multitudes of workers, cutting their health care and other benefits of their employees. They knew their businesses could not stay ahead without cuts. Government and politicians should have followed suit, instead the weenies built up their workforce and never could say No to a cut or pay raise that is why Illinois and other Democratic run states and cities are in the mess they are in. Bankruptcy now!
Across-the-board pay cuts, furloughs, suspension of non-essential activities, etc. These have been tested in those private sector entities that wish to survive The Virus. No doubt there will be some union contract provisions that will have to be tested in court and there are lots of good lawyers currently furloughed who’d be willing to work at reduced rates. Where do officials'[ duties lie? To citizens who can’t eat or teachers who can’t teach? To commuters who don’t need to commute or to drivers of empty buses? To homeless in Chicago or pensioners in Florida? Emergency powers are being used all… Read more »
Why should other states have to cover the — of states that do not know how to be run with a budget or go over and have unions and state employees that feel they are entitled?