SHOCKER: Wall Street Big Winner In Chicago Schools Meltdown:

The catastrophic fiscal mismanagement of Chicago’s public schools is creating a windfall on Wall Street as the district borrows from big banks at ruinous rates. . . .

The seeds of the crisis in Chicago were planted long ago when powerful teachers’ unions negotiated implausible lifetime pension guarantees, and politicians, eager to win their favor, acceded. It turns out that Wall Street financiers are an unexpected beneficiary of this corrupt bargain.

Debt service is already eating up ten percent of the Chicago School District’s budget, and city’s deteriorating finances may cause creditors to jack up rates even further. If it doesn’t find a way to plug the holes in its fiscal ship, Chicago could well face the same fate as Puerto Rico and Detroit the next time a recession causes its tax base to contract.

Gotta squeeze every last bit out first.