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.
“The prolonged wait time, exhaustion and uncertainty that Esperanza, 47, and her kids experienced are symptoms of a U.S. health care system that caters to people with citizenship, medical insurance and means.”
So, wait, a system that creates cost caters to people who 1) are citizens of the country, 2) have insurance to help cover the cost of things that are NOT FREE, and 3) are of “means” – whatever that class-bating expression implies.
Yeah, God forbid we not become the caretaker of every citizen of Earth. Yeah, Sanctuary City!!! Whoo hoo!!! Winning.
Not an attorney but I would guess that Chicago’s rules may not be in compliance with the ICC.
Here’s an article on what many of these jumpers are really here for. Free medical and not just BP medications. If they are so sick how did they manage to travel for months and thousands of miles?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/waiting-fear-migrant-mother-struggles-100000599.html