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“How about we just focus on what we want?” Johnson said when asked whether he’s ruled out trying to pass a future property tax hike, after aldermen threw his latest attempt back in his face. “I want you all to stay positive, OK, because the people of Chicago and the state of Illinois really require that. Look, I know it’s easy to go back and forth about this tax versus this tax, but people have sold the people of Chicago out for too long, and they have kowtowed to the interests of the ultrarich.”
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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
29 Comments
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
2 Comments
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.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
March 31, 2026
11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
Chicago will force the state to allow bankruptcy when it gets bad enough, and it will. That is reality.
Johnson is not playing the long game, he seems to understand that he has 4 years max to shift as much wealth to CTU as possible knowing that once funds are sent they can never be clawed back and that it is almost impossible to eliminate a government program once create. He will leave his on site CTU position in the mayors office and return to a cushy highly paid CTU job (remember, all CTU funds come from the city) and later, a tremendous city pension.
Just focus on what we want? Waiting for the next press conference, where the mayor of Chicago responds to questions by sticking his fingers in his ears and yells “La la la la, I can’t hear you!”
Anytime these idiots play a fiscal shell game to “balance” the budget it simply delays the inevitable. The real issue they face is that there is zero help on the horizon in the form of a bailout anytime soon. In fact, with the last of free Covid bucks from Dementia Joe about to run out, the problem is going to get a lot worse. The mean orange guy they blamed for all the world’s ills is their new daddy, and he isn’t going to play nice. This is where everyone starts blaming everyone else and looks for cover.
They’re going to pass a tax hike, it’s inevitable. No alderman wants city employees living in their wards to be laid off.
That’s what I’ve been saying. The city needs more tax revenue and they will need to raise taxes. Pretty easy to see.
Lol…!!! “JShark” = “Pensions Paid First”…
exactly. More taxes for all of you. You love taxes. They will solve all your problems. Get ahead of the game and double or triple them now. You will all love it.
You moved. You’re a genius. Everyone else is a moron. We get it. You’re free to go enjoy your new life now.
JShark = PPF. PPF = no life idiot.
PPF, the idiot who thinks taxes will increase forever. Enjoy your pension being cut and eating dog food in a ditch. The world economy is getting worse and worse, and your pension is doomed. Math always wins.
Haha. No dog food for me or my union brothers and sisters. The Senate just passed the Social Security Fairness Act. That means I will be getting spousal benefits around $1300 a month. It’s only about 10% of my pension but it’s decent considering I never worked a job in the private sector or paid into social security on my own. $1300 SS and about $400 increase in my pension in January. I’ll enjoy my $1700 additional monthly income. I’m loving this winning math.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I know my new year will be very happy.
Your pension is going to be cut by half at least, and much sooner than you think as the world economy is a sinking ship. There will be no bailout for your bankrupt fund. Also, you are a liar who makes up what you get money wise to make people angry on here. No one with a brain believes a word you say on here, idiot. Again, enjoy the dog food.
I’m good if you don’t believe me about the size of my pension. What are the odds that an Illinois public employee that never worked in the private sector would have a 5 figure monthly pension? It’s probably pretty rare. Haha. Now I will get social security as well. I probably made that up too. There is no way that happened late Friday night.
Your pension is toast. I will enjoy it when its cut due to math and reality, which always wins. You could put any amount of money on here and no one would know if you are lying or not. Post your real name and your job, otherwise you are a liar until proven otherwise. Now you keep spamming this board 24/7 because you have no life and are avoiding that ugly wife of yours.
Everyone on here should see how many comments this loser (PPF/JSHRIMP/MANYOTHERDUMBNAMES) has left over the past five years. It has to be in the thousands. What a no life loser. If he really had the money he says he does then he would not be spamming this site like a bum. This liar is a troll loser who has nothing better to do than post here over and over, day in and day out, all while denying math and reality. All while trying to act like the entire state will be allowed to become like Harvey when in no way… Read more »
How do you know it is the same person?
Really obvious it’s the same person Mark. Just read the comments. I’m not the only one who said that as well. Amazingly PPF isn’t here, also. Same idiot. Same Cap Fax spammer.
Okay, great; when some random dude agrees with you, then that apparently represents TRUTH to you. Hallelujah, Sherlock lives!
From the guy who believes teacher unions can defy the laws of economic reality because the Illinois Supreme Court says so.
They are hardly “random dudes,” and that makes a huge difference in defining TRUTH in any political argument.
That’s true, they aren’t random dudes. But economics are not just a political argument either. Supreme Court justices can’t dictate economic reality any more than the Soviets could.
The Supreme Court has already dictated the economic reality and that reality requires the state to pay pensions. Cutting other spending or raising additional taxes to require pension payments is our current political reality. Yes a large percentage of our budget is directed towards pension payments but that isn’t a reason to ignore our debt. I get your point that the courts can’t dictate enforcement of payment if we don’t have the money or the means to get more but that is not our current economic reality either. The state has many other options and the court is well aware… Read more »
The irony is that PFF wasn’t wrong, he was just rubbing it in our faces. The IL Supreme Court decision was unanimous and said that pensions could *never ever ever* be diminished and the state would never allow a municipality to go bankrupt to relieve themselves of pension obligations, and even if they could, the cuts would be minimal, much like Puerto Rico or Detriot, although he underplayed some of most important cuts such as IIRC the COLAs ending, which resulted in huge future savings. JShark is the same guy and he’s just trolling because he was banned by WP… Read more »
We never banned PFF and he is not banned now.
I stand mistaken then. PFF has simply rebranded himself then.
I said before JShark is Jessie Sharky former CTU .
Social Security Fairness Act. Continuing the tradition of legislation doing the exact opposite of what the name implies. Affordable Care Act. Inflation Reduction Act. And now we have the Social Security Fairness Act, which as you are crowing about, is not about fairness but a gift to public unions.