-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The money comes from the county’s pool of $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds. The program must still be approved by the Cook County Board, and local hospitals must consent to participate, but Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and partners in the project expect both to happen. So does the White House: Preckwinkle will be recognized alongside other government officials at a Thursday event for their creative use of ARP dollars.
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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It’s a two-fer. Patient putts debt; doctors & hospitals get paid. Taxpayers pound sand, but what’s new?
No, the doctors and hospitals do not get paid. They have written off the debt.
Crooked/Corrupt Cook County Democrat Boss Toni Preckwinkle Wants To Tax You — To Pay Someone Else’s Deadbeat Debt
This debt company “RIP” is aptly named.