The part of it that cracks me up is the fact that every so often they start crying "Wolf!", and after hearing "Oh no, give us more money, the sky is falling!" however many times in the last 12 months, only to be told at the last minute "Oh no, it's OK really", I don't really believe them.

Of course, that's just my (admittedly totally uninformed) opinion. I don't know anything about local politics or the actual funding of the CTA, so I could be totally wrong, and they could very well have just staved off financial Doomsday each of those times. I just personally find that unlikely.