My high school friend Charlie, a lifelong resident of Chicago, has kept us apprised of the increasing financial crises there. Truly politically deplorable, much of it due to pension funding and taxes. "Chicago is a Sinkhole City without enough assets to cover its debt. Chicago only has $9.5 billion of assets available to pay bills totaling $42 billion. Because Chicago doesn't have enough money to pay its bills, it has a $32.5 billion financial hole." "The metro Chicago area lost an estimated 22,068 residents from 2017 to 2018, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday. ... Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago, declined in population for the fourth year in a row, with an estimated loss of 24,009 residents or 0.46 percent from the previous year." Illinois: "Illinois is a Sinkhole State without enough assets to cover its debt. Illinois only has $28.8 billion of assets available to pay bills totaling $244.9 billion. Because Illinois doesn't have enough money to pay its bills, it has a $216.1 billion financial hole. Population of Chicago: Peaked in 1950 at 3,600,000. Today, 2,700,000, a decline of 25%, or 1/4. This is serious, as revenues have declined drastically......greatly increased existing taxes are being augmented by many new taxes, some questioned as unconstitutional. Is Chicago destined to become the second Detroit? Very possibly. Detroit went from 1.4 million people to under 700,000, down 50%. Time was, virtually every car made by the "big 3" was put together in Detroit. No more. Given these drastic losses in population, grave consequences are not only on the horizon, but are already loomingly present. Frank
Yeah, Chicago is headed down the same road as Detroit for basically the same reason--public sector unions and the pensions they demand. That is why Governor Scott Walker fought so hard in Wisconsin to save the state from a similar fate. He won two recalls directed by the unions and they eventually defeated him at the polls through hard campaigning with money collected in union dues. It is the fate that all cities and states run by liberal with public sector unions.