-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Eight months into an unprecedented public health crisis and accompanying economic downturn, much of the nation has slowly but surely been adding jobs and lowering unemployment. Yet Illinois just last week saw the largest increase in the number of unemployment claims of any state in the nation. Illinois' employment picture deteriorated as other states saw their labor markets improve.
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
24 Comments
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
2 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
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.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
March 31, 2026
11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The best way for the state to control pension costs is a salary freeze on all Tier 1 salaries. Remember that 3% cap on raises for teachers that was stupidly overturned last year? Reinstate that at 0% and re-write it so it only impacts teachers approaching retirement as it was meant to discourage pension spiking. Apply pressure to salaries at the school district level. It’s time that school districts have separate salary schedules for Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees. Tier 2 employees should be paid more since their pensions suck. Tier 1 employees should be limited to COLA increases at… Read more »
Yes, spot on. They will lose competent (notice I emphasize this) Tier 2 people who are basically working for the Tier 1 scam, most of them older and hanging on / Tier 2 carries the dead weight. It also is illegal since it isn’t even up to the SS requirement as per law. Another way in which Tier 2 is just a mini ponzi into Tier 1 to keep it afloat …
In less than 2 months, all those untaxed state pensioners will get a 3% raise. Inflation rate is hovering around 1.3% for the year. Broke on purpose.
Screw Crain’s and the horse they rode in on. They are the weakest publication out there. Salacious stories about business leaders private lives (see Ken Griffin) that mean nothing. Ignorance when it comes to reporting hard political news. John Pletz is a good columnist about tech
People should depend upon themselves and build their own retirement fund –not on the backs of taxpayers.
Yes, and how would you go about making a realistic, sensible transition for those who were forced into pension plans for a many, many years to become totally self-funding? In short, your sentiment makes a lot of sense, but successfully making it happen in a non-punitive way is something of a nightmare in reality for those I’ve mentioned in particular.
Why do you and your kind object so strongly to complete transition away from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans? You and your fellow sociopathic predators can live out your long, taxpayer-funded lives knowing you have destroyed the communities in Illinois left behind for balmy Florida age 55 retirement. You may still find young nurses and docs who have to serve you, due to their own burden of school debt (taxpayers don’t pay the medical profession like you public-entitlement 1%ers). BUT! Why do you work so hard to maintain the unsustainable obscenely unaffordable program for new Illinois public school… Read more »
Maybe James would like to explain how Florida educates one third more K12 students with 70 or so school districts and Illinois has 700 or so.We have way to much government and it is not just the schools.If we right sized every aspect of government who would hire these over payed incompetent imbeciles
All politics is local. One place doesn’t have to mirror another.
You don’t know me in the least, yet freely throw me under the bus for my presumed lot in life, my associations and mindset. You are assuming a LOT with little to back it up as regards me as an individual target of your life’s woes. I think it’s safe to say you have “anger issues.” You ought to look for the positives in your life and celebrate them, or your health will show the results of your inner turmoil. In short, “ get a grip.”
James, Susan doesn’t have anger issues, I don’t have anger issues it’s called fed up to the gills with the bullish-t in this damn state knowing that everyday that goes by nothing, absolutely nothing is getting done we cannot even get the Springfield politicians to start the veto session. Don’t know if you seen Flannery fired up on fox 32 last night that is a perfect example of how are politicians lie outright to every taxpayer in Illinois and business. Harmon,Harris and Kelly lie after lie like nothing is wrong in this state talk about beating around the bush. At… Read more »
You can’t speak as to Susan’s mental health nor can I in the professional sense. But, anytime you read what she has to say its bordering “going postal” in the 1980’s meaning of that word–someone itching to kill everyone he/she deems as an enemy whether those people are direct enemies or only seen that way by someone looking for enemies. I understand your/her anger, but I can’t do a thing about it, didn’t cause it and can’t be an enemy in the formal sense of that word sense she doesn’t know me except as thinking I’m one of the dreaded… Read more »
You don’t know us in the least either, but you assume that taxpayers will just keep paying to make sure public. employees can retire comfortably at age 55. The consent of the victim can no longer be taken for granted. Public employee unions should take that into consideration.
“but you assume that taxpayers will just keep paying” The Illinois Supreme Court mandates it so no assumption is needed. The pension funds have been underfunded for years and the taxpayers just keep on paying. The tax rates keep going up and the taxpayers keep paying. Sure a small minority of people may leave but ultimately taxpayers will keep paying. Don’t believe me? Just watch the tax increase that’s coming your way in 2021. “The consent of the victim can no longer be taken for granted.” If people stay in Illinois then they are not victims but willing taxpayers and… Read more »
Yes, I realize that it is mandated by the state constitution. I am sure that the money will just keep appearing. Good luck with that, you will need it in the years to come. Also, voters may have voted for this, but voters are not equivalent to taxpayers. In our system, people can and do vote without paying a dime in taxes. When the proposition is “Rob Peter to pay Paul” you can always be assured of Paul’s vote.
Don’t have a pension so don’t need your luck. James is right; many people making many assumptions on this site. I have saved for my own retirement since my early 20’s after I took a second job to pay off my student loans. Public employees getting a pension has never impacted my ability to save for my own retirement. It’s called responsibility. I will be just fine but thanks for your thoughts. You are under the impression that a change of heart by the taxpayers will change the debt that is owed. It won’t. If you plan on staying in… Read more »
I do not want to “balance the budget on the backs” of public employees. However, I do think that public employee unions need to work with private sector taxpayers to find an equitable solution before the state faces bankruptcy. I don’t think that the only alternatives are to move out of state, or watch as we go over a financial cliff clinging to the ” constitutional guarantee”. I hope that we can inject some sanity into this situation soon, for the benefit of public employees as well as taxpayers. Nobody will win if we keep up this game of chicken.
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You are correct. Male property owners should be the only ones who vote; there is a reason the Constitution originally was this way. By the way, I’m being serious – not joking.
He’s right, it’s just a heavy dose of black pill thus, the downvotes, I presume.
I assume no such thing! Most of us will live a fragile existence at various times and eventually die. Anything better is an equally fragile miracle. That’s all I assume.
How were you forced to not save for your own retirement? You foolishly wasted years believing the lie that the corrupt greedy union and the corrupt, dishonest, bankrupt government would fund your retirement. Looks like they sold you a crock of crap
Again, here’s yet another semi-angry person making an ASSUMPTION. You’re wrong about me; I have saved throughout my life for life’s unknowns. I have never trusted the government as to my financial future. Politics is a world where the tide comes and goes; what’s true at one moment in one era is not true in the next one. Having faith in building your own future by fully believing political promises is akin to building your house on shifting sands.
James, too many commentators got lost when you used the words “realistic, and sensible transition”. You made the point that changing pensions makes a lot of sense but how is that accomplished in a non punitive way? You brought up a fair point but you showed that pensioners were people and not evil thieves. That confuses many people on this site.
This site has offered many thoughtful articles with propositions for non-punitive pension reforms. I do not believe pensioners are evil thieves. I do believe that public employees and their unions need to stop clinging to the “ironclad” constitution and start getting involved in finding solutions.
No single “union” represents governmental retirees in IL. The IL Supreme Court said as much when they declared SB 1 unconstitutional in May of 2015, declaring that pensions were an individual contractual right given to pensioners. So, I agree with your thoughts in principal except for the “union” comment. The state needs to start inviting individual pensioners to talk reform. It CAN BE DONE if both parties see and incentive to do so. There are numerous possibilities as to how that scenario can be proposed.
“I do believe that public employees and their unions need to stop clinging to the “ironclad” constitution and start getting involved in finding solutions.” Do you also believe that bondholders need to stop clinging to their constitutional rights as well? Are you also calling for bondholder reform? Are you asking for bondholders to come up with some concessions on what is owed so that the state finds its’ way out of debt? I don’t have a pension but I find it completely dangerous to remove the constitutional rights of some taxpayers at the expense of others. Just like progressive taxation,… Read more »
I’ve said it before; the haters on this website are frothing at the mouth toward the wrong people, generally speaking. As I’ve said at least once some time ago “I no makea da rules.” If you want different results you need different rules as to how things turn-out for the state financially. So, you need to (1) get different “rule makers” (legislators) and/or (2) change the incentives for how those people decide how things should work. Give the rule makers incentives for doing things differently, and you’ll start to steer the ship of state in a different direction. In short,… Read more »
These 2 circle jerking each other again. Good Lord, nothing here changes.
I think they realize the only answer is leaving – and they hate the fact that for whatever reasons, good or bad, they don’t think they can.