September 27, 2013 If you follow the pension crisis you’re probably especially alarmed by the per-person estimates of unfunded pension liabilities.  What’s overlooked, however, is that most Chicagoans can’t contribute meaningfully to paying down that debt, so the true numbers for those who would have to pay are far, far higher. Per capita income in Chicago is only $28,000, or about $48,000 per household. Almost half of Chicagoans are in or near official poverty. Will they be asked to pay up? Could they if they were asked?  No, so let’s look at per capita obligations where they really apply