Chicago Cannot Afford Its Pensions

This is not new really problem, but it is getting to the point no one can hide from it. From Meep at STUMP we get the following. Chicago Pensions Watch: DROP Will Not Save the Pensions

The issue is that Chicago has the worst-funded pensions of all cities in the U.S.

Not among the worst. Not in the bottom five. The worst. Either first or last place, depending on your point of view.

The City of Chicago's Pension "crisis," that is the unfunded liabilities, currently amounts to $35.8 billion.

Mayor Brandon Johnson has a "strategy." It won't work.

Chicago really can’t afford any of it. It’s not just a matter of timing of cash flows; it’s a matter of the promises made.

I wrote that in May 2023. Since then, the situation has gotten worse, and it’s not all Johnson’s fault: the state legislature and Governor J.B. Pritzker have made the promises bigger for the police and fire pensions:

That's right. In a pure political move, that everyone told him was a bad idea, J.B. Pritzker, known not-so-affectionately as Fatso, made the situation worse by increasing the liabilities. The "sweetener" will make the situation worse by $11 billion.

Chicago, and Illinois, are very nearly at the point where they are, in the words of Margaret Thatcher, out of other people's money.

They are also out of their own money, because they never saved any to pay the pensions. Illinois has unfunded pension liabilities of $148.6 billion, and unfunded retiree health care liabilities of $21.7 billion. That is the State of Illinois, not including Chicago.

If you add all of those numbers together, you get unfunded liabilities in excess of $200 billion.

Anyway, click thru for the details. It is a cautionary tale if ever there was one. Someone should read the old fable of The Ant and Grasshopper.

I find it interesting because Chicago, and Illinois were home, and I still have family in Illinois. But you know the Democrats will want to bail out Chicago, and Illinois if they get the chance.