Wirepoints joined the Technology & Manufacturing Association, Illinois Policy Institute and the Center for Pension Integrity in drafting a letter to Mayor Johnson regarding the city’s worsening crisis. We’re calling for the Pension Working Group to base its recommendations off the core principles created by the Society of Actuaries.
Following those principles is the best way to ensure Chicago finds a sound and sustainable solution to its worst-in-nation pension crisis.
Read our Open Letter to the mayor 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.
Pritzker had 125 million to hand to Gotion today it says. See, Illinois has money for those pensions and could have helped out rather than throw it to the Chinese.
There’s only one solution to Chicago’s pension problem (and the state if they could) it’s called BANKRUPTCY. Chicago will follow Detroit here within a couple years max.
New CTU contract this year might tank it quicker, wonder if they will want 4 day work weeks or not work when it rains out, with the CTU mayor expect it.
Fiscal responsibility is not a strong point of politicians in Illinois. Financial rape of taxpayers however, is a finely honed sport in Illinois, especially in Chicago.
It’s not “rape” of the taxpayers when the taxpayers voted for the politicians that continue to spend more money and don’t actuarially fund pensions. This is exactly what the taxpayers want.
Venezuelans voted for Chavez. The voters got exactly what they wanted – the complete destruction of their country. Chavez and his crew were entirely justified in looting the country since clearly that was what the voters wanted.
Just stop with the ridiculous justifications. So far, public union looting of the state has succeeded. Stop trying to blame “the voters”.
Public unions didn’t loot anything. They were paid according to their contract which includes pensions. The voters didn’t elect politicians that set enough money aside. That’s on ALL the voters not public employees. Instead of owing $15 billion per year in actuarial contributions we would only be paying around $3.5 billion. No looting involved just lazy voters that wanted the money spent elsewhere even though the courts have told them that they must pay. Even now you are whining about paying what you owe and the costs will only go up.
Pay more now or pay even more later.
I AM SURE YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING…..IT’S THE LAZY WAY
The lazy way is typing in all caps. Fits you perfectly.
The lazy way is believing that you can magically pass some law and the problem will go away. Getting out of debt will require more money dedicated to paying it down.
The fact is that when one considers the compounding of the amounts involved it will be paid now or paid more later. Paying today, no matter how painful is the cheap way out.
In another article on this site just posted now is that Illinois will be tapping Medicaid $$$ to pay for crime prevention. How many times have Illinois politicians “Tapped” pension dollars or any other service to use for something else and replacing the money tapped with IOU’s to be paid later down the road. Regardless of which voters voted for who we have no idea what they will do once in office and most importantly their so called allegiance is not to the voters but for decades Madigan and the party. He called the shots. Many politicians have good intentions… Read more »
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! Public unions absolutely looted. You can’t have it both ways, your public unions not only voted for these scumbag politicians they financed them with bribes called campaign donations to write legislation favorable to the public unions.
Public unions don’t have enough members to get anyone elected. Other voters align with their pro union stance. Look no further than the passage of amendment 1. The people of Illinois don’t think unions are the enemy the same way you and others do on this site.
People that disagree with unions also provide campaign contributions. Ken G being one of the larger ones. How come his bribes didn’t work getting his guy elected? How come Richard Uihlein’s “bribe” didn’t work to defeat amendment 1?
Campaigns are run on money. Welcome to the real world of winning elections.
I believe they do if you include spouses and voting age children. There are approx 735K in unions so with family that could be approx 1.5M or more. Now consider how organized they are primarily with union dues they have a lot of clout and money to back and oppose whichever candidate they chose. The general public is not organized and as a group of individuals have no clout and collectively no money to back anyone.
https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/news-release/unionmembership_illinois.htm
Yet union employees don’t vote 100% for democrats. Fireman and police definitely don’t and may even favor republicans. Teachers I believe vote around 70% for dems.
The idea that public employees provide 1.5 million votes for democrats just isn’t true.
I’d say you’re right. We all have to remember that people always act as individuals first. They may have some degree of common interests with their larger-group colleaugues, but that’s not at all a guarantee they vote in lock-step fashion, is it? People tend to vote according to how they see the entire set of political issues personally.
True but they do vote with the larger-group colleagues when it comes to contract negotiations and the increases are across the board and not based on individual merits as they are done in private schools. There salaries and compensation/benefits are done on a one by one basis. In Rockford the school superintendent got an extension on his contract with raises even though test scores are abysmal and enrollment is down. He wants a 1% sales tax increase by referendum over a few years for all of Winnebago county for capitol improvement even though over $250M was spent on new schools… Read more »
“True but they do vote with the larger-group colleagues when it comes to contract negotiations and the increases are across the board and not based on individual merits as they are done in private schools.” Sure they vote for their own financial interest in a contract negotiation. That’s expected as you and everyone else would do the same. That doesn’t mean they have 1.5 million votes to decide who gets elected or what’s in our constitution any more than any other voter in the state. People will always try to get the best compensation package. Collective bargaining to get that… Read more »
With the figure I gave of 735K union members I cannot seem to find out if that is only working members and retired. If retired are not in that figure that would indicate a much larger voting base if you include spouses. Total workers in Illinois are about 5.3M so 735K is approx 13.5% of the workforce are in public unions and that does not include private union workers who get many state contracts so they will vote for those who promise more jobs. Even if 70% vote for D that is still a sizable figure compared to how many… Read more »
Well, to the extent that something applies to a group to which they belong and affects all such people individually in a like manner as well, yes, you can almost be totally assured they will will generally vote alike in their mutual favor. But, if you step outside that pre-condition you’re likely to find the individuals belonging to that larger group will vote quite differently where the more generalized politics there start to encompass life’s larger-interest issues.
BIPOC police officers and firefighters mostly vote Democrat. Whites are probably a mixed bag, depends on the city and neighborhood. I’d argue that probably upwards of 90% of teachers are voting Democrat these days. Hard to pin a number on it but teachers in IL aren’t exactly known for their conservative viewpoints. Teachers unions are almost entirely Democrats especially at the national level except in states where Republicans are in control. If you do the math, with 600k private sector union members and 735k public sector union members, plus household members, there are easily over 1,000,000 guaranteed union Democrat votes… Read more »
You would be wrong. You have no data or polling to back you up and as usual you just make up your “facts”. It’s one of your consistent characteristics.
You have no data to say that debstor “would be wrong”. Anecdotally, I’d say he’s right.
See above: The Washington Post reported on research, conducted by Verdant Labs using political-contribution data, on the Democrat-Republican divide based on job type. While it unsurprising that among actors and actresses there are 90 Democrats for every 10 Republicans, many would be amazed to discover that teachers are actually as liberal or even more so than those in acting. Among English teachers, there are 97 Democrats for every three Republicans, with the proportion being even more one-sided among health teachers, with 99 Democrats for every one Republican. While there are slightly more Republicans among math and science teachers, among… Read more »
I actually do have data as posted below. Anecdotes are not evidence.
LOL – when you say something as ridic and ignorant as 90% teachers aren’t Democrats, you can expect a slap-back-right-at-ya: April 3, 2019 Why Are Teachers Mostly Liberal? The wave of teacher strikes across the country, with their focus on killing education reforms such as charter schools, have focused attention on the ideology of teachers. Many Americans are now asking: “Why are teachers so liberal?” Tom Rademacher, a Minnesota teacher of the year who writes for the Education Post, says that teachers “are mostly liberals,” and the evidence backs him up. The Washington Post reported on research, conducted by Verdant Labs… Read more »
That’s based on those that make political contributions not the actual breakdown of teachers and their political affiliation. “The Washington Post reported on research, conducted by Verdant Labs using political-contribution data” Do you even read before cutting and pasting? According to a survey conducted by Education week in 2017, teachers are made up of 41% democrats, 30% independent and 27% republicans. About 30% of teachers don’t even align with the political views of their own union. Yet the ignorant here believe that they vote 90% democrat. Next time when you try to “slap back” you might want to deliver some… Read more »
So… the survey you mentioned was a nationwide survey of 1122 people – about 550 teachers, another 400 or so administrators, and the rest “other” district employees. So, people in education from Alaska to Florida and everywhere in between. Not a very good measure of our local political temperature. Pretty sure that survey would get different results in CPS. Anecdotes may not be evidence, but I’ve been around the system long enough to have confidence in my statement. We are talking about Illinois pensions and politics, yes?
Do you have a local survey that contradicts these results? No? We are talking about Illinois voting patterns. If you have a survey that shows your outlandish assertion that 90% of teachers vote democrat then produce your results. Otherwise stop with your lies.
Maybe, but the donations themselves are legal. Do you think the ultra-rich generally donate their huge sums to politicians with no quid pro quo in mind? Some might, but it has to be a very small percentage. That’s legal, too, if its done within the legal boundaries permitting it.
Factually, you are not wrong. They absolutely were/are being paid according to their contracts. **slow clap** But, here is what you don’t acknowledge.. All parties involved in negotiating said contracts (my own CTU especially) are doing so in bad faith; not for their members, but for the general financial health of the trough that feeds them. For 30 years I have watched this death spiral. The leadership on both sides, but specifically the union, approaches every contract negotiation as if someone has just busted the piñata. There are no adults left in the room to make the hard, grown-up decisions… Read more »
My community has a fair number of six-figure salaried state employees (and even some six-figured pension grifters) and, when the topic comes up at block parties…I mostly keep quiet (I swear, I do!) but the pension issues almost always come up after a few beers, and even normie norm knows the pensions WON’T be paid first. I’ve yet to meet one that expects their pensions to be paid in full. Most, at least in my area, have a Plan B for when their pensions eventually get cut.
Yep. Fairly certain my pension will get cut, and would not bet against it disappearing altogether. That is why I have a Plan B as well. Can’t say the same for a lot of my colleagues. They have the same blind faith as PPF…. “but, but, but, you said you were going to pay us! You promised!”
You clearly have no idea if you believe your pension would “disappear altogether”. But but but, the state will need to raise taxes otherwise. So?
Looting is simply the antonym of pension theft in the Polarized Jargon Department. The notion that an election outcome is a ratification of ambiguous words put together five decades ago and interpreted by a bunch of union-funded judges (with conflicts of interest) is absurd. Any prediction of whether pensions will have priority in fact at some future date is as speculative as predictions of bankruptcy. When and if the fiscal crisis gets bad enough, bankruptcy will be the last port in the storm — unless there is a bailout. More likely than a 100% bailout is [MY PREDICTION] an insurance… Read more »
There is no bankruptcy for state debt. Any prediction otherwise is massive speculation.
Yet !!! Before long, probably as we speak, Illinois is or will be begging for a bailout. Once Republicans control Washington, there’ll be lots of shake-ups in the entitlement world [including Social Security and Medicare] in order to save the entire national economy. Obviously this is speculation (in line with pensions paid first) and the outcome will depend on what political and economic philosophies rule us. You read the court decisions, I read the handwriting on the wall. It sometimes takes decades to awaken the sleeping giant — Roe —> Dobbs. And, if you’re among the “choicers,” you are as… Read more »
I’m sure you actually believe that. I hope you’re right though. We need to rein in spending for the social security welfare program. I just don’t believe it will actually happen any time soon. Unfortunately my prediction is that taxes will be raised because the people will revolt if they don’t get their old age welfare.
Are we collectively smarter than, say, the Greeks or the Argentinians or the Brazilians? Or the Russians? https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/30/russia-ruble-drop-prices-rising/
We’ll need some hard-ass legislators to address even the current problems, let alone the follow-on Huey Longs and their acolytes who’ll want to unseat them. “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Financial Folly: 10 U.S. Cities On the Brink of Bankruptcy (msn.com)
THEY STOLE THE ELECTION…..DICTATOR….GET FAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPT!!!!!!
Talk about lazy. “Those mean old Democrats stole the election.” Just keep gobbling up those conspiracy theories.
Not a “ conspiracy “ that much of the money earmarked for one thing winds up going elsewhere. “Midnight Basketball “? “ Hug a Thug ( a brainstorm of paying people not to commit crimes, which Preckwinkle is reviving)”? “ PPP “ to people making 100K a year, many of them employed by Cook County/ Chicago/ IL. Yeah, we’re getting a lot of bang for our pirated buck.
The election wasn’t stolen no matter how many times the nut jobs scream it from the cheap seats.
Damn right it was stolen and that’s the only way to win in Illinois, always has been. Most folks trust the government and this is fallicy as government is a corrupt institution which will do what is necessary to protect the bureaucracy. The amount of voters who are true Marxists at heart is becoming greater and greater every day. There are also fools who believe everything 7 news tells them. Have you ever heard of the term useful idiots? I think you are in that camp for sure.
So someone that doesn’t believe an election was stolen without any evidence is a useful idiot? That’s the problem with today’s political climate. People just want to ignore facts and base things off of feelings. Facts be damned. Also, where did I say a trust the government or there isn’t corruption. Some of you seriously lack critical thinking skills. You don’t even use logic in your rant. The election was stolen but more voters are true Marxists because they believe everything the media tells them? Wouldn’t that statement provide more evidence that the will of the voters was achieved in… Read more »
it doesn’t matter whether the election was stolen, or not. The purpose of saying it is to deny Democrats legitimacy. And this apparently gets under their skin too, they’ve gone on a scorched earth campaign of power, including empowering cartels to import 10,000,000 illegal immigrants, to try and convince you they won the election..
The most honest thing you’ve written. You know that you are a liar but you don’t care. Thanks for finally coming clean. I appreciate you admitting that Democrats won but you only deny the election results to get under their skin. Unfortunately for you that’s not a winning strategy.
Without any evidence is a joke of a comment. The evidence is right in front of your nose IF you choose to believe it. I choose to believe that all forms of cheating were in play on election evening, and I also feel it was mathematically impossible that those votes were “magically found” in the swing states from 1 am to 4 am. This is cheating of the highest order. This is treason. What we have done in other parts of the world to tip the scales (especially in Latin America) is now used here. All forms of cheating, all… Read more »
You are the biggest purveyor of conspiracy theories. “Pensions will be paid!” Is the biggest piece of misinformation around these days. Even the pensioners know they won’t be getting paid.
Yet they continue to get paid and the state will be forced to continue those payments as directed by the Illinois Supreme Court. Nothing but facts unlike your delusional mind around voter fraud.
For now the pensions that don’t sustain themselves will be paid. A few more years of jobs and taxpayers fleeing in droves will eventually leave IL with a residential base of welfare recipients and people working low paying jobs that really don’t contribute much to the tax base. You can only get so much from the working poor.
The data is not aligning with that theory. The state continues to receive more tax revenue from more taxpaying households. Income per taxpayer is higher as well.
Individual cities may have some difficulty in a few years but Illinois is no where near having the same issues. Plenty left for the state to tax.
Yes but it does not meet the rate of inflation (IIRC) and two our increases are less than surrounding states.
California is the canary in the coalmine, so to speak. They have a $38B budget deficit this year attributed almost entirely to revenue shortfalls. Fewer taxpayers paying less income.. How IL avoided this scenario, but California did not, is a mystery for the ages…
… and there will always be single issue constituencies who want to tax others or receive tax benefits or get laws passed for their own economic benefit. So you are in the same basket as the petroleum and tobacco industries. Also, to be sure, you are in the same basket as those seeking wind energy and electric cars. And similar to Joe Biden and the Clintons and Obamas who became millionaires from public service. I presume that your crusade is because you are a public “service” retiree or employee or relative. Perhaps a public safety officer or retiree. When you… Read more »
You would be wrong.
Also, why would I donate to the teacher pension fund. That’s the responsibility of the state and all the state’s taxpayers.
What makes you think I’m “pitching” higher taxes. I’m not advocating them as much as I’m stating facts. Either substantial cuts or more taxes will be required. We will either pay more now or pay even more later. Fact.
I have to disagree. They will be paid even if it means confiscation of real estate via 100% taxation. As a thought on this most of the people around for the 1970 Con Con vote are no longer alive. They conveniently voted for a crisis that they did not have to shoulder. Compare that to Pritzker’s build Illinois bond program. All sorts of new goodies that will paid for by later generations. Thats the Illinois way. Spend spend spend and dont pay your bills because thats someone elses problem. Those pensions will be paid
It’s not a conspiracy any more. Lawsuits incoming! llinois Citizens Group Files Formal Complaint with Illinois State Board of Elections – Lost Votes, Ghost Votes, OVER 4 MILLION Possible Registration Violations: Voter Shocked to See Ballots Have Been Cast in Her Name for Years (VIDEO) There were over 300,000 votes from the 2020 election missing or deleted from the Illinois voter data prior to the conclusion of the Federal retention period of 22 months. Over a four-year period, Illinois’ population decreased by 150,000, while the voter roll increased by 650,000. Over 2.5 million people had votes cast prior to their… Read more »
SURE THEY VOTED FOR THIS????
I can just see mayor Tupac’s CTU handlers feverishly burning the midnight oil try to paint a proposal they didn’t come up to as racist.
Until Pension Payments are missed, the government employees will not believe the math.
Once the payments are missed, the solution will be worse.