Honor the contract?

Well, in the view of our government, that depends. When AIG decided to pay bonuses to its executives just after we had bailed it out, the government said that the bonuses were contractual obligations and they had to be honored. When the workers for the city of Chicago expect to receive their pensions, the city says that it does not have to honor the contract. Interestingly, Rahm Emanuel, when working for the federal government decided the government had to honor the AIG contract; as mayor of Chicago, Mr. Emanuel thinks the opposite with regard to the city workers. Mr. Emanuel holds this view even though the constitution of Illinois states that pensions earned by public sector workers cannot be cut.