Of the $29.7 billion in revenue dedicated to fund IDOT road projects under its current multi-year plan, about half comes from federal government reimbursements. For multimodal projects, about 40% of projected funds are set to come from the feds. But the early days of the new Trump administration have already upended at least one major transportation program – casting doubt on what other funding might disappear. 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
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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.
Illinois counts on bloated government handouts for services taxpayers dollars should be used for. Roads, healthcare, education. Consequences are coming for not cutting pensions. Scale down the wish list immediately and stay within the budget. Just like the rest of us.
Appointing a park person to run IDOT tells me she’s unqualified for this job.
Even worse, she’s unelected! The voters did not weigh in on a parks person running IDOT, which means she’s also illegimate. Why, this is an Illinois Constitutional crisis! We need a judge to block her access to IDOT system so she doesn’t usurp the power of IDOT bureaucrats.
Lefties, did I cover everything? I’m new at this lawfare stuff.