"The mayor acknowledged last week that the group was dissolved without producing a report, a damning indictment both of the internal operations of City Hall and how this mayor doesn’t take seriously the cost side of Chicago’s ledger while obsessing over finding more revenue to feed the government beast." 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.
Once again, the thin, pointless rag once called the Chicago Tribune has it wrong. There were three words issued:
“We give up.”
The Mayor says it is a “disappointment” that there is no report. Hey, Boss, these guys were all appointed by you. What were your instructions to them? Did you give them any? Did it occur to you that these study groups are part of your own administration, that appointing special groups when your own staff does not have the expertise to deal with an issue is a reflection on your staff and your network of private sector folks? We just can not overstate the magnitude of this guy’s ineptitude. Seven percent favorability is too high for this guy.
In my professional career, I worked in different roles for a number of different organizations. However, when a report was required of me or of my team, not producing the report was not an option. It must be wonderful having a high-paid job without reporting requirements.
The remaining residents of Chicago need to thank whatever god they pray to that the “working group” slinked away. It was an amazing group representing the runaway spending in the city. Not one person who actually signs a check on the front.
The only fix is bankruptcy and the judge will decide a new pension reality and contract.
Just like Pritzker’s property tax task force never heard a word, never will just show and tell.
The truth is they didn’t even understand the problem and have no idea how to fix anything. That should be clear from the state of the schools they have been running for decades.
Love it! Here’s the rub… Many of us who have, for years, been abused by the city have the ability to leave… Just awaiting some family stuff and we’ll be gone… Once the city hits bottom and begins its renaissance, I will likely buy a small weekend place… But until then, BJ and JB, suck it.
All your bluster aside it reads as coulda, shoulda, woulda—the core of every loser’s king-wanna-be dreams. YOU create your own future by action or inaction!
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony
What if they gave a war and nobody came?
All you need is love
Just helping you out here.
YOU create your own future by action or inaction.**
** Except if you are a teacher. Then you are helpless against the voters, the parents, the students, etc, etc.
Is Hypocrisy 101 mandatory for getting a degree in education?
You seem really bitter. Why do you care if someone vents their frustration with Leftist Democrats and public unions and their shills as they run Chicago and IL into the dirt?
I left Chicago 5 yrs ago. Unfortunately, I am still in IL, but will correct that in the next three years. People have to speak with their feet and their wallet if Chicago/IL are ever to get their finances in order. The politicians are killing a wonderful city and state. It’s a crying shame.
Homie will never admit defeat. It’s too easy to blame everything wrong with CHI on Trump, racism, disinvestment and Richard Nixon.
Don’t forget Bruce Rauner. Illinois Democrats AKA Communists are still blaming Rauner for everything from moldy cheese to last nights thunderstorm.
And Richard M. Nixon
I wish this snake would slink away
No, there needs to be a public dressing down… The low info voters and apologists who elected this guy need to suffer… We keep repeating this nonsense… It needs to stop. We need adults back in the room… Jeez, Rahm was a breath of fresh air compared to BJ, JB, and their ilk.
Unfortunately people still vote color over quality candidates. Thats why preckwinkle is in, Johnsons in. Putzger got in because the unions backed him. They made a bundle
Fantastic editorial!!
After keeping silent on signing of HB3675 and now sheepishly disbanding pension working group, on what possible ethical grounds could those few CTU/Brandon & crew believers, who aren’t in on the scam, still believe he’s fighting for “the working class”, or any class, or are any different than old school Martwick/ Madigan pay-to-play machine types? Make no mistake, these con artist, who 100% run the city & state, hate you and your labors with a pernicious passion.
That’s because it’s hopeless.
What did the City pay the “Working Group” while they “worked” on the pension problem? No report. No Findings. No Recommendations. Nothing. Excellent work Mayor Pinhead. I’d read the article but the Trib wants me to pay for it…nah, never again Trib.
Try again, I was able to read it for free. But in response to your comment, the working group did indeed do what it set out to do. It got the Tier 2 fix in. And by fix I mean the Chicago Way fix. They’ve happy, nothing more to do.
Yep thanks – got in and was able to read it. There wasn’t anyone on that working group that ran a business. Only government and union representatives. How in the world did this PinHead Mayor think he was going to get any real ideas from these people…oh, never mind, I just answered my own question. They want the pension problem to continue as long it can…Flippin moron.