-- 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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I’ll bet those downstaters wished their tax dollars lived in their world.
Downstate technically receives back more dollars than they pay in (a constant lament at CrapFax) but they fail to mention that much of those tax dollars are funneled to downstate unionized state employees: prison wardens, university professions, elementary and high school teachers. It’s not like the money goes back into the pocket of the taxpayer. The state is just the conduit to pay for union employees in certain locales.
Downstate has to shoulder assorted unfunded mandates imposed by the Chicago crew and yes I do admit road spending is considerably higher downstate. We also benefit from the spending on the prisons to house Chicago’s baddies that provide a few jobs considering our low cost coal power providers along with the miner jobs have been eliminated thanks to laws designed to shut them down. This can go on and on and I assure you that many of us are of the opinion that we do not get a fair shake downstate on the tax dollars despite the blabber at the… Read more »