-- 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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Compassion aside, aren’t these expenses the responsibility of landlords or other property owners? That’s to say, shouldn’t the replacement program at least be needs-tested rather than bailing solvent owners out of their neglected maintenance? Why is everything the responsibility of taxpayers to fix? What about a law making it impossible to sell a property whose water is tainted with lead or other poisonous or unhealthy stuff? The seller and the buyer ought to be able to negotiate a suitable price that will enable the problem to be fixed without bringing the taxpayers into it. I can see sanctioning landlords who… Read more »