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Posts tagged "debt"

Eric Zorn and I face off on the exploding federal debt bubble

Another in a series of debates between Chicago Tribune columnists Dennis Byrne and Eric Zorn. Resolved: What should be cut from the federal budget to reduce the debt? From Dennis, to Eric: We’ve lived through the devastating bursts of the housing and dot.com bubbles. Now, welcome to the debt bubble burst, the wrenching end of... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 9, 2011 at 8:34 pm
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Hedge funds ride to Illinois' rescue?

Faced with more than $4 billion in unpaid bills, the Quinn administration is turning to Wall Street with a novel way to get the money, as traditional borrowing methods may be drying up. According to the Wall Street Journal, as reported on the website of IllinoisIsBroke.com: The Illinois approach works like this: Investors take over... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
December 27, 2010 at 9:18 am
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Why is Illinois Using Credit Default Swaps?

You remember credit default swaps, right, the financial “instrument” that pricked the housing and economic bubbles? Illinois is “enjoying” the same kind of debt bubble that led the nation into its current financial mess. I call it a debt bubble because if all the borrowing that the state does to keep it afloat ever becomes... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
September 3, 2010 at 2:00 pm
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The only issues in Illinois that matter

  Forget about gun control, energy, abortion, public safety and all the other issues that are cluttering up the Illinois gubernatorial race. The only things that matter in the race between Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Sen. Bill Brady are how to dig the state out of the biggest financial hole it has... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 31, 2010 at 10:00 am
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How can Illinois (aka Greece) climb out of its deep budget hole?

Tribune columnist Eric Zorn and I debate how Illinois could–if ever–resolve its financial crisis.  To Eric from Dennis: We have seen Greece, and it is us. When Greek mobs were rioting over government austerity measures needed to secure sufficient international loans to keep the country afloat, the discussion on CNBC immediately turned to whether the... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
May 18, 2010 at 8:45 am
• 1 comment

Preposterous demands for Illinois tax increase

Tribune photo by Abel Uribe / April 21, 2010 Thousands of people march around the State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. during a pro-tax rally on Wednesday. The headline read “Thousands rally at Illinois Capitol — for a tax increase.” A subhead could have read, “Millions more stay at home, fuming at the very idea.” Last... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
April 27, 2010 at 9:38 am
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The immoral Obama budget

Wait, weren’t the Democrats going to reduce the deficit? Not so, according to the Congressional Budget Office: Here it is, as described by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its analysis of the President’s FY 2011 budget. The President’s budget would increase deficits by $9.8 trillion over... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
March 25, 2010 at 4:26 pm
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Battling the bulge: Here's where to slash the budget

Two weeks ago I suggested that climbing out of our financial sinkhole requires us to fundamentally downsize our expectations of what we can milk from government (“Champagne taste with a beer budget”). Reader Dienne posted a complaint: “I’m sorry, Mr. Byrne, perhaps I missed it, but I didn’t see a solution in this column —... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
March 16, 2010 at 10:22 am
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Borrowing toward financial disaster

Image that you had to borrow 30 percent of what you spend every year just to pay the mortgage, buy groceries, heat your home and the rest of the expenses? Say you spend $80,000 on expenses, but all you earned each year was $48,000. That means that each year that you would have to borrow... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
February 15, 2010 at 4:16 pm
• 1 comment
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Pass it (the debt) forward

U.S. National Debt Anyone not worrying about the debt that we’re piling on should read about Greece and its financial problems that are weighing down the euro. This New York Times story has a familiar ring to Chicagoans who had watched as Mayor Richard M. Daley has in effect sold and then spent future revenues... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
February 14, 2010 at 2:09 pm
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