The Developing Financial Crisis in Rahmaland

FT reports:

Projections show that Emanuel would have to raise property taxes by up to 150 per cent if he were to leave Chicago’s pensions untouched, which would cripple its economy. Alternatively, he would have to eliminate essential services to keep pensions intact; Beirut on the Lake would return with a vengeance. Reality dictates he must cut the pensions themselves. The unions will be sure to fight it bitterly in the courts and at the ballot box. “Everyone faces the same problem,” Emanuel says. “We [Chicago] face it in spades. One of the things I’ve tried to do is show that if you give a little, you get a win-win situation. If you try to hold on to what you have, you won’t progress. You can’t tax your way out of this, or cut your way out of this. We are kind of the same as New York and Los Angeles. Our economy is incredibly strong, our fiscal picture is weak and the combination to the lock that I’m trying to work through is how to fix the fiscal piece without derailing the economy.” Time is scarce: Chicago’s pension-funding “holiday” ends in 2015.