Audio: Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon says Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades – Chicago’s Morning Answer
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.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Illinois lost another 54,000 tax filers and dependents, net, according to the IRS. Since 2000, fleeing taxpayers have taken $94 billion of annual adjusted gross income with them.
Sanctuary state (and city) politicians have increased the work force while the economy has not increased the jobs. Could it be that immigrants can do the jobs as well and expect less money? Individuals and companies will migrate toward lower cost in the same way as industries head South for fewer and less militant unions. Are the economic beneficiaries of immigration likely to vote for (or fund) more restrictive rules? Are the supporters of immigration simply virtue signaling? Is a successful lawyer anxious to lower the passing score on the bar exam or donate to a new law school? Yet… Read more »
Black Chicagoans have been loyal Democrat voters for a lifetime. Their reward is to be pushed to the back of the line, which is exactly what they have been counting on their Democrat leaders to not only prevent, but correct. Have they learned their lesson or will they continue to support Democrats?
You’re not talking about genius material for the most part. Of course, they will continue to vote democrat.
How could they be replacing them? That doesn’t even make sense.
Brian, you need a red pill really bad. How often do you visit the south or west sides? Are you familiar that hispanic neighborhoods are expanding, block by block, into the fringes of so-called black neighborhoods? Did you know that several blocks south of South Shore the formerly black neighborhoods are now mostly hispanic? When the hispanics take over a neighborhood, the murder rate drops by 75%, still higher than say lincoln Park, but exponentially lower than black communities. CPS now graduates a majority hispanic students, with roughly only 1/3 of CPS being black students. Hundreds of thousands of blacks… Read more »
Everyone in Chicago is losing (has lost) power to the illegals, plenty of money for them!
they are eating our pets all over Chicago. this is getting out of control!!
You come to this site to troll, that is obvious. You are either the most willfully ignorant person out there with your questions, particularly when it comes to race, or you are purposely throwing out race related questions in order to try and bait someone to saying something racist so that you can announce to the world that Wirepoints is a bunch of racists. Quite honestly, it is probably both. YOU are what’s wrong with this country.
Really? Tell me how it doesn’t make sense. Have you ever talked to some democrat alderman about their thoughts on the matter. I have. I think your presumptions might be shaken to the core if you did. Do you think these politicians operate out of some love for “their people?” Do you think they care who gets killed in their ward? I think you might be surprised by how some democrat politicians talk in private, even black democrat politicians. The real laugh is you think the racists are on the other side. Reality is that the most virulent racists are… Read more »