-- 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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Chicago Municipal pension fund posts net -11.7% return for 2022
Get out as soon as you can Illinois tax mules!!
In many states union members can not strike while in Illinois they can. Can someone fill me in on when it was determined or written into law that the employees can strike? Was it during Thompson’s reign or perhaps Jim Edgars?
Thanks in advance.
Unions have destroyed almost every business they mess with. No group has sent more jobs overseas than greedy unions.
This author is also the author of a new book on the subject, for which he is touring now: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Accountable-Rethinking-Constitutionality-Employee-ebook/dp/B0BT4HDHV3
Right or wrong, like it or not public unions are set in stone in Illinois
Yes they are Riverbender. Here is a question that everyone should ask themselves? Would amendment 1 have been added to the constitution if taxes were increased to fully cover the actuarial payments for pensions? I have long advocated that pensions will be paid and taxes will be raised to pay them. By hiding the true costs of pensions and other retiree benefits from the taxpayers by not paying their full freight, taxpayers do not/did not draw the connection between collective bargaining and their own taxes. This is a bipartisan effort to hide the true costs. I believe that the pain… Read more »
I think though if there was a full front page ad about what the tax hikes would be most Illinoisans wouldn’t read it. My observations are that many read the various papers to get a line on high school sports or U of I sports. Oh yes, I mustn’t forget the foodie section so many are devoted to. Try explaining to people how the pensions are a first mortgage on their property will generate blank stares, laughter or being called a know nothing wacko. Illinois voters…what a bunch.
The pensions were never negotiated in good faith, the mafia ( make no mistake the unions are still run by the mob, just read about the Pritzker family’s mob roots) sat down with paid off politicians and continue the racket to this day regardless of elections. It’s third world banana republic crap. Anyone receiving an IL pension is the beneficiary of criminal racketeering.
PPFtard, I voted with my feet over 20 years ago and left Taxistan. My bank account has an extra $200K in it because of my smart financial decision.
Keep in mind, PPF, voters were misled when it came to A-1. The PR campaign was disingenuous and played on the sympathies of the electorate. Yes, voters should understand that political advertisements have no obligation to be truthful or accurate. Heck, politicians at the highest levels in government lie, lie and lie some more – and they do it boldly and in person. The average voter is too busy trying to make a living and keep body and soul together to read and research. Even if they take the time, MSM don’t tell the truth OR press politicians to be… Read more »
Part of that deception is pretending to balance the budget while borrowing from the pension funds another $4.4 billion. Keep in mind, the voters don’t pay much attention to the consequences of their votes because both parties do their best to hide the financial results. Demand that full actuarial payments should be made and taxes must increase to pay for them. You’ll be surprised how engaged the voters become. Then and only then will we start to fix our financial mess that we’ve created.
Public unions have destroyed Illinois. Illinois is in a freefall that cannot be stopped now. The only way out is to get out. Highest taxes and not the change of a nickel, a testimony to greedy government workers. The pension time bomb is going off and run or be killed.
Why are you still here posting? Shouldn’t you be packing? Don’t have the guts to do it yourself yet you want others to leave. Get to it PT.
Cutting spending or at least cutting expansionary spending but that means everyone in Illinois would suffer the effects; try getting elected with that platfor in Illinois
So you’re saying the voters want all this spending and eventual increase in taxation? I agree. That’s the only logical explanation.
Politicians repeatedly took pension payment holidays to balance their state, county, city budgets with the approval of pension boards mostly made up of appointed, loyal democrats. The result, $100 million missed payment over 30 yrs equals about $1 Billion in lost pension funds because there was no compounding interest for that $100 million. Politicians caused the mess, not the workers ants.
Pension members sued to demand that full actuarial payments were made to their pensions. The courts told the pension members that they had no right to a set level of funding and they only had a right to their actual pension check. Yes politicians from both parties have caused this mess and they continue to borrow from the pension funds by not making full actuarial contributions. I believe the last year that the politicians “borrowed” about 4.4 billion from the funds. The unions and pension members didn’t cause this short fall one bit. They tried to demand payment and the… Read more »
Yes, yes, we know. The union members are perfect citizens who have done nothing wrong. They had nothing to do with any of the problems, just like they have nothing to do with the educational scores in the state. It is always someone else to blame. Union members just sit back and wait to collect their blood money- and whine that everybody wants to steal their “assets” from them.
In the 70s and 80s the unions held the city and state hostage with crippling strikes every chance they got. The mafia run unions extorted the state into unpayable contracts that they knew would and could never be paid, all for short term gain. Most of these people are dead now but their legacy of destruction remains and scumbags like PPF are the beneficiaries of that criminal cabal. Personally I think IL as a free autonomous state should just haircut them. Sure they’ll cry to the Feds but at the end of the day IL can do and should do… Read more »
“That’s the beauty of being a state – you can do anything. The Feds can say it’s wrong but they can’t actually force IL to do anything IL doesnt want to do.”
Really? Another commenter with their ignorance on full display.
Could the state bring back slavery? Not allow white people to vote? Confiscate ALL of your personal property?
You better hope that’s not the case. Keep dreaming of your dystopian world. In the meantime, pensioners will keep cashing their checks. Good luck you thieving scum bag.
Well, ACKSHULLY: -The State just severely curtailed my 2nd amendment rights to own guns…the legislators said they weren’t considering any 2nd amendment arguments against banning guns.. -The 13th Amendment banning slavery doesn’t apply to convicts (Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States)… -Progressives regularly claim that Republican voting rights bills stop black people from voting, that’s Stacy Abrams entire shtick.. -The courts have routinely ruled that an administrative property seizure without a criminal charge is 100% legal, ask someone who’s had their… Read more »
Do you actually believe that the state has that right and the federal courts can do nothing? Do you believe that Illinois can ban all gun ownership? Apparently that’s what Marko believes. If you don’t then thank you for helping me make my point. The legislature in every state and at the federal level violate the constitution all the time. The legislature is clearly able to pass unconstitutional laws but if they violate US or Illinois constitution then they have to answer to the courts. That’s what happened in the 2015 pension smack down and hopefully that’s what happens with… Read more »
The simplest answer is that sometimes the legislature gets it right and courts get it wrong. I believe the ILSC, in a 7-0 decision, got the ruling wrong, because they were worried about their OWN PENSIONS, so they had a conflict of interest. Some of them like Burke is taking her pension now, and no way she is voting for her pension and her husband to cut during their foreseeable retirement. Maybe someday a third party court, with judges and close family not receiving their own IL pensions, can objectively make a decision, and do what is necessary to fix… Read more »
“The 1970’s pension amendment added to the constitution decades before many of today’s residents were even born is obviously illegal to even the most layman of observers.” So what? What an odd argument. Almost all of the constitution was written before people were alive. Are you actually making the argument that the constitution and laws are only valid if they were passed when you were alive and when you lived in the state? Completely absurd. “the thousand year old maxim that no legislature can be forever bound by the actions of a past legislature.” If that was the case then… Read more »
The plain language of the constitution allowed the SCOTUS to declare that blacks were property and therefore the constitution prohibited the taking of property. So anti-slave law in the north could NOT free slaves in the south because the constitution prohibited it. IT IS THE PLAIN LANGUAGE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS. You keep pointing your finger to that one flawed and terrible ruling by seven justices with conflicts of interest and acting like it’s forever set it in. It’s the law for now, but all things change. No competent lawyer thought that Roe would be overturned – it was called SUPER-PRECEDENT!!… Read more »
And the people of the US responded with the 13th amendment.
D.C. Judge Argues 13th Amendment Prohibiting Slavery May Provide Constitutional Right to Abortion Federal judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly proposed Monday that a constitutional right to abortion may be found in the 13th Amendment, an area she says was ignored by the Supreme Court when it overturned Roe v. Wade last June. Weighing in on a case involving several anti-abortion advocates accused of blocking access to an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C., U.S. District Court Judge Kollar-Kotelly argued that the 13th Amendment outlawing “involuntary servitude” may guarantee the Constitutional right to abortion which the Court found did not exist in Dobbs v.… Read more »
I think the legal argument is that the individual letters A B O R T I O N are in the text of the 13th amendment, even though they are out of order, so it clearly confers a right to abortion.
Thirteenth Amendment
Neither slavery (b) nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
That’s a real stretch, Debstor.
States can do whatever they want. The Feds have only stepped in on few occasions such as Fort Sumter or Little Rock school segregation. I doubt the Feds are going to bring guns into IL to protect the scumbags like PPF’s grift. Hell they’d have to find them all in FL and AZ first. It’s really simple – cut off the parasites, give them what we can afford. God knows they did’nt do fuq all to “earn” it at their government “jobs”.
That’s about the seriousness of your plan. lol
Government did not borrow any money, no bonds were issued. Government never keeps its word to the public. Toll roads were supposed to be free once paid for. I see no reason why they should not renege on the pensions. If there is not money, there is no money. Courts can not order increases in taxes. Only the legislature can do that. No pension should be more than the maximum social security payment that a real honest working man gets.
The government is borrowing from future unborn children as you’ve noted. The voters have allowed this to continue. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t issue promissory notes. The state owes the money just the same and are forced to pay benefits. The courts can and will demand that pensions are paid and what ever money the state has left will be for services. Don’t have enough? Raise taxes or do without. Don’t think it can happen? Look to the Rauner budget stand off years. Even the politicians that couldn’t pass a budget were paid thanks to the courts. Shouldn’t you… Read more »
Can get a UHAUL, they are all sold out for years to come. People are fleeing and only the poor will be left to raise taxes on. Try getting blood from a rock. Best of luck blood sucker.
Wrong again. Unions bargained for more current pay and tacitly agreed to lower pension contributions in order to enable pay increases. Government officials weren’t as stupid as they appear in retrospect because their own salaries were pegged to union scale. Fairly convincing proof of this exists in Detroit where unions controlled actuarial assumptions. When pay raises were not agreed by the city, the union tinkered with those assumptions in a way that increased pension contributions. At that point the city relented and granted the pay increases. Everyone at the table knew what was happening. It was a mutually agreed can-kick… Read more »
Then why did they sue to have their pensions funded? Unions negotiated for the most money and benefits they could get. Pretty standard in any contract negotiation. They did not approve of not funding pensions. They had no choice according to the courts. Your revisionist history is wrong.
While I don’t like to admit it I think you’re right. A good example on the front page here today is about the child tax credit. The voters apparently want these things or they wouldn’t be brought up by the elected ones. Naturally when tax credits are passed out someone has to eventually pay more taxes to make up for the giveaway. There will be plenty of complaints but how many of those complainers show up on election day? So, it’s the will of the people.
HEre is an example from the front page; “Susana Mendoza cautioned lawmakers not to use the current surpluses to enact new, permanent programs” now who wants to bet that they enact the programs and permanently? Come next election the same crew will be voted in. Obviously the taxpayers want this stuff or they would elect people that would devote funds to the pensions instead of more giveaways
Greedy Public Unions and the corrupt fiscally irresponsible Dem party have destroyed Illinois.
“In business bargaining, collusion between management and labor would be unlawful. By contrast, government bargaining is overtly collusive. Unions devote huge resources to getting officials elected, and then sit at the same side of the bargaining table. Public union bargaining is not a genuine negotiation. It’s a payoff.” Exactly 100% correct. I’ve worked at researching and composing agency policy when I was an Illinois state employee, and I can tell you that this perception of who-n-how these decisions are made is, in my view, entirely correct. There’s what needs to be done, and how it could be made to work,… Read more »
Corrupt public unions fund corrupt candidates, who rob the taxpayers to fund corrupt public unions.
A feedback loop of theft and greed.
Yes. Public Unions are DESTROYING illinois. Must be pretty scary to the pension thieves of Illinois when when the woke Pravda Media boffoons realize this and then dare to state the fact out loud. Uh Oh. The pension theft criminal co-conspirators might have to sell a house boat to pay for their Gravy Train golden year’s meals.
House boat? No thanks. I prefer a stylish coastal craftsman on the water with my beautiful boat docked at the pier right off my deck.
You might need to get a second job TPG so that you can pay your taxes.
Don’t worry. After the inevitable Illinois pension collapse, when you are begging for money at the highway exit ramp I tend to have baggies of dog treats for the pooch so I’ll give you a handful. Unlike Public Sector Union vermin, I’m not a self absorbed and heartless thief.
I’m not worried at all. I’m assuming you’ll be working as a Walmart greeter or maybe at Home Depot. I don’t frequent those locations so not sure we will run into each other. You probably won’t run into me unless you are working at a high end restaurant. If you hustle maybe I’ll give you a good tip.
PPF – you have a grasp of the data. Why the snark? Surely you must understand the need for thick skin when you are the beneficiary of a system that is clearly not sustainable. Not sure what is gained by referencing Wal Mart Greeters – people making an honest living. Again, regarding paying higher taxes. Are increased taxes exogenous to economic productivity? Query what is your honest answer?
That’s interesting willowglen. TPG calls teachers, police and firefighters scum and you say nothing. He calls them vermin with a desire to treat them like dogs. You say nothing. I state Walmart greeter and you are offended. There is nothing wrong with working at Walmart or Home Depot. Based on TPG’s comments I actually think it would be a stretch. Why the snark? I give what I get. Don’t start none, won’t be none. Teachers, Police and Firefighters deserve the money that they were promised. It’s not a gift. It’s not out of the kindness of the states heart. It’s… Read more »
They will collapse after they confiscate your real estate located in Illinois; like it or not that is the way it is.