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.
Gosh, why hasn’t anybody ever suggested job training programs before? Oh wait…
Released felons aren’t unemployed. They are employed but just not in a measure captured by the U3 Bureau of Labor Statistics figures. They work in the black market hustling or committing more crimes. Many times, it’s a lifestyle thing. Working 9-5 for the man for minimum wage is hard work. Hustling in the black market means choosing your own hours, being your own boss and not having to file taxes.