The Chicago Tribune printed an OpEd by Wirepoints, the Illinois Policy Institute, the Technology and Manufacturing Association and the Center for Pension Integrity – all members of the Taxpayer Pension Alliance – that calls for Mayor Johnson and his Pension Working Group to heed the sage advice of experts right here in Chicagoland: to consider only structural, actuarially sound solutions to the city’s pension crisis.
Chicago’s pensions remain in bad shape and are getting worse. For perspective, three of the city’s plans have only enough money to pay out less than four years of benefits. And the latest official reports from the city’s pension plans and those of its sister agencies show a total pension debt of $52 billion, up from $42 billion just five years ago. The city’s shortfall exceeds the pension debt of 46 of the nation’s 50 states and imposes the worst costs per capita of any major American city, by leagues.
The Pension working group’s recommendations can go only in two directions. The group can either get serious about tackling the pension problem, or it can choose to continue the decades of public policy malpractice that got Chicago into this mess. We hope those involved will heed some sage advice — from right here in Chicagoland — and choose the former.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- A message to Mayor Johnson: Ensure Chicago finds sound and sustainable solutions to its worst-in-nation pension crisis. – Press Conference
- An Open Letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson on the forthcoming recommendations of his Pension Working Group
- Court finally approves local pension management consolidation. Good, but not much in savings.
- New 2023 data: Inflation can’t save Illinois from its worst-in-nation pension crisis
- Illinoisans burdened with $207 billion in official state & local pension debts, $41,000 per household
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If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
This is theatre. There are three choices. Lower benefits. Increase taxes. Bankruptcy. Gosh – Of these three…which one do you think they will come up with? Wait, I guess there is a fourth…do nothing and kick the can down the road…
Most people with ethics weigh the benefit against the harm. Doing nothing probably increases the harm both now and in the future. Meanwhile, who benefits? A finite number of retirees many of whom will leave Illinois at their first opportunity. This “benefit” has already been exacerbated by elected judges with their aberrant definition of “contract rights.” Does this mean that teachers and politicians are without ethics? Is it unethical to be self-serving? Philosophers can debate until the can can’t be kicked further. BUT the issue should not be decided by those with a direct stake in the outcome. Finding a… Read more »
Mayor Tupac to economics is as a rainbow trout to a bicycle.
Great job Ted! Keep doing what you do best. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world.