Daley shows anger over pension woes: Mayor raises idea of bankruptcy, then backs off

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Mayor Richard Daley expressed mounting aggravation Wednesday with wrangling over the city's woefully underfunded public pensions, even saying the problem might be easier to fix if the retirement funds were allowed to go bankrupt.

While Daley quickly backed off talk of bankrupting pensions after speaking at an economic forum at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he also said the contributions by government workers to their pensions are set too low for today's economic realities.

"I'm one who believes that pension funds can go bankrupt and then you reorganize, and that's the hardest thing to say," Daley said during a panel with other mayors at the Global Metro Summit.

Talking to reporters afterward, Daley said he simply wanted to paint a worst-case scenario if public employees don't agree to contribute more to help pay for their pensions.

Can you say Chapter 9?