In 2016, the City of Chicago got a new nickname—"Junk City." [4] Due to both severely underfunded public employee pension systems and a large amount of bonded debt, the credit rating agency Moody's downgraded the City of Chicago's general obligation bonds to "Ba1" with a negative outlook, meaning that the bonds were not investment grade or, colloquially, were "junk." [5] The rating change meant the City had to pay higher interest rates and forced the City to make payments under swap arrangements it made as part of previous borrowings. [6]