By John Klingner
09/25/2013
By Benjamin VanMetre
09/17/2013
The city of Chicago has long been regarded as an economic engine of the Midwest. It is home to some of the country’s largest industries and more than 30 of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies. Chicago is accessible by road, rail and water, and is located in a state that boasts an abundance of natural...
If Illinoisans needed any more proof that the state’s defined benefit pension systems are unmanageable and dysfunctional, they got it on Aug. 26. Dick Ingram, head of the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, informed Illinois’ pension conference committee that TRS’s actuaries made a mistake in calculating the expected savings of House Speaker Mike Madigan’s proposed pension...
The recent string of credit downgrades by Moody’s Investors Service should leave little doubt what the rating agency thinks of Illinois’ worsening fiscal crisis. For the past few years the state’s five state-run pension funds have garnered most of the negative attention in Illinois. Moody’s has already designated Illinois’ debt as the riskiest of any...
TAGS: Chicago, downgrade
By Ted Dabrowski
08/17/2013
Chicago’s fiscal crisis just got worse. Last month, the city received a rare triple-notch downgrade from Moody’s Investors Service, to A3 from Aa3. Now, Chicago’s parent government, Cook County, has received a downgrade of its own. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Cook County’s general obligation bond rating to A1 from Aa3 due to the county’s “growing...
TAGS: Chicago, Cook County, downgrade
By John Klingner
07/29/2013
Detroit’s recent bankruptcy is sending cities and states a warning: taxpayers shouldn’t be taken for granted. Unfortunately, Illinois’ long-term pension plan does exactly that. Springfield still believes that taxpayers are passive sources of revenue. While state worker contributions to Illinois’ five pension systems have gone up by 75 percent since 1998, taxpayer contributions have gone...
By Ted Dabrowski
07/26/2013
In what’s become a torrent of bad news regarding Illinois’ fiscal health, Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Chicago Public Schools’ $6.3 billion general obligation debt one notch. The credit rating agency’s outlook remains negative, and CPS debt is now just four levels above junk bond status. The CPS ranking drop to A3 from A2 follows recent downgrades...
Pension costs are already unraveling the state’s finances. Now it’s the city of Chicago’s turn. The city’s out-of-control pension liabilities and “accelerating budget pressures associated with those liabilities” has resulted in another credit downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service. The national credit rating agency downgraded the city’s nearly $8 billion in general obligation bonds to A3...
TAGS: pensions, Rahm Emanuel
By Chris Andriesen
06/28/2013
by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner Moody’s Investors Service reported that Illinois’ true unfunded pension liability in fiscal year 2011 was nearly 65% higher than the state’s official estimate. In its report titled “Adjusted Pension Liability Medians for U.S. States,” Moody’s calculated the unfunded liabilities for Illinois’ three largest state-run pension plans at $133 billion, compared...
By Jane McEnaney
06/19/2013
In early June, Gov. Pat Quinn called lawmakers to return to Springfield on June 19 for a one-day special session on pension reform. This came in the wake of yet another downgrade of Illinois’ credit as a result of inaction on pension reform when the legislative session adjourned on May 31. Our most recent knocks from Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings mark Illinois’ 12th...
