THE "WOUNDED" CITY: Chicago is on fire. Moody's dropped its bond rating to two levels above junk, mostly because they have quickly rising unfunded liabilities. Once they file bankruptcy, Chicago will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country's history.
THE FALL OF RAHM: Leftist hero Rahm Emmanuel was once the Chief of Staff to the president. Now he is the first mayor in Chicago's history to face a runoff election instead of easily winning re-election. Weirdly, he became unpopular because he did the right thing: he closed bad schools. He may have not been progressive enough for Chicago. His opponent "Chuy" Garcia could be even more irresponsible.
GUN VIOLENCE: Chicago has one of the highest gun violence rates in the country. Economist John Lott says it's because the city has some of the strictest gun laws.
PAY-TO-PLAY: Corruption in Chicago certainly isn't new. It continues, says Adam Andrzejewski of OpenTheBooks.com. Somehow, investment firms that give money to Emmanuel's campaign are awarded fees to manage the city's money. Somehow, lawyers who give the right politicians money get lucrative contracts from the city. What a coincidence!
CHARTER SCHOOLS: One hopeful note in Chicago: almost 20% of the city's high school students now go to charter schools. This may allow a future generation to escape some of the damage done by unionized municipal bureaucracies.
