My Blog

Tag: Debt

  • Moody’s Downgrades Chicago’s Motor Fuel Debt

    Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded to A3 from Aa3 the rating on the City of Chicago’s (IL) $181 million of outstanding rated motor fuel tax debt. The outlook has been revised to negative. via Moody’s. Surprises no one.  Barely qualifies as news actually. The City’s broke.  Unemployment (real unemployment, the U6 number) is out of…

  • Quinn Balks at Illinois’ Fresh Interest Rate

    Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration delayed Wednesday’s planned sale of $500 million in construction bonds, saying a recent credit downgrade because of inaction on government worker pension reform left the market “unsettled.” The decision was made after officials with the governor’s budget office spoke with potential bidders who indicated they would seek interest rates higher than…

  • “Obama, Romney – Same Police State”

    Johnson’s first point was that the US political system is in desperate need of transparency.  Whether Obama or Romney is elected next month, he told the audience, we will still have “a heightened police state in the US.”  And Obama and Romney are guaranteed to continue American military interventions abroad, he added. via RT. Indeed. …

  • Chicago’s Pension Time-Bomb

    While Emanuel can coast for two more years, the city in 2015 is required by law to set aside an additional $700 million a year for two of its four pension funds, all of which are woefully underfunded: That year’s budget will include a total of $1.2 billion for the retirement accounts of teachers, police,…

  • IL Pension Hole Analysis

    I wrote this a few weeks ago as a comment on a retired teacher’s blog.  The post there was about how we need to “tax the rich” in order to fund the teachers’ pensions.  I was asked to comment on the post by a retired teacher I know.  Analysis follows: There is no one sided…

  • Eat the Rich vs. Obama

    I was reading this story: President Barack Obama will officially launch the battle over the impending fiscal cliff this morning, announcing a plan to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for people earning under $250,000, while letting the rest of the tax cuts expire. via Business Insider. This got me thinking about how much money will…

  • Bankrupt Stockton Chicago

    Yesterday’s news: Officials in Stockton said Tuesday that mediation with creditors has failed, meaning the Central California city is set to become the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy.  … The river port city of 290,000 in Central California has seen its property taxes and other revenues decline, while expensive investments and generous retiree…

  • Chicago Aldermen: White Collar Criminals

    An analysis of pension fund documents for 21 aldermen who retired under the plan shows they are in line to receive nearly $58 million during their expected lifetimes, though contributions and assumed investment returns are predicted to cover just $19 million, or a third of that sum. The pension deal was inked more than two…

  • IL Legislators Should Give-up Pensions

    Illinois lawmakers ought to give up their state pensions. Legislators are part-time employees, but they make nearly $70,000 a year and in some cases can qualify for a pension after as little as four years in office at age 62. If they were elected before 2011, they can retire at 55 and collect a pension…

  • lllinois Moves Toward Insolvency

    We’re now making national news: After trying to tax Illinois to governmental solvency and economic dynamism, Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has been governor since 2009, now says “our rendezvous with reality has arrived.”  … Illinois was more heavily taxed than the five contiguous states (Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin) even before January 2011, when…