The Chicago Tribune
11 questions for Emanuel about a massive debt play
Governments borrow to finance long-term assets, like highways and sewers, that benefit citizens for decades. Isn’t this scheme instead like taking out a mortgage to cover a debt at the supermarket for groceries consumed years ago?
Credit specialists at Municipal Market Analytics say these bonds “seem particularly ill-suited for Chicago” and its recovery plan, which assumes “gradual but steady economic growth with no material downside surprises over a long period of time.” Why increase Chicagoans’ vulnerability to “downside surprises”?