While many Chicagoans write off the relentless comparisons of their city to bankrupt Detroit, it has the lethal combination of too much debt and a dysfunctional government that could tip the city into bankruptcy, according to a Huffington Post commentary on Friday. The Illinois Supreme Court recently made Chicago's path toward bankruptcy more likely when it ruled that modest reforms to Illinois' state pension plans were unconstitutional. Moody's Investors Service followed the court ruling with a double-notch downgrade of the city's credit rating. Chicago's bonds are now rated "junk" and are the riskiest of all big cities in the nation, apart from Detroit. The collapse in Chicago's rating is the result of a massive spike in Chicago's debt in the last decade, driven by out-of-control pension obligations and the city's unwillingness to do anything about it.
