Thomas Lifson of the American Thinker details the latest developments in Chicago’s troubling story.
Chicago and the State of Illinois are lurching toward insolvency, burdened by enormous pension liabilities, political payoffs from past generations that kept the Democrat Machine in power for generations. Rahm Emanuel knows this, and is doing his best to come up with financial schemes to keep paying bills. His latest effort at borrowing to keep the Chicago Public Schools (already almost a billion dollars behind in paying its expenses – particularly pension fund contributions) afloat is being called a “payday loan” even by Democrats, as the Dems scramble to blame Republican Governor Bruce Rauner for the collapse of the Blue Model. …
… Illinois is as broke as Chicago. If this were a business, Rahm would be borrowing against his “accounts receivable” – also known as “factoring.” That is a common practice among financially-troubled businesses to keep the doors open. Rahm is trying to find a factor that will lend almost $400 mill against the promise of a broke state to come up with the cash. …
… Chicago has already sold off major assets, including the right to collect money from parking meters. There are fewer and fewer sources of funds available.
