Matt joined noted economist Glenn Loury in a wide-ranging discussion about Chicago’s decent into dystopia which included a dive into Chicago’s crime stats, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s lack of leadership, the potential for a citywide collapse and the reforms/policies the city needs to turn itself around.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Five more things wrong with Illinois’ SAFE-T Act
- Merit, competition and the Chicago Marathon: The City of Chicago at its best
- Trapped in a death spiral: Chicago Public School spending hits record $29K per student as enrollment shrinks, outcomes plummet
- Chicago 2022 homicide rate 5 times higher than New York City’s, 2.5 times higher than Los Angeles’
- Lightfoot’s Election-Year Budget For Chicago Is No ‘True Path’ To Recovery and Stability
Audio and summary 
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.
Prof Loury is fascinating. I don’t always agree with him, but I love how he thinks, and he must be kryptonite at Brown for not going along with the narrative (been there, done that, at Penn, which now values freedom thought and expression as much as as a vegan cheese steak on South Street). Another Substack to read if you like what you heard here is The Journal of Free Black Thought. https://freeblackthought.substack.com/
Great presentation by Matt. And the word “unraveling” is appropriate and a perfect twist on what is happening to our once great city.
All democrat run cities are like Chicago. Portland, San Francisco, LA, NYC; just name one. Hopefully Dallas won’t join the list.
When NO ONE is safe – even law enforcement – then you have chaos.
Chaos starts with a “C” and so does Chicago and right now, these words are interchangeable…equally.
Great discussion with Glenn Loury Matt. It just feels to me like it’s Game, Set, Match in Chicago. So very troubling.
I saw the Harold Washington documentary and I am fairly confident that neither he, nor any of the black leaders of the day would have stood by and allowed mayhem that is going on now. Middle class black folks have fled the city, leaving behind overeducated elites, political hacks, and the poor, who subsist on crumbs form the government.
They don’t love the city, or it’s people, or the state, nor the country, its all about power and weaponizing it against anyone in their way.
Listened to the whole discussion. Enjoyed it. Seems like near total cultural collapse in Chicago and it is slowing spreading outside of the city. All attempts by the left to deal with it just make it worse. In a one-party city, that basically means end of days.
When the police fear the criminals instead of vice versa, it’s game over.