City leaders are focused on the wrong kind of belt tightening.

As Chicago slides toward insolvency, the Motor City is trending upward.

Chicago will continue to slide down the ratings table.

Buying local just got a lot less appealing for Chicagoans. The city reclaimed the highest sales-tax rate of any major city in the nation on July 15, when the Cook County Board, which oversees Illinois’ largest city, voted to raise its portion of the sales tax, bringing Chicago’s combined rate to 10.25 percent from 9.25...

The city’s long-term borrowing is akin to a Chicagoan taking on a mortgage to pay down credit-card bills she will never be able to pay off anyway.