-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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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I took the metra every day for decades; but when Chicago shut down, I closed down my small downtown business too, and opened up in the suburbs. I may never take a metra train again.
Rode Metra on and off for twelve years. When we left Silly-nois four years ago I took my last Metra ride. I do not miss it. It will be fun watching if businesses can force their Work from Home staff to go back downtown. Forget COVID-19, what about getting stabbed, shot, or mugged?
A few high profile rapes or a lunch time gangbanger shoot out on State St. is the impetus most employers will need to close downtown offices forever.