-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Actuary Mary Pat Campbell: "Wirepoints has several features, and the best part is the daily email. Wirepoints has helped give me more detail on the players, and the specific tactics being tried out so I don’t look like a complete ass from the East Coast when I write about the Midwest. So if you want to know about one of the most important incipient public finance disasters….check out Wirepoints!"
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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
Illinois is the laughingstock of the country. How can you call it anything but a PONZI scheme when you are paying people with current funding, that is the definition of a Ponzi scheme.
All Ponzi schemes fail in due time.
I take it you’re not an expert on this topic. If so, your view as that of a “concerned citizen” with the sort of credibility that implies—lots of rage with a dictionary-level knowledge of the term and not much else presumably. Where are a few legal eagles who have some experience in this area and can weigh forth accordingly?
Mary Pat’s generosity with her time over the years helped us immensely in learning about pensions, which wasn’t easy.
Carnival barkers. You’re both just carnival barkers.
Not sensible, thoughtful, transparent and truthful.
Like our Governor, for instance…
Love sarcasm.