Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Spencer Pratt in Los Angeles Mayoral Race Offers Chicago a Blueprint
June 4, 2026
3 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
Audio and summary 
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
But but but… I was told that Illinois would be broke once federal funding stopped. I’m kidding. I’m sure everyone here is happy about this news. Looks like pension payments as a percent of budget have gone down. That’s great news!
Maybe the ILGOP will try to convince JB to put that surplus into pension payments. Do they just want to complain about statutory vs actuarial contributions and how the budget isn’t truly balanced or do they really want to fix the problem? I think we all know the answer.
There’s no real fixing the pension problem. It’s called math. Maybe we could get the FTX guy involved to do some of the math for us and make it work.
Yes the math requires more funding. Negative amortization loans cause the balance to grow similar to our pension debt. The math requires greater contributions than the statutory requirements. If 4 to 6 billion more per year were funding the state pensions then we would move closer to 100% funding over the next 20 to 30 years. The math is simple but the political calculus is too difficult because it requires being responsible and paying the bills.