By: Mark Glennon*
An article today in Russia’s Pravda lectures us: “If you’ve studied cost accounting at a graduate level, did cost accounting work and you look at publicly available financial data from these cities, it’s like looking at nightmare on main street parts I, II, III and IV about to happen.”
“Chicago or LA, which one is more likely to collapse first? Chicago,” they say.
And, “Kankakee County IL or Perry County KY? Kankakee County is more likely to go belly up first.”
Why on earth would Pravda ever focus on Kankakee? Not a bad choice, actually. We’ve had a number of articles on this site about Kankakee’s particularly dire situation. Their police and fire pensions are among the most underfunded in the state and the county has been reported to be running out of cash. Just coincidence probably, but we’ve also had a spike of traffic on this site from Russia lately — over 500 hits in the last 30 days, according to Google Analytics.
In case it’s not coincidence, here’s a message for my comrades at Pravda: Our problems in Illinois don’t stem from things like sending aid to Ukraine, as you wrote. They stem from government that has had a bit too much in common with yours — an autocratic, corrupt, one-party system that has impoverished the workers it claims to protect.
*Mark Glennon is founder of WirePoints. Opinions expressed are his own.
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.