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Senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee acknowledged the obvious. The mayor would rather have state lawmakers walk the tax plank with him at a time when Chicago has reached the “point of no return” with systems that people rely on: education, health care, housing, transportation.
Summary and audio linked here.
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.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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“Mayor <Cliff Notes> may seek a dramatic expansion of the city’s home rule authority to allow the city to help itself” …to your money, Chicagoans. This explains all the For Sale signs and U Haul bins being filled in Bridgeport. It’s over, Mayor Cliff Notes. Mayor Notes and his band of merry leftist thieves, such as the (similarly incompetent to Mayor Notes) Jason Lee, have entirely looted the treasury and have simply run out of money to shovel out the proverbial door. Lacking any stones to do what is truly necessary to turn the rapidly sinking ship Chicago around, these… Read more »
Chicago residents voted this mayor in — and the next one will likely be worse — until the city finally collapses under its own stupidity. But here’s the problem: the rest of Illinois will be stuck bailing them out if we don’t start electing governors and legislators who will protect us from Chicago’s fiscal mess. If the city needs more money for its failing public transit system, then raise fares on the people who actually use it — city residents and suburban commuters. Why should the rest of the state pay for the blatant, unmitigated incompetence of Chicago’s leadership and… Read more »
No we didn’t. He was installed. It doesn’t help us build capacity when people come in here and claim Chicago is lost and we we voted for the guy. I posted a video in another thread yesterday where Johnson gets booed off the the stage at some LGBTQ street fair over the weekend. I’ve got all sorts of phantom voter ID cards showing up in my mailbox. I had a great conversation with a disgruntled Cook County employee in an elevator at the Dailey Center a few weeks ago. There are plenty of rewarding paths to pursue if you want… Read more »
You don’t win or lose elections based on boos or cheering. You win by getting the most votes. The people of Chicago voted for him more than any other candidate running. Quit trying to change history. He won the most votes. That’s how things are decided.
Chicago residents voted this mayor in — and the next one will likely be worse — until the city finally collapses under its own stupidity. But here’s the problem: the rest of Illinois will be stuck bailing them out if we don’t start electing governors and legislators who will protect us from Chicago’s fiscal mess. If the city needs more money for its failing public transit system, then raise fares on the people who actually use it — city residents and suburban commuters. Why should the rest of the state pay for the blatant, unmitigated incompetence of Chicago’s leadership and… Read more »
This is what you get when only 30% showed up for up to vote.
I think part of the reason for low voter turnout is that a large percentage of people pay little to no taxes. Something like 50% of taxes are paid by the top 5% of taxpayers. The people who actually pay taxes vote, as do the public union members. But a large percentage of the population has little to no skin in the game, and doesn’t bother to vote.
I would think those people that don’t pay much in terms of federal income taxes would likely stand behind the candidate that offers more spending and tax the rich policies. So getting a higher percentage turnout wouldn’t necessarily help change the outcome away from democratic policies. If anything they would have even more power.
The danger of allowing people to vote themselves into their neighbor’s pocket was recognized from the beginning of the republic. We’ve chosen to ignore that warning, led by cheerleaders proclaiming “it’s what the voters want!”
It’s also what you get when out of state trolls raid local comment sections – relentlessly barking that our situation is hopeless, we’re apathetic, and the only option is moving out. I didn’t elect this guy, but I did get tons of erroneous voter ID cards showing up in my mailbox. Last I checked, Johnson has 6% approval rating, so basically everyone that doesn’t work for the city hates this guy. Enough with the nihilism and finger pointing. Your state is next if we can’t reverse this trend.
Home rule is a dangerous tool for shifty local politicians. It always has been since the new state Constitution allowed it. Not 1/10th of one percent of the public knows what the heck it is. Ninety percent of the state legislators don’t know what it is. So amending any statute, rule, allowance or regulation relating to home rule needs to be scrutinized carefully– which is unlikely with the current regime in Springfield.
Chicago keeps electing leaders who could bankrupt a lemonade stand — and somehow, the next mayor is always worse than the last. Fine. Let the city reap what it sows. But the rest of Illinois had better wake up when picking governors and legislators, or we’ll be the ones forced to foot the bill for Chicago’s fiscal train wreck. If they need money to prop up their failing public transit, here’s a thought: charge the people who ride it. Jack up fares for city residents and suburban commuters who actually use it. Why should taxpayers in the rest of the… Read more »
Johnson, and the voters that elected him, know there is still plenty of other peoples money to spend and they aim to do it. It would not surprise me, if history is any guide, if the next Mayor, if not Johnson, is as bad as or worse as Johnson in this respect. Tax hikes are on the way for the Chicagoan’s and I just hope they don’t make downstate chip in as well.
It’s not just their belief that there is more money but rather they believe it is a moral imperative to get that money for “equity”. He is on record as stating we must “extract” that money from those 127k “millionaires” and 25 billionaires in Chicago. The voters seem to love all this talk of the “other guy” paying that they will keep electing the same person just a different last name. Telling your broke constituents that their lot in life is a direct result of their poor education and past decisions doesn’t seem to garner too many votes. This cycle… Read more »
Funny how public employees of every stripe find a moral imperative to dig their hands into their neighbor’s pocket.
For some, the moral imperative is “equity”. For others, it’s “defending the Constitution!” But their virtuous hands all end up in the same place, the public trough.
If you want to find a ‘victim’, just talk to a public union employee/ retiree. It’s the union way.
Progressive revenue? Progressively higher taxes!
You deciphered the code.
I’m thinking that BJ looking for new sources of progressive revenue will result in a regression of revenue raised.
Illinois taxpayers owe these criminals exactly jack squat. Bank robbers dont get to keep the money they have stolen. Corrupt Illinois Democrat politicians and their criminal co conspirators in the Public Sector Unions don’t get their loot either. Everyone in Illinois who isn’t part of this organized crime scam agrees and ultimately this is what is going to happen. PPF can pout and whine and stamp his liddle feet all he wants but that is reality and the future.
I’m not the one pouting and whining. That’s from your playbook. I merely point out the legal reality that you continue avoid. You keep stomping your feet and pensioners will keep cashing those checks. lol
A Chapter 9 filing will undercut any legal roadblocks that less prudent political animals put in place. When the money’s gone, it’s gone.
Yet you need the “political animals” to even allow bankruptcy. The money is never completely gone in government. The state has vast ability to raise and collect taxes. Even Chicago, has plenty of money to pay its bills for what it needs just not enough money to pay for all the services they wish to provide. Those services and those workers will eventually face stiff cuts. Pensioners will continue to be paid. If you get to bankruptcy, perhaps those city pensions will see a small cut similar to Detroit. Legally the city can cut 20% of its work force and… Read more »
All you need is a judge and a group of creditors, Mr./Ms./Mrs. State Retiree, and the Chapter 9 process would begin. It could be retirees and.or contractors and/or suppliers whose patience and ability to provide interest free financing to Madiganistan finally runs out. That judge will have the mission to sort through all the claims and weigh that against available funds. The judge will not have any ability to confiscate more money from taxpayers, making available funds more of a constant in that equation, so all the claimants will either settle or have a settlement foisted upon them. It will… Read more »
Actually, it’s more difficult than that to start a Chapter 9. The state has to authorize it, and there is no such thing as an involuntary Ch. 9 initiated by claimants like you describe. The city would have to approve it and a emergency manager would have to be authorized and appointed, which would be key.
If that’s the case, then Chicago and Madiganistan are lost. The ‘Gimme Gimme’ crowd is irreversibly in charge and the state will simply grind to a halt when the money runs out.
The Feds will have to take over.
If that’s the case???? You’re the one that brought up Chapter 9 as some magical fix for Chicago yet you didn’t even know the requirements under federal law. Now you have the feds “taking over”. What does that mean exactly?
Do you even know why the requirement that the “state authorize” a municipal bankruptcy even exists? It’s because of the 10th amendment to the US constitution and SCOTUS ruled it violated state sovereignty. The feds can provide money but they won’t be “taking over”.
I listened to Fran Spielman’s interview of Jason Lee embedded in the attached column — more for comic relief than enlightenment — and it failed to exceed even my already low expectations. Lee is an obvious lightweight (as is Fran), overwhelmed by Chicago’s mounting problems and bereft of any hope or original thought.
Lee said, “this is not not the mayor by fiat”
no by gum, it’s the mayor by fiasco!.
Bankruptcy now!
There is no attempt to tighten budgets, reduce costs, get rid of waste and corruption. Nothing. Only more tax. More Money. More Spending. The state needs to tell this City to go pound sand and stop taking more and more money from state wide tax payers to pay for the corruption and waste in Chitcago. Neither one of these pinheads have a clue…they are just grifting.
Johnson should have power taken away from him. He’s ruining the city, public safety, and public schools. He’s an idiot.
Along with Pritzker captain hypocrite
Part of the reason the city is “woefully” under funded is paying big bucks for illegals and bigger bucks for teachers. Get you head out of your butt and realize our wallets aren’t ATM’s
If you DIDN’T spend MILLIONS ON ILLEGAL INVADERS that would have lowered some of the deficit!!!
In the 1950’s Detroit was one of the five largest cities in the US with a population of about 1.9 M people; today it floats in the top 25 with about 625K people. Gary, at its peak in 1960, had 178K people; today Gary has about 67K people. By all means, free Chicago from any restraint on how it raises or spends money. We need a trifecta of failed cities ringing the lake: Chicago, Detroit, Gary.
To be fair, Detroit has come a long way since bankruptcy. I visited family there early last month and walked around its bustling downtown, which is undergoing massive private residential and commercial development and public infrastructure improvements. It’d be nice if Chicago (and Illinois) could restructure its financial liabilities with its creditors outside a federal court, but it doesn’t have the same caliber of leadership today that Detroit (and Michigan) had in 2012-2014.
Nobody that’s owed money by the state is going to negotiate away what the state owes them. The state has vast taxing authority and can simply raise taxes or cut other spending.
You would also have a near impossible time getting Chicago creditors to negotiate away what they are owed. Over 75% of the bondholder debt is backed by specific revenue. Chicago will need to cut spending and raise taxes.
Chicago’s one-party system won’t cut spending dramatically, and tax increases would just drive away more firms and residents. The city’s creditors and pension plans managers read the bond raters’ reports; they all know they won’t be paid in full. Better to deal with reality now than humor fever dreams.
Why not just rob people?
They already do.