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.
This is what happens when personal accountability is thrown out the window. People who can afford to move away will do so. There are buildings in the loop losing tenants, including first floor retail tenants. If this is allowed to continue there won’t be much left, and it won’t take long to happen.