Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer
April 22, 2026
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Summary and audio linked here.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The Chicago Bears have a $4.6 billion plan for a new enclosed stadium and lakefront area, half of which would come from taxpayers, sources said, but the team will have to overcome serious skepticism. All levels of government are facing financial cliffs in multiple areas — pensions, transit and Chicago Public Schools —with the end of billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 pandemic money. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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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
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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
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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.
Come on elected officials, please do this correctly – This just needs to be Private finding. If the stupid Bears want a new stadium (tax payers still owe $600M on the existing one), raise the funds from your billionaire pals and get it done. Billions in Public money spent by a broke state government does not work. It doesn’t work for illegal immigrants, wasted on 852 public school districts, 7000 unique taxing bodies in Illinois (#1 in the nation) or for this stupidity. The remodel of Soldiers Field back in 2002 the tax payers borrowed $390M. 22 years later, the… Read more »
Yes, who is going to pay for this latest pie-on-the-sky is a big concern.
What’s being overlooked is the loss of green space and lakefront.
Obama took part of Jackson Park and now this stadium deal will further diminish green space for Chicago citizens and visitors.
Will the pillaging of Chicagoan’s lakefront ever end?
Let’s let the people who pay the bills, our taxes, vote on this sh… . The current taxes on hotels in Chicago is not covering the debt.
The so called Illinois sports authority comes to the state, us to cover the debt.
This sh.. has to stop. If the bears want to leave go, please. How about them White Sox
Leave please.
With the pensions and schools draining our
Wallets we don’t need this. Any politician who votes for this should be voted out of office immediately, enough of them lose office they will learn.
More chgo BS…..rob the taxpayer
Why would any clear thinking person give $2 billion to an organization with that track record? Also, the point made about the looming end of Covid dollars, and the corresponding fiscal cliff, are spot on. Why does the economy keep chugging along? Because the awful Biden administration wasn’t going to have the great recession hit during an election year. So Joe and the gang sent out trillions, and had the gall to name some of it the “Inflation Reduction Act”! Joe Biden will hold the title of worst president in American history very soon. Simply atrocious.
There are several egregious errors in the story about the Bears stadium:
Well it seems that the Illinoisian’s and their elected officials are exploring another new avenue to spend tax dollars once again. Interestingly enough though the commentors that are against the pension issue seem to be reticent on this spending issue. Oh well it seems that some spending must be better than others even though the State is broke but what the heck…we can always hike property taxes.
Wirtz & Reinsdorf built United Center with private funds and paid it off in around 7 years. No reason Bears can’t develop private funding. They could sell the property in Arlington Hts to help pay for new stadium. But they seek property tax cuts for that property, which they will likely find….private funding….to develop. Let them pay for the infrastructure needed too.
Wrong, private sector has plenty of money. Owners are billionaires.
It is a terrible thing to do. Probably will happen because government almost always makes the worst choice for the taxpayers.
Waste of money