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"First comes moral bankruptcy. Then comes fiscal bankruptcy. That’s the order of things, and if you’re looking for a real-time case study, look no further than the City of Chicago." SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
10 Comments
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.
Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
4 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer – Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate and more
April 22, 2026
5 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
I’ll venture a guess. About the time you start hearing rhetoric coming out of Springfield that the financial mess is an inherited problem created by bi partisan legislatures over the decades. Pre- gerrymandering of course.
“Compounding the problem is a mountain of chicanery: padded payrolls, early retirements, double-dipping retirees, and a benefits structure completely divorced from fiscal reality.” That is some powerful truth in 24 words. I wish I could be so pithy. Bravo, Mr. Shay. The gentlemen operating Wirepoints detailed the moral bankruptcy of political animals and their enablers in the useless Chicago media for years. That the moral bankruptcy of political animals leads to an inevitable financial bankruptcy of the agencies they were elected to oversee has also been heralded during that same time. The political animals bray and whine about impending ‘fiscal… Read more »
It’s interesting in that it’s playing out, on the local and national media, like it’s a forgone conclusion. What people don’t understand is that there isn’t going to be a Detroit style bailout. The Obama administration was the first public display of our Federal Government flat-out printing money$ and throwing it every problem that arose from the 2008 financial crisis, a policy made possible by the deflationary environment of the moment. The FG didn’t find some tax receipts and then use that money to bail out Detroit; it printed it. There is no appetite for that from the current administration… Read more »
Very good summary of the current situation, the lack of realistic options to improve the situation, and the inevitable outcome.
And began the article with something often overlooked- this all starts with moral bankruptcy.
Looks like we are reaching the point where pensions won’t be paid first. The Illinois legislature could pass a law or even a constitutional amendment that says everyone in Illinois gets a free rocket trip to the moon, but just because it’s law doesn’t mean it will happen. No law is a suicide compact. This was a great article, but it does leave out the bond market reclassifying Illinois bonds as junk, and the possibility that in the future no market exists for Illinois bonds, because of fear a bought and paid for Illinois judge decides that not paying bond… Read more »
Last bonds issued by city rated BBB on 6/27, GO bonds for 695 million. A lot of future income has already been pledged to pay off bondholders which is why Mark referred to it as an assetless bankruptcy several years ago.
100% for sure sooner or later.
Great article. PPF better not read it. It will make his eyes bleed.