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The Windy City is again considering a risky strategy to shore up its retirement funds.
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WIREPOINTS ORIGINAL STORIES
Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
24 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.
With 100% of risk to be born by taxpayers in the age of covid..with zero cuts, zero layoffs, zero risk for the gov class….what could possibly go wrong? What moral hazard?…debts for dummies
Leave Chicago and Illinois ASAP.
Nothing but greed government workers and CROOKS.
This strategy is akin to a retail investor trading stocks on margin. It doesn’t end well especially when your carrying cost is 6% to break even. Question though, to lower their costs why not go out further on the yield curve, could Chicago presumably offer up a 50 year, 70 year bond? Maybe the real question is who would buy these PO(S) bonds anyway. Eventually your credit runs out!
They only way Chicago could lower its borrowing costs is to back the bonds with sales tax revenue. GO bonds would carry a higher interest rate