-- 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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You stay you pay. Simple as that.
I know that states can’t file for bankruptcy and that Illinois Democrats block municipal bankruptcies. But even bankruptcy hasn’t worked in Detroit (which went bankrupt in 2013). The bankruptcy court made minimal cuts in pensions (although a significant cut in retiree medical). The court also ordered a ten-year contribution holiday for the city. It turns out that the initial bankruptcy underestimated the pension liability based on phony actuarial assumptions. The contribution holiday is about to end, and the city is now asking the court for “more time” to pay the obligations. https://www.thecentersquare.com/michigan/detroit-asks-to-push-legacy-pension-payment-schedule-by-10-years/article_724f3950-14e8-11ed-a91e-9fb0e74f4726.html So, what we have is a ten-year bankruptcy… Read more »
When it burns… And it will… We can only hope JB and LL and the State Legislature are all given statues memorializing their roles in destroying our state.
Though, the carbon impact necessary to create an edifice to honor his LARGENESS will likely be YUGE… Lori’s will only have a short, small footprint. (too easy)
Where would they put statue of JB?
The Tribune could build a “see it from space” sized bonfire with all of the newsprint they’ve used to print “Illinois Pension Armageddon soon” editorials like this one over the last 20 years. I was reading this sort of stuff regularly in actual printed newspapers when I moved to Illinois in the late 80’s. Who, I wondered at that time, with half the brains God gave geese, actually believed that Rino Jim and Madigan’s Pension Ramp was actually going to work? As I recall, that “solution” collapsed due to accounting shenanigans and underfunding before the ink dried. What’s obvious is… Read more »
And don’t forget Jim Thompsons guaranteed 3% boost annually no matter what inflation was. Until recently, inflation was below the 3% level for virtually every year since that benefit was added. Republicans are as much to blame as democrats for this pension mess.
Don’t be so sure a federal bailout can’t happen. We just saw one for student loans nationwide. I’ll will agree that it would be unfair and punish other states that operated in a fiscally sound manner.
Just like people that worked their way thru college, majored in a marketable skill and paid their loans off.