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.
Meanwhile, Neil Steinberg asks the question no one dared to ask, “Why restrict child porn but not guns?”
Too bad Neil wasn’t able to recover from his bought with TDS. He’s still onboard the crazy train.
https://www.everygoddamnday.com/2022/06/why-restrict-child-porn-but-not-guns.html
It’s Neil Steinberg. He’s the typical Social Justice Warrior that never practices what he preaches. I remember him admonishing readers to accept the glories of diversity while it came out he lived in a lily-white suburb (Barrington or some such IIRC). Safe to ignore him. Or twist the question around to ask if we should ban automobiles since: 1) Yearly more people are killed in automobile accidents in the US than by being shot by a gun. 2) By his logic, just like guns cars can be used to harm people, so therefore nobody should have a car. Where I… Read more »
The SF Chronicle had some good nuggets on the matter: They’re simply angry. Steamed. Pissed off. Tired of ideology taking precedence over real, nuts-and-bolts progress. Fed up that nothing related to city government seems to be working. Frustrated that this city with so much potential isn’t remotely living up to it. Irate that a city with so many built-in advantages — wealth, beauty, diversity, creativity, smarts — is so much less than the sum of its parts. “I’ve talked to the DA in passing several times. The only things he says is, ‘You’re safe. The numbers show, the data shows,… Read more »
Soros got his ass handed to him with defeat of Marxist SF DA Chesa Boudin — hopefully Soros will die soon so he can start burning in hell
Yep! Agreed.
I’m not sure hell would accept that piece of garbage. They have to have some standards.
I’ve read that his son is running the operation now, and he’s worse than his Papa.