Ted joined WLS 890’s PM Chicago Show to discuss Chicago’s worsening pension crisis; why the city’s crisis makes it such an outlier nationally; its negative impact on residents, government workers and retirees alike; and what Mayor Brandon Johnson should do about it.
Interview begins at 18:05
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Ted Dabrowski, et al.: Look for Chicago’s pension mess to become worse. That’s a bad sign for taxpayers. – Wirepoints, Taxpayer Pension Alliance in the Chicago Sun-Times*
- Four more Illinois factories close: Lawmakers fiddle as cities burn
- Illinois property tax woes continue: ATTOM says Illinoisans pay nation’s highest rate
- Suppose they held an election and nobody showed up? In Illinois, we’re getting there.
- Chicago’s crime numbers must have DNC organizers sweating
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.
Hahaha please go bankrupt, will be hilarious to watch, you voted for this morons, go woke go broke hahahaha
I told you … but now it will be death spiral city, that’s why I moved out a few years ago! Haha
Exactly Juicy, lol hilarious name, love Dave Chappelle. Dems destroy everything they touch and vote based only on color of skin because if they dont it be waycisss lol, genius thinking morons lol
Maybe the cracksmoking psycho Obammy can save the day with all that money he grifted during his jihad oh i mean Presidency lol
City already has pushed debts onto future generations in the form of POB’s. The city CAFR and bond offerings offer a chilling look at future obligations And future revenues have been legally obligated to pay off the debts, so it would be an assetless bankruptcy.
Should have said pay off the bonds, not the debts.
Just because they say it often and loud doesn’t prove anything. It doesn’t make it easy for the rest of us, however. See, e.g., Hitler and Hoffa and other duly elected self-promoters.
Yesterday’s heroes are tomorrow’s villains. Strikes, demonstrations and disruptions can’t fix the problems. Time to stock up on toilet paper. The free lunch with COLA has proved unsustainable like the other promises we laughingly called contracts. Perhaps there’ll be a good apple harvest.
Yes the pensions are a problem but if they are not funded the problem will, like a snowball rolling down a hill, grow and grow while causing tax hikes along the way. I am so often surprised by those unhappy with the taxes now are not demanding the pensions be funded to stop the growing problem. However I recognize things like new greenspaces, pickleball courts and other niceties are much more fun but using pension funds to fund them certainly has its costs and it is seen with each and every tax bill.
How dem minorities gonna get deir reparations nomsayin…….
It’s all very simple. It’s either Dem Death Spiral or Bankruptcy/Restructuring. Dems have convinced the sheep that Republicans are racist and the Dems also rig elections. It’s continuous Dem Death Spiral until some type of BK.
They chose the dem death spiral a long time ago. The democrats are at the looting stage now, where they pick apart the carcass. Brandon’s having a hard time now, but unless he goes to higher office, he’s mayor for life. The illegal immigrant crisis will be over by the time he’s up for reelection in 2027 and no one will remember the bad position Joe Biden put him in. He’s going to loot City Hall down to every last stapler and roll of toilet paper.
It’s important that taxpayers and voters understand the issue isn’t pensions per se, rather the obscene amounts being paid out for benefits by taxpayers above the median in the private sector for similar work. Taxpayers must live in the real world where pay and benefits are in comparison to others states, and nationally. The ‘cadillac’ healthcare taxpayers support as standard is also a issue. Public employees need to pay their fair share and stop demanding a free ride.
Since the 1980s, affordable health insurance rates for City of Chicago retirees had been locked into place by what was known as the Korshak settlement. The terms of the settlement expired in 2013, requiring the City to formulate new options for health insurance for City retirees. In May of 2013, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a plan to phase out health care benefits for all but a handful of city retirees over the next three years. Former City employees who retired prior to 1989 were shielded from these changes. For the first time, the City is offering four different health plan… Read more »
Never going to happen, they have gamed the system and will continue to run the game.
The only choice a private sector worker has is pay or leave (thousands choose this Everyday).
We need political reform before we can have pension or budget reform, this goes for the nation too. If we had public financing of campaigns, billionaires and PACS couldn’t buy offices. If we had term limits, clowns like Daley, Preckwinkle and Madigan could amass so much power and sell their souls to stay in office. Also, all pensions and most benefits for elected officials need to be ended going forward. Nothing will change as long as public office is so lucrative and it’s so easy to enrich yourself. We need strict ethics laws with draconian penalties for violations too.
people and business are leaving already.
loop and michigan ave office space is spiraling out of control .
The squeeze is on !!!