Next Up: Chicago

You can bet that Chicago's corp-counsel is studying Chapter 9 of the BK code.  It won't happen this year--but it's imminent.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed the books on 2012 with $33.4 million in unallocated cash on hand — down from $167 million the year before — while adding to the mountain of debt piled on Chicago taxpayers, year-end audits show. 

Last week, Moody’s Investors ordered an unprecedented triple-drop in the city’s bond rating, citing Chicago’s “very large and growing” pension liabilities, “significant” debt service payments, “unrelenting public safety demands” and historic reluctance to raise local taxes that has continued under Emanuel.

That "low taxes" thing--at least, low property-taxes--goes back at least 30 years.  Compare like-valued bungalow prop-taxes in Chicago and Milwaukee and you'll be astonished at how little the FIBs pay.