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.
This is an example of SJW’s “equity reparations” in action, confirming yet again, that white SJWs demonstrating their elitist beliefs. SJWs have innate sense of superiority, of thinking “we know better”, infantilizing same constituency they’re ostensibly and ostentatiously “redressing”. Noblesse Oblige in action, as noted by POC alderperson at time “reparations program” was approved by Evanston’s city council. Evanston’s SJWs express desire to “compensate for past prejudicial racism-related discrimination”. Yet resulting reparations program both discriminates, over complicates, and disrespects its target-constituency. Evanston’s “reparations” payments are issued only to lenders and banks, no actual cash granted. No “self-help” home remodeling tolerated.… Read more »
E town, A old liberal city that rots in their own mistakes and asks for more!
Keep voting democrat fools!
It is simple. Reparations are expected in the form of cash payments. None of this disbursement to financial institutions or other red tape claptrap. Upgrade my home? That sounds like work, just gimme da lettuce.
Have any of you been to downtown Evanston recently?
It is a ghost town…
It is a great program to promote real justice. Let’s take money from individuals who never owned slaves, aren’t related to anyone who ever owned slaves, and never knew anyone who owned slaves– and give it to people who were never slaves, don’t know anyone who was ever a slave, and aren’t related to anyone who was ever a slave. No wonder people have lost faith in government to do anything intelligently.
Thats not the jist of the article, none of this money came from individuals, it was diverted from the cannibis tax. So the problem is nobody, no white people, felt any pain at all! Thats not the definition of reparations. Now if Evanston had told all the white residents that they would be garnished in some way to pay off their black neighbors, there would be pain. And probably a whole lot of woke whites complaining. This didn’t take from individuals, it was a sneaky way for wokesters to feel virtuous without costing them a dime.
individuals pay taxes
Only Weed smokers in this case.
If I am a black weed smoker, then I am paying for my own reparations?
As a matter of fact, yes you are!
The Wokesters are probably the dope smokers buying all the wacky tobaccy and paying sales taxes.
10 million bucks divided by 25000 bucks per reparation grant equals 400 recipients. I’m sure that there are more than 400 people in Evanston that would qualify for a reparations grant. Who will the lucky ones be? Will Evanston use chicago’s tried and true “friends and family plan?” Those left out of this ill conceived and corruptly administered program have good reason to peacefully protest with the obligatory night time fire bombs and broken glass.