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Illinois spends more of its budget on pensions that any other state, and still has the biggest gap between what it currently pays and what it would take to pay down the debt without reform. Illinois also spends more of its state and local revenues on pensions than any other state, about double the national average.
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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
27 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.
This Illinois public pension scam is and has been out of control. You rarely hear about pension reform from Illinois politicians, but it is our #1 issue driving all sorts of problems in the state.
Its unfair to have non-public union taxpayers bear all the load of this mismanaged and corrupt state of Ill. We will not let you forget its our #1 issue, right next to public corruption.
We want public pension (and medical) reform and will continue to push hard to get that. You want us to give up and forget it….won’t happen.
Most people don’t understand that you can’t adjust any part of the pension calculation even for current employees. For example, the state cannot have a currently working Tier 1 teacher contribute an extra 1% of their salary towards their pension for even one paycheck. That would be considered a diminishment or impairment of their pension. I think what bothers people the most is the absolutism of the pension system. For every hire, the state is supposed to predict 35 years in advance what the world’s financial situation is supposed to be when they can barely tell you what’s gonna happen… Read more »
What’s reasonable to one person isn’t necessarily so to another. It can quickly turn into total abrogation easily enough.
It seems nearly every public union employee has two core beliefs 1) A deep sense of entitlement 2) There are plenty of well-to-do people and companies in Illinois not paying ‘their fair share’, with none of those people being unionists. There is no reasoning with people like this.
Read the article about making raises to the rate of inflation. Under the current regime the rate of inflation is 10+% and most likely will continue for a couple more years. How would that work out?
Gotta read the fine print: The plan would raise retirement ages for workers under 45, replace 3% compounding post retirement increases with a measure pegged to inflation and cap the maximum pensionable salary for workers hired before 2011. Replace Tier 1 retirees’ 3% compounding benefit increase with true cost-of-living adjustments tied to inflation. Annual increases would be simple, not compounding, and rise with CPI-U as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Implement COLA holidays to allow inflation to catch up to past benefit increases. If a worker has been retired for eight years or more, they would skip every other year… Read more »
Do you think that has anything to do with the stranglehold public unions have in Illinois?
Just spitballing here.
They have turned Illinois into a feudal system of lords and serfs, while claiming it’s what the voters want. They earned their average $2.3 mil in benefits- just ask them. We serfs are just jealous that we weren’t smart enough to join in on the loot.
Stop your whining and pay your bills. The state of Illinois offered pensions for those that worked the required number of years. The employees that received or will receive pensions are living up to their end of the bargain. The state didn’t put enough money aside and now you complain about the cost going up. Too bad. The state is still shorting pensions over 4 billion per year. Have you advocated now or any time in the past that the state should begin making actuarial contributions instead of statutory ones? Nope. Just more complaining about paying your bills. You and… Read more »
Yes, and you pensioners contributed to and help elect the very officials who are shorting your pensions. The day is coming when there is no money for education, roads, welfare agencies, etc. because all the revenue goes to pensions. You must have seen Wirepoints irrefutable IRS expose on how much money leaves IL. Where will the money come from when all the smart money, such as Ken Griffin, and myself (gone, but not quite in Griffin’s class) leave IL?
Wow that was a virtuoso performance! I can almost feel the spittle hitting my face.
Parking yourself in a classroom for “x” number of years does not mean you lived up to your end of the bargain. What is pathetic is that apparently these pensioners couldn’t even teach children to read.
Actually it does. Pay your bills deadbeat
No thanks!
“Actually it does”.
I guess you did fulfill your end of the “bargain”, by showing up in the voting booth to keep voting your hands ever deeper into everyone else’s pocket.
A shame you didn’t show that same enthusiasm for “showing up” in the classroom and actually teaching students.
I need to edit my post. It’s not a shame. It’s shameful.
How would you know anything about my job or work ethic? More lazy assumptions from someone without any critical thinking skills.
What’s shameful is your desire to steal from people. Thank God for our founding fathers who understand the importance of the state honoring its contracts. On this great holiday I’ll celebrate knowing the framers were smart enough to prevent your shameful desire to steal.
Happy 4th of July everyone!!!
You are right, I don’t know anything about your personal career. And you don’t know anything about my bill paying habits. But sure, go with the “personally aggrieved” thing…
The framers would never have supported a public union.
Happy 4th to you too.
Personally aggrieved? You mean like calling yourself a serf because you need to pay taxes so that employees can get the pay they were promised. The state owes money to pensioners. Get over it.
YES – and Trump was going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. The systems’ asset portfolios are declining in value and public services are declining in quantity and quality. Public schools are losing students. Chicago is not alone, but it’s the worst of the Dem run municipalities and IL is the worst of the Dem run states. There are lots of ways a contract can be breached and no practical way you can collect your pensions when the systems run out of money. You can sue for one month at a time and pay the lawyer… Read more »
Published September 2, 2018 https://qz.com/1325325/trumps-immigration-policies-created-a-virtual-wall/ How Trump built an invisible wall around America Thanks to a whirlwind of executive orders, policy adjustments, and subtle bureaucratic changes, US immigration policy is looking more and more like the xenophobic 1920s. Back then, the US barred Asians, as well as Italians, Greeks, and people from Eastern Europe. This time, however, US immigration policies are focused on reducing the number of people from Muslim-majority countries, Mexico, Africa, and Central America. While Donald Trump is still a long way off from building his much-hyped border wall, the overall effect of his administration’s policies has created what experts describe… Read more »
Have a nice day everyone!
I appreciate the intro to Quartz. Immigration and demographics are related to almost every other controversial topic. Like Japan’s, and many S.E. Asia’s societies, ours is also aging. My 401(k) plan may be in as much jeopardy as public pensions. Law and politics [both from the right and the left] are clumsy at solving these problems. I’m no Ann Coulter [too old and too short, inter alia] and most existing disputes over southern border immigration are not coming close to dealing with the longer-term mass migrations that are likely to become world-wide. Diverse schools and needed workers are the tip… Read more »
One thing you never address in your frequent defense of public pensions is productivity. I speak now about Chicago public high schools, nothing happens there. Graduates leave knowing that 4 is larger than 3 but can’t comprehend that 1/4 is not larger than 1/3. The graduates are unprepared for profitable employment. They will never be able support the teachers in their retirement.
Are you sure the grads know 4 > 3? I’m not