Like the president he served, Rahm Emanuel, who was Barack Obama’s chief of staff before he became Chicago’s mayor,
inherited a debt crisis and made it worse.
And this led Moody’s, the
ratings agency, to downgrade Chicago’s general obligation rating,
which had been “stable,” to “negative,” according to Reuters.
Moody’s, in a statement, said: "Chicago's administration has yet to
unveil a detailed strategy for improving pension funding levels and is
not currently contributing the full annual required contributions.
"Should pension pressures continue to escalate absent a specific plan
of reform, the city's credit quality will likely weaken."
According to Reuters, the city of Chicago’s “unfunded liability for
its fire, police, laborers and municipal pension funds is projected to
reach $19.2 billion at the end of 2012, up from $14.6 billion at the end
2009.”
It looks like the revolving door between Chicago and Washington is
only serving to ensure a race to the bottom between the two entities' credit ratings.