Having watched Chicago’s City Council rebel against his budget — to some extent, anyway — Mayor Brandon Johnson is now focused on the matter of how (and if) the city collects its past-due debts. It’s one of the last weapons against the alternative budget he has in his quiver.

Noting the eye-popping $8 billion currently owed to the city, the City Council-driven budget that passed this weekend included revenue projections from the sale of this debt to private entities, which likely would pursue scofflaws far more aggressively than has been the case in the past, according to the Tribune News Service.

Johnson has said the sale of debt owed to the city is “immoral,” on the grounds that “working people and poor people are going to be harassed and berated by debt collectors.” No matter that the mayor already has some debt collection costs in his budget; what’s moral for........

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