Chicago

The state of Illinois is a financial disaster that will undoubtedly be forced into bankruptcy at some point in the future.  As we've pointed out multiple times over the past several months, the state faces a staggering $130 billion funding gap on its public pensions, a mountain of debt and $16.4 billion in accrued payables because they can't even afford to pay their bills on a timely basis.  Here are just a couple of our recent posts on these topics:

President Trump has made it widely known that he will not tolerate sanctuary cities like Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Since taking office, he has threatened to slash federal funding to cities who do not comply with federal immigrations laws, along with ICE agents circumnavigating local authorities in a nationwide federal operation to arrest undocumented immigrants.

As Illinois muni debt continues to hover around all-time highs, the number of watchdog groups offering warnings about Chicago's deteriorating finances continues to grow.  The latest such warning comes from Truth In Accounting which provided the Windy City an 'F' on their latest fiscal report card citing a staggering debt burden that amounts to $41,700 per Chicago resident. To put that figure in perspective, the median household income in Chicago is roughly $48,500. 

 Just one week after Chicago shockingly repealed their soda ban following a revolt from local business owners (see: Soda Tax Fizzles In Chicago As Cook County Officials Cast Decisive 15-1 Repeal Vote), it seems that Philadelphia's flirtations with forming a more perfect "nanny state" via the elimination of sugary drinks could be on a collision course with a similar fate.

Via StockBoardAsset.com,

Back in June, President Trump used Twitter to officially announce America’s urban crisis.

He hit the ground running calling out the death and destruction in Chicago.

Trump made it clear that he was “sending in Federal help” to contain the dying city.

Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!