-- 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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Weight a minute everyone. These comments are weighing me down. This is a HEAVY burden on my shoulders to bear. Everyone needs to take a load off and chill. The real culprit here is “Gravity”. Some have more than others and I have my share. Collecting gravity is not a crime. Seriously the governor has been a self appointed health czar since the beginning of Covid. From the very beginning of the pandemic health officials said people with the comorbidities of obesity and diabetes are most susceptible in getting the severe form of covid and dying from it. That is… Read more »
Pritzker has zero credibility when speaking on just about any issue. The trust fund baby with offshore accounts can’t go very long without telling others they need to pay their fair share. The man with a personal security force releases felons while telling others their constitutional right to bear arms must be curtailed. The tax cheat billionaire seeks to impose his will, plain and simple. God help us if he gets the opportunity.
J.B. Pritzker has the carnival barker schtick down pat – wonder if anyone of real importance was impressed with more than his checkbook?
Please do not put the words Pritzker and naked in the same sentence — unless you are trying to induce vomiting.
Perhaps you never heard your parents admonish you to find ways to elevate the conversation. But, that was never in your basic training apparently as a youth. Shame on you, and shame on them. So, instead you only one of many who let no disparaging thought go unsaid in the worst way possible. You have lots of companions in that respect, and its a flaw in your character development.
I am with James. We try to get smart people contributing something constructive here. Fat jokes add nothing.
Jb calls us white supremaists, racists, haters and bigots, and he murders babies, but we shouldn’t call him fat because it’s not constructive? I know it’s your site here but that’s how the old right used to play. Play to lose. There’s a new era and we play to win and mercilessly mocking JB’s morbid obesity is part of that.
Name calling and even mockery are good ideas? Maybe for some cases as you’ve cited, but to me its never appropriate when calling attention to a medical condition or disability that’s not easily corrected. For example, did you find it hilarious or a disgrace when Trump mocked a man with a spastic condition a few years ago while giving a “speech”? Tell me where you fall on that sort of behavior. To me mockery or name calling simply isn’t appropriate in maybe 80% of the cases where its used. There are degrees of such things as is the case for… Read more »
The party of ideas is now the party of schoolyard name calling?. Truly a sad evolution.
So calling someone a white nationalist nazi scum is OK but calling someone a fata$$ is not OK? Lol only in your world. Not in my world! All insults are OK when the other side calls you a white supramist.
Name calling ultimately by anyone is not a strategy that leads to policies for improving human relationships, although it clearly can identify a political camp’s most likely defenders and allies. If you want to start a war with your fellow man that’s a tried-and-true starter. I’m reasonably sure when lots of people do such things the arms industry is quite gleeful.
You sure have a point. We won’t delete them although we do delete just gratuitous insults sometimes when there nothing concrete is added.
While I’m not advocating deleting comments, what concrete value did Giddyap add to the conversation? If that’s your standard you should be deleting more comments.
These type of comments coupled with your thumbs up/down voting provide a window into the mindset of your readers. Currently 17 to 2 in favor of his comment that accomplishes nothing other than ridicule JB’s weight. These are the types of people attracted to your stories and I prefer the comments remain for all to see.
Actually, the comments don’t at all provide an insight into our readers’ mindsets. The number of commenters on any particular column on our site is routinely far less than 1% of page views on that column, and commenters tend to be particularly opinionated. That’s true on most every site that has comments, and it’s important to always keep that in mind.
Yes Mark. I’m sure the other 99% of the readers that come here are different than the ones that comment. Are these people so disengaged that are you also telling me that they never provide their thumbs up vote encouraging these ignorant comments? It’s called a sampling of the population no different than polling. Sure there is a margin of error to consider but the fact remains that your many of your regular commenters here are unable to add any thing of value to the conversation. As these commenters typically aligned with your views, they do a great job of… Read more »
What value does JB add calling everyone in the R party a nazi, literally the worst thing you can all someone?
Yet calling him fat is not constructive?
I’ve said many times I’m not a fan of JB either. I can dislike it from more than one person at a time.
Neither case should be admired as I see it, but the one re JB is for a hereditary medical problem not quickly or easily resolved. The other is aimed at another person because of a different set of values. So, to me at least the one aimed at JB is even more offensive because it has an origin associated with his heredity, something not totally within his control. ‘Your mileage may vary.’
Personlly I wish your standards were a little higher on that topic. The language here is often disgraceful. I don’t mind criticism, but there are better ways to do it than many use here. Its your call, of course. But, what so many choose to say when critical of someone else does not give a neutral reader a good view of their “party line” on the topic at hand most of the time that occurs. Don’t you want this website to show a group of intelligent, thoughtful respondents? As it is you are indvertently complicit in the current hateful speech… Read more »
James, those are fair points, too, but we are free marketeers on speech, inclining me to let people speak as they choose. Hopefully they will eventually see that name calling without more is not effective.
Yes, I realize that its not in your business interest to turn-away commenters. But, don’t you have a bigger-than-self purpose in your core being that demands more from you than trying to simply maximize your business success? I think so or at least hope so. Hoping your readers will “see the light” is wishful thinking. To quote a long-ago fire prevention ad from the 1970’s ‘only you can prevent forest fires,’ my friend. I won’t harrangue you on this topic but hope you will give my comments here some real thought as to what you really want and what you… Read more »
JB naked? Oh the horror!!!