-- 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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The truth is it’s more difficult today to for me to convince a promising McDonald’s executive to relocate to Chicago from one of our other offices than it was just a few years ago. Good. You pissed off a lot of employees when you moved from Oak Brook to the city. In retrospect not the best decision was it.
Soon so many companies will be leaving it will no longer be news.
Sad to say but Illinois is on the path of destruction. They did everything to penalize businesses and it has worked. They hurt them badly so now they leave to go to another state that is business friendly. And Illinois is going to raise taxes again, lets see how that works out.
Our Governor has plenty of money. He comes into Ill accelerates the decline then he will move on. If we had his resources why would it matter? Only thinks of himself.
What the Fat Man does not understand is that every major business has a spreadsheet that clearly shows the government cost of doing business in every state. They check it all the time and decide to move when that cost becomes too high. When it gets to too high, it’s Bye Bye
The stampede has just begun. Soon many plants and factories will look like ghost towns. Highest taxes, highest crime and lowest services is just a bad deal to make for the honest hard working family man. So, they leave in droves and follow the business to a more friendly state. Illinois is in a free fall so do not walk but run for your economic life.
Not to mention about 25% of the state revenue goes to pay the debt on Defined Benefit Plans a.k.a. public pensions. We got out just in time!
Drove past the Belvidere plant today – how sad!
We’ve driven by the facility for decades, seeing the parking lot full of employee’s vehicles – today there were none.
If Illinois was a friendlier place for business this might have been avoided.
Continued single party control isn’t working out for Illinois families.
It sure is sad, Pat. I have an old Mitsubishi that was made there. Among the reasons I like it is the memory of what was.
Which Mitsubishi model?
Unfortunately Mark, what was, is changing very rapidly in the auto industry, whether we like it or not. Apparently the world has determined that the vehicles of the future are going to be electric and the industry is all in. This will cause huge disruptions in the industry over the next 10 – 20 years and Belvidere is an example of this. I am curious how accepting of EVs the U.S. market will be once all the low hanging fruit has been picked. I’m thinking not as accepting as China and the European Union which are the largest and 3rd… Read more »
If I understood correctly, Stellantis said in a call the other day that, right now, electric vehicles are far more expensive to produce and are too expensive for the average consumer. So they basically have to make this pivot to electric and absorb the costs for now by charging higher prices for ICE vehicles. Which not surprisingly, this strategy had some short term promise, with Stellantis having major profit in 2022, but medium to long term, looks like they going to drive themselves into bankruptcy in the process, and they are selling fewer and fewer cars, double digit declines in… Read more »
Your understanding of the call is entirely correct. What the legacy automakers are doing is taking the profits from ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles to pay for the transition to EVs. Since a majority of vehicles sold in the U.S. (75%) are pickups, SUVs, and cross overs, which are hugely profitable, they are counting on these profits to carry them into the world of EVs. The price to manufacture an EV and EV batteries is becoming more efficient and cost effective. When new plants are built solely for EVs the cost to produce will drop and the savings passed on… Read more »
I don’t think they’ve quite thought out this transition to EV. I lived for two decades in Chicago, in various apartments and condos around crowded neighborhoods. I always had street parking, often blocks away from my residence. How are street parkers, or apartment dwellers supposed to charge their vehicles? The electric code only allows charging cords to be 25 feet. How are the poors, who often drive whatever vehicle they can afford, supposed to afford the major expense of installing Level 2 chargers that, in an expensive urban area, can cost upwards of $2,000.00? And what about older homes with… Read more »
Again, I agree 100%. The statistic I heard about a year ago is that only 46% of households in the U.S. have the ability to charge their car at home. Until there is the ability to fast charge, let’s say in under 5 minutes, and we have EV stations on every corner like gas stations, I don’t see how EVs can be rolled out in the timeframe that governments want.
I think they’ll roll it out regardless…and if some of the poors can’t drive because they have no way to charge their vehicles…they can take the electric bus instead. It’s a win-win for everyone, from their perspective.
You may be right.
Rural areas are just as bad. The EV trucks are a complete scam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nS0Fdayj8Y
It’s exactly like they don’t want any non-elite to have cars. Mobility is dangerous, it allows too much freedom.
Debtsor, you’ll have nothing and be happy…
Unless/until EVs can deliver in inclement climates and charging is streamlined, EVs will fail miserably. Any deadlines set by the climate crazies are arbitrary at best.
The pols are trying to fly the plane while they build it – doesn’t work that way.
There are many reasons people are hesitant to buy EVs and you mentioned 2 of them. Cost is also a big factor keeping people out of the market. As I mentioned above the average cost of an EV right now is about $65,000 and that will keep many people out of the market until EV prices come in line with gas powered vehicles.
Indiana is single party control and they got just all of Stellantis’s new plants.
The problem is Democrats and their policies.
Point taken – there’s one party control and there’s sensible one party control. IL’s masters fall into the nonsensical category.
Another one bites the dust. Of course JB will ignore this latest departure as it is bad news, and he is incapable of admitting to any kind of bad news. Hey JB, what’s the unemployment rate in Illinois? Too bad the false journalists in this state never ask him that question.