Actuary Mary Pat Campbell: "Wirepoints has several features, and the best part is 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.
Illinois is the laughingstock of the country. How can you call it anything but a PONZI scheme when you are paying people with current funding, that is the definition of a Ponzi scheme.
All Ponzi schemes fail in due time.
I take it you’re not an expert on this topic. If so, your view as that of a “concerned citizen” with the sort of credibility that implies—lots of rage with a dictionary-level knowledge of the term and not much else presumably. Where are a few legal eagles who have some experience in this area and can weigh forth accordingly?
Mary Pat’s generosity with her time over the years helped us immensely in learning about pensions, which wasn’t easy.
Carnival barkers. You’re both just carnival barkers.
Not sensible, thoughtful, transparent and truthful.
Like our Governor, for instance…
Love sarcasm.