Chicago

Shortly after Barack Obama delivered his first (free) speech today since leaving the White House in Chicago before an invitation-only crowd of college students, community organizers and other fans, Fox News' Charlie Gasparino reports that in what may be his first paid speaking arrangement, Obama will be paid $400,000 to speak at Cantor Fitzgerald's healthcare conference this September, setting the benchmark for how much an hour of the former president's time will cost going forward.

Chicago's pension funds, along with several other large public pensions around the country, are in serious trouble (we recently discussed the destruction awaiting our financial markets here: "Are Collapsing Pensions "About To Bring Hell To America"?"). 

The problem is that the pending doom surrounding these massive public pension obligations often get clouded over by complicated actuarial math with a plan's funded status heavily influenced by discount rates applied to future liability streams. 

"We are going to become this administration's worst nightmare." Leading officials from Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York have come out swinging a day after AG Sessions demanded yesterday that the country's so-called 'Sanctuary Cities' stop breaking Federal laws (or their funding will be cut, or worse).

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Illinois voters are voting with their feet. Not only are people scrambling to get out of Cook County, but the entire state is suffering.

Illinois Policy Institute writer Michael Lucci explains in this guest post on Cook County Migration.

Cook County has Largest Population Loss of Any County in U.S.

In just the latest sign that things are about to get a whole lot worse for the city of Chicago, especially in their efforts to deal with that pesky little $130 billion pension problem, the latest population statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that people are abandoning the Windy City in record numbers.  Per the table below from Crain's, the population of metropolitan Chicago has now declined two years in a row, a rate of decline that is accelerating, with over 65,000 people choosing migrate to other safer areas of the country.