With Jesus “Chuy” Garcia nipping at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s heels after getting just 45% of the vote and facing a runoff, a Moody’s downgrade of the Windy City’s rating was the last thing Rahm needed.
The ugly truth is the Moody’s downgraded Chicago’s rating to Baa2, just two notches above a junk rating over city pensions. The ratings cut could lead to the termination of four interest rate swap agreements, which could cost Chicago $58 million, according to CS monitor. The unpaid pension liability is $32 billion or eight times the city’s operating revenue.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
This is good news for Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who received 34% of the vote. The first ever mayoral run-off will be on April 7th, and Garcia has said that the drop in Moody’s rating is a direct reflection of Emanuel’s performance. According to International Business Times, Garcia said it was an “objective judgment on Emanuel’s lack of financial stewardship.” Emanuel’s office shot back that Moody’s ratings were not consistent with Standard & Poors, and that Moody’s is “substantially out of step” with other benchmarks, ignoring progress that has been achieved.”
The question is where is the progress and can Rahm’s well-funded team convince Chicagoans of this “progress” before April 7.
