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Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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And then they wonder why Illinois Judges’ always side against modifications to the pension system.
Hint: It will take a Federal Judge to straighten out the mess.
Do you realize that Federal judges, along with other Federal employees, get pensions that are very similar in “generosity” to Illinois judges? Why would they be inclined to share your opinion that state pensions are too high?
This is a valid historical point. Almost everywhere there are pensions, the military and then government employees were the first to get them. Whatever the cosmic justice of this scheme, it keeps key folks in the “system” loyal to the sovereign. When mere taxpayers object to the burdens, the soldiers who have the guns are likely to point them away from the palace and at the mobs. And when the system starts to collapse, the cops, firefighters and soldiers will be the last to experience cutbacks. The power structure exists to survive rather than to serve. Next, teachers and professors… Read more »
We don’t live in a democracy.
Ooh, Cass, you’re good.
Of course, since the military doesn’t have a union, (could you imagine?) they still have to do 20 years to get a pension.
When I got out 7 years ago, the lifers kept telling me: “You’ve already put in 6 years. Why not do 14 years more to get your retirement?”. At that point, I politely told them that retirement doesn’t do much good if you’re in a padded room. Biggest takeaway for me was the resolution that I’d never again take a govt job.
Don’t more than a few accrue their years in the reserves? That’s not ALL a boondoggle because some get called up. (Trump’s probably too smart to mobilize them for southern border protection, however.) We can’t overlook that some vets have faced danger and lost their lives or limbs. And that many sick veterans deserve more than the VA provides. However there are ways short of sinecures to provide hazard pay and life insurance. A better rationale (perhaps) is that we build a cohort of citizens that is more likely to be “loyal” to the system. This should not be undervalued… Read more »
The Civil Service Retirement System pensions are no way near as elaborate as the Illinois pensions and more importantly Federal Employee Pensions were modified years ago to a new system that relies more on Social Security that is no way close to the state pensions. A decision by one of them would be much more independent than expecting a State Judge voting to cut their own pension.
Now run along back to your Capitol Fax board where you can fawn over the mess that crashes our State from within.
Hahahah