To Rahm's credit, he sought to renegotiate the contracts and got his head handed to him for the trouble. And to his credit, he is still looking for a solution, distasteful though it is. His opponents clearly prefer to kick the can down the road, ignore the problem until Chicago is in bankruptcy court, and gamble on a federal or state bailout at that point.
As I have said many times, I don't want to see anyone lose his pension. But the unions are stonewalling reform, and sooner or later, we will be forced to make some hard choices. If it were up to me, I'd write down the pensions to their actuarily sustainable levels and tell retirees, "Sorry, but these numbers have been known for 30 years. You and your unions have defeated every constructive attempt to deal with them. You made your bed. Sleep in it."
No one cried for the pensioners at LTV Steel or Jones & Laughlin Steel when their pensions went belly up. Just because it is a government pension doesn't mean it is sacrosanct. They should all take a hair cut and newer employees should only get a 401K type of retirement.
There are always people who would like to become firefighters in particular. In most communities you are more likely to be treated for hemorrhoids than smoke inhalation.