Chicagoans have no idea how much pension debt Illinois politicians have saddled them with. Officially, Windy City residents are on the hook for $70 billion in total pension shortfalls from the city and its sister governments plus a share of Cook County and state pensions.
But listen to Moody’s Investors Service, the rating agency that’s been most critical of Chicago’s finances, and you’ll get a different picture. Moody’s pegs the total pension debt burden for Chicagoans at $130 billion, nearly double the official numbers. (Yes, by chance the number is eerily similar to the official shortfall of $129 billion facing the five state-run pension funds. But don’t confuse the two.)
That’s scary news for Windy City residents. Barring real reforms, concessions from the unions or bankruptcy, Chicagoans can expect to be hit with whatever series of tax hikes politicians will try to enact to reduce that debt.
That $130 billion is the total Moody’s calculates when adding up the direct pension debt owed by the city government, Chicago Public Schools, the park district and Chicago’s share of various Cook County governments and the five state pension funds. Moody’s takes a more realistic approach to investment assumptions than the city and county governments take.
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4 comments:
Dave T: A city run by elected democrats with liberal policy and practices, this is fruit of their labor. The proof is in this deficit. Liberals can't even comprehend finance or budgets and that's not an opinion, it's a fact. I cite Chicago, California and Baltimore as perfect examples.
Don't look for a bailout from Trump , he's not obama.
Seen today there is 50000 more 401k millionaires all government workers.
Claw back the money from the billionaire investment companies that lost it.
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