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.
Pay more taxes for gang watching, but be prepared to run!
We have been talking for years about crime, ineffective police work, lefty prosecutors and out of control teenagers. But the stories the last few days from half a dozen or more intersections are starting to look like third world stuff. Crazy, irresponsible young people. Any arrests? No law enforcement. Basically, no civilized order or punishment. Remember goofy Lori’s comment regarding the riots on Michigan Avenue– “young people have to have a way to express themselves.” Just a great city on the verge of collapse.
Yikes. Would never choose Chicago as a vacation destination.
Will never visit Chicago ever again.
“If you live in Chicago, you are far more likely to be shot or murdered than in surrounding communities.”
from another article on wirepoints telling it like it is. Chicago has more gang members than any other city in America. Try calling 911. NO ONE IS COMING TO HELP YOU. Enough said. You go visit Chicago. I’m NOT looking to get mugged again.