“It’s a bold statement, isn’t it?” Those words of Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin hardly capture the moment. Yesterday, Conyears-Ervin declared that her office would no longer invest in U.S. Treasury bonds to protest what she called the “authoritarian regime” of President Donald Trump. It is more bonkers than bold. It makes about as much sense as President Trump saying that he will not eat deep-dish pizza to protest Chicago.
My hometown of Chicago is facing an economic meltdown due to towering debt and massive spending. Mayor Ben Johnson and the unions have pushed self-destructive tax schemes and borrowing plans that would only accelerate the flight from the city and the collapse of the city’s finances.
Now, the person in charge of investing that money is declaring that politics rather than economics will guide investments.
It is the ultimate virtue signaling at the cost of others. She is given a fiduciary duty to properly maintain and protect the investments of the city, which is currently facing a rising debt crisis. She is saying that the city will not invest in what Ald. Bill Conway (34th), a former investment banker, correctly described as “by far the most liquid and secure debt instrument in the history of the world.”
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