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.
Just an observation. Take a look at the demographics of the people in the photo. Seems like this is a snapshot of who home schools their kids most often. How many of these protesters are from the inner city of Chicago? More like suburban moms and dads.
I would like to see the grades of these kids vs the standard public school kids and also compare the home school kids to private schools. How many of the kids shown can read/write/do math at grade level?
Pray that this bill doesn’t pass what’s in it is very disturbing.
What part of the bill do you find disturbing?
All of it. Do you really think that anything Democrats do are in the interest of their opponents or enemies?
Interesting that the state education system that is failing the majority of Illinois children feels qualified to assess homeschoolers.
Look in the mirror, you stupid, stupid bureaucracts!