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The borrowing for firefighter back pay and police misconduct settlements was "sold as a five-year deal," not a ten-year deal with a backloaded debt structure, said one analyst. "Spreading it out over ten years makes it feel like we are now committing the cardinal sin of debt financing an operational need," he said, noting that at five years, it didn't necessarily feel that way.
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
8 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.
Audio and summary
There’s no way this can continue. Any money manager that places such bonds into someone’s passive-investing retirement account is derelict and should be held liable…when they for certain fail.
A city run by crackheads.
The most expensive and worst way to handle this. That is almost always the choice of government.
Next Mayor will have to run on “Bankruptcy now!” motto.
The only reason why Chicago’s bonds aren’t rated as junk at this point is because the rating agencies believe that the Democrats probably will take control of Congress and the Presidency in two years and bail out the city, dollar for dollar.
“Spreading it out over ten years makes it feel like we are now committing the cardinal sin of debt financing an operational need” – A blind-as-a-bat analyst quoted by the Bonehead Bond Buyer
These people are alleged to be experienced and educated financial people though I can’t see any of that in their analysis. It doesn’t feel like anything. It IS paying current operating expenses with long-term borrowed funds. This is fiscal suicide for any organization who tries it.