-- 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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All those extra regulations make it SOOOOOOO easy to start a business in IL. Required paid time off for all employees, mandatory harassment training, mandatory filing fees, high corporate tax rates, high real estate rents and taxes, insane union rules and ‘living wage’ laws, punitive biometic laws, onerous city inspections and licensing fees, difficult tax structures, corrupt politicians, high crime and massive ‘shrinkage’, extremely high business insurance rates, terrible, extremely tenant friendly eviction laws, high energy and gas prices…..makes it nearly impossible for a regular joe to open a business without major corporate backing or VC. And the state wonders… Read more »
One way to wealth has historically been real estate. But in Cook County, and IL, all of the laws favor large landlords and punish the little guy trying to rent out the two-flat next door. Failure to pay interest on a security deposit can cost a small landlord $10,000 in attorneys fees and penalties. Good luck trying to evict a tenant who is destroying your property. The tenant will hire a tenant’s right lawyer, and YOU’LL be paying your tenant’s attorneys fees and costs while they live there for 6 months, for free while you try and get them out.