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.
Basically they’re saying we’re taking over you’re failing as a parent
The schools don’t understand the concept of failure, so I think they’re just saying we’re taking over.
So, $3B on “healthcare” for students, provided through school districts, that is ineffective, does not produce the results needed and is expensive. Just another example of the board of education and the state pushing school districts to provide services they have no business providing. Another example of bloated spending on education. Another example of irresponsible spending by law makers and the moron governor of this state. The Education business needs to get back to and refocus on actual education and stop trying to or being forced to be all things to all people – it doesn’t work and clearly is… Read more »