Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer
April 22, 2026
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Summary and audio linked here.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Residents and elected officials, including Lori Lightfoot, have previously decried grocery store closures on the city’s South and West sides, where three of the four stores slated for closure by Walmart are located. In November, Lightfoot blasted Whole Foods as “not a good partner” after it closed its once-touted Englewood supermarket, which opened in 2016 with the help of $10.7 million in city funding. Last summer, Aldi, closed a store in Auburn Gresham. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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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
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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
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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
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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.
6 TVs stolen from Chatham Walmart “The Chatham Walmart that was robbed is one of four locations that the retail giant announced it will be closing by this Sunday… No one is in custody…” https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/6-tvs-stolen-from-chatham-walmart By FOX 32 Digital Staff Published April 12, 2023 8:41PM “CHICAGO – An offender stole six TVs from a Walmart on Chicago’s South Side Wednesday morning. At about 8:56 a.m., a 37-year-old woman reported that an offender exited a red Buick SUV and took six televisions from the Walmart located at 8431 S. Stewart Ave The offender then fled the scene. The Chatham Walmart that… Read more »
Coming to a store near you. Reparations shopping! Leave your wallet or purse at home.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-demanding-reparations-target-gets-174749211.html
This is not just Chicago, All WMT stores in Portland.OR are closing due to theft. https://news.yahoo.com/walmart-set-close-stores-portland-154823875.html
What would be front page news is if WMT’s decision to close the 4 Chicago stores came AFTER election of CTU/Brandon and all his crazy tax business into the ground talk. Was CTU/Brandon, who’s never run anything, the final nail in the coffin for WMT to go on top of everything else that makes running a biz in Chicago next to impossible?
The timing is certainly interesting. But it won’t be front pages news for any news organization in Chicago other than maybe Fox.
The bad news is that the former shoppers at these stores will be shopping at a Walmart near you
And your local progressive city council demands developers build affordable housing for them in your neighborhood too. The nut jobs in my community want affordable housing on my side of town. None on their side of town, of course, where they fancy big houses are…just on the middle class side of town. Equity or something.
“Oh, you must live in EVANSTON”, lol…!!!
You mean “shoplifting” at your local neighborhood Walmart.
I can’t go to a suburban shopping center without seeing the local law enforcement parked in front of stores. That law enforcement presence is only going to increase. Dupage and Will counties will not go silently into the night.
“The Left Has Killed Our Great Cities – The fact that Chicagoans have elected not a reformer, but a deformer, suggests that inner-city residents still don’t get it—or they don’t care…”
https://amgreatness.com/2023/04/11/the-left-has-killed-our-great-cities/
“Mark down Tuesday, April 4, as the night Chicago died… Johnson said that crime and shoplifting are societal problems. And he may continue Lightfoot’s policy of not prosecuting people who rob stores—often owned by minorities…”
You had 35% of people vote,and he got 51% of the vote, so about 18-20% of the voters made brandon mayor
How do you know more people didn’t vote? Who is counting the votes?
Shoplifting=reparations, slaves built the very first Wal Mart stores in 1860,and are just looking for justice.
Haaaahhhaaaaaaa! Needed that!
It’s a simple formula: sales revenue – (property cost + employee cost + wholesale product cost + theft/shrinkage) = net income. Taxes and utilities are high, employee carry-cost is much higher than three years ago, wholesale product costs up 10% – 40%, and there’s uncontrolled “shrinkage” (employee theft) and substantially increased rates of petty criminal behavior on part of many of its “customers” engaging in routine shoplifting/fraudulent returns. Fact is, no matter how much virtue-signaling on part of corporate owners, no matter how much protest from municipalities, businesses need to have sufficient net income to continue to operate a store-location.… Read more »
The reality is that these stores were probably First of the Month stores, where the customer base was mostly SNAP/EBT/WIC benefits users. Money was put onto the customers cards at midnight on the first of the month. Many customer made big purchases in the first week of the month and then purchases slowed to a trickle by the last day of the month when customers had no remaining funds. Factor in massive ‘shrinkage’ combined with reduced SNAP benefits now that the COVID emergency had ended, and the future looked bleak.
The teacher’s union should open up stores with the teachers’ pension money. It will turn out to be a great investment.
Good point, they think they should be involved with mental health care and affordable housing why not help eliminate food deserts.
Companies make good faith efforts to open in underserved communities. They would probably be satisfied to break even, but can’t absorb million dollar losses. This story has happened repeatedly. And, of course, the politicians first response is to knock the big greedy evil corporations. Well, the politicians may know how to operate with huge deficits and shortfalls with no regard for taxpayers, but for profit companies are responsible to shareholders who are not as forgiving as taxpayers.
Collectively the Chicago stores haven’t been profitable for 17 years and the company has lost millions of dollars each year — so why did they wait so long to close these stores? How many stores in other large cities are losing millions a year? And how much of a premium are the honest Walmart customers around the country paying to make up for losses in big city stores?
I’ve got some bad news for you, Mary. We that actually pay our medical bills also subsidize those who don’t……
Well, Old Joe, here’s the latest from San Fransicko – that purveyor to the Leftist Smart Set, Whole Foods, is closing down a Frisco store – who knew…!!!??? “Increased drug use and crime near the Whole Foods on Eighth and Market, which opened just one year ago, contributed to the store’s closing,,,” Whole Foods in Downtown San Francisco Closes Due to Spiraling Crime https://www.nationalreview.com/news/whole-foods-in-downtown-san-francisco-closes-due-to-spiraling-crime/ “One of the largest supermarkets in downtown San Francisco closed its doors this week due to deteriorating street conditions nearby. Increased drug use and crime near the Whole Foods on Eighth and Market, which opened just… Read more »
I’m with you Mary. Just what sort of private sector business model accommodates 4 stores in the same city that haven’t been profitable for 17 years?
Walmart obviously had such a business model. Walmart’s the world’s poster-child for retailers who want to negotiate aggressively with vendors, and who can account for every penny they receive, spend and invest.
Walmart charged all their customers enough that their business plan accommodated these ‘unprofitable’ stores for 17 years, and you can bet Walmart did all this on purpose.
What changed now, I wonder….
Mary they probably had rent payments, real estate taxes and insurance that they had to pay regardless if they close. What our tenants tell us is that if their occupancy costs are $500,000 a year and they are losing $400,000 by staying open, they’ll stay open and hope to turn things around. If they are losing more than $500,000 multiple years in a row then they’ll close. If they project outside forces (Brandon Johnson) will make things worse they’ll close.
The remaining ‘Big Box’ stores will really get worked over now for ‘reparations’ by the looting thieves. It’s a downward spiral.
And there is more to come. It is becoming much more sophisticated than just petty shoplifting. Insurance companies have stopped insuring for employees who are injured trying to detain or pursue shoplifters. So the stores are telling employees not to interfere. The bad guys know this and laugh at employees as they walk out the door with the goods. They jump into a car with stolen license plates, and head to the next store to do the dame thing. It is called “organized retail theft” and it is a booming business for the bad guys. With slow police response times,… Read more »
Agree completely! Then the day will arrive when the banks and financial houses will stop offering short term credit to cover public sector payrolls, followed by a flurry of panic and the creation of blue ribbon oversight committees to finally control costs. It ends with the remaining middle class in Chicago/Cook taking the financial hit.
We all know why those stores are closing: theft. They mask it with language like “not profitable”, which is another way of saying a lot of goods are leaving the store without being paid for. Enforcing theft and shoplifting laws keeps stores profitable.
I predict nothing will replace the closing stores. If Walmart couldn’t make a profit, why would any other retailer think they could? Chicago should expect more restaurants/retailers to close up. This is what happens in a dying city.
Yep, the entire city of Detroit didn’t have a major grocery chain store for years because of this mindset. Yes, it can happen. Imagine no Marianos or Jewel in Chicago an you’ll get the picture.
Like most businesses, Walmart has realized that Chicago is a bad investment
Walmart is a for profit organization. They can’t be expected to sit silently while their stores are emptied by thugs. Golly gee Brandon, what do you think the root cause is of stores closing in Chicago?
This is not just a Chicago problem. Cities which don’t enforce the law chase retail establishments away. Nike closed its inner city Portland store, a flagship of sorts, due to high amounts of theft and danger to employees. Nike desperately wants to reopen the store – it is difficult to sustain a Colin Kaepernick campaign when an urban flagship location is forced to close. Nike wants two full time police officers in the store, which Nike would pay for (raises interesting fiscal law issues), but the City can’t consider the offer because it is hundreds of officers short and can’t… Read more »