“I get so sick and tired of people believing that the only thing that Black and Brown and poor people get to get in this city are badges,” he said. “No. It’s a sickness and we’re gonna eradicate it.” 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.
i just wanna say that nearly everyone of these comments understands some sort of basis of what needs to be done to help chicago and the mayor himself has no clue. in fact it seems the opposite. the most common sense solution would be to stop having some weird capiophobia issue. stop having some race issue that doesnt exist. i mean you’re mayor for christs sake
Brando is so dumb he’s become entertaining.
Chicago really needs to add another red star to its flag to honor Brando’s comedic talent.
Politicians like you need to be eradicated
Imagine if the DEFUNDED POLICE FORCE of 1900 empty police slots were filled . Maybe citizens might feel safer .
Wonder how soon he will be dismissing his 70 or so guards? He is a menace to society!
I’m told If you include his family security it’s at least 130.
So, Defund Jails, Incarceration, & Law
Enforcement then because they’re “a sickness” ????
What earthly human society operates
without jails, incarceration, & law enforcement?
Go ahead and get rid of it all. It will be fun to watch how Chicago fares in a Mad Max society.
Johnson is infected with a moral sickness.
He keeps giving everyone reasons to leave Chicago.
Government of, by and for the morons. All the way down to the CTU and those who vote for the captive morons.
The only sickness to eradicate is the idiotic ideology that voted and continue to support the current Mayor, Governor, Preckwinkle, and dozens of other insane politicians across this state.
Crime is the sickness, dude. Law enforcement is needed as long as the crime is there.
Every individual or company currently considering offering a bid to purchase real estate in the city would be smart to drop their offer price by 50%. That is likely the minimum destruction of value that this mayor and the radical socialists in the city council will drive before they are out of power.
He can start by getting rid of the badges in his security detail.
That is one of the most telling statements of this Pinhead’s mind yet. He is actually telling you what he is going to do, eliminate law enforcement. Believe them when they tell you to your face, what they believe and what they will do. These people are deranged. So, Pinhead, you plan to hire councilors and start a few more multi-million dollar pROgrams to solve the crime issues in Chicago and of course allow for the commensurate graft and pay-off process. Meanwhile, back in the real world, Rome Burns and law abiding citizens (aka Peasants) pay both the cost AND… Read more »
Brandon, you understand committing a crime is a CHOICE. Many of the ills you claim are inflicted upon some communities are the simple results of CHOICES. Food desert: produce lasts 2 days…. If it isn’t purchased the business loses money… So, no fresh food. Leaving retail: when stores are “taken over” and theft is rampant, business owners leave…. Gun violence: well, the vast majority are not your lawful gun owners…
Its an embarrassment that you, as an “educator” understand so little…Maybe you’re simply as unintelligent as evidence suggests…
“It’s an embarrassment that you, as an “educator” understand so little…”? That’s the problem…
Johnson is an Indoctrinator, not an educator.
So, when are you getting rid of your CPD security detail, doofus???
It’s great to see the mayor of one of the largest cities have a meltdown right in front of our eyes. Gives me comfort knowing this man is in charge
johnson is nuts and getting worse.
I can’t believe that 130 (?) CPD officers don’t have enough self- esteem to quit this racist, radical Marxist excuse for a mayor’s security detail.
Brandon aligns with criminals against citizens and police just like he aligns with the CTU against parents and schoolchildren. It’s going to be a long 20 months.
The sickness to be Eradicated in America is Communism!
The political atmosphere in Chicago and Illinois is beyond comprehension anymore because of how much they hate us. What are these politicians thinking about.
The sickness is that the terrorist vermin of the Chicago Teachers Union dumped this ventriloquist dummy upon the crime victims and hardworking, burdened, beleaguered taxpayers of Chicago. And that is sadly an insult to BJ’s brethren ventriloquist dummies everywhere. Sorry Charlie McCarthy; you don’t get to choose your family.