-- 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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Sad fact is that real estate “disinvestment” occurs when potential realized investment return is impossible. No upstanding business or investor seeks properties that are poor investments likely to decline in value and/or not realize a profit. If your store is repeatedly robbed, looted, and/or vandalized, there’s little potential realized financial return, and store will close. What’s left are those barricaded convenience stores with the bulletproof glass and locked merchandise, or the shady corner stores that buy/sell stolen merchandise no questions asked. If your residential apartment rents are not collectible, your property vandalized, your tenants unreliable and/or disruptive to other tenants,… Read more »
Yes, those are all reasons why there is disinvestment. But another reason often ignored is that the residents of the community don’t have enough money to support investment: Restaurants need patrons who can pay for sit down service; retail needs customer who purchase discretionary goods; high volume/low margin grocery stores need patrons with paychecks not EBT cards. I’ve seen this firsthand in communities where I used to live in Cook County. The old residents had the discretionary income to support ice cream shops, sit down restaurants, car dealerships, pizza and burger joints, furniture stores. All of these things existed when… Read more »
The city’s in trouble; whether anyone wants to see it or not.
We are in deep deep trouble and everything is being sugar coated to mask it.
who downvotes this? people from winnetka? come on, its 100% the truth
Well it is appropriate that a racist, race baiting clown is in charge of the $hitcago circus. Brandon the Clown is adept at using all the buzzwords, “disinvestment, marginalized, diverse, Latine (The second go around to use a word that the Latino’s don’t want), Latinx, progressive, affordability, systemic racism.” He is a walking cliche with a bad haircut. His thesis: 1.Schools were closed. Yeah, genius, you have declining enrollment and increasing costs (ie teachers individual salaries never go down) so it makes sense to reduce the number of buildings. You know what they did, generally, when enrollment increased in the… Read more »
I heard a part of the clown’s speech on the radio yesterday. Nonstop racial hysteria. Had to switch channels…
Idiots in ChIraq deserve exactly what they keep voting for.
BTW, who are the 2 people giving your reply “thumbs down”??? Probably past mayor Beetlejuice and Kim Foxx?
I think it’s the gold dust twins one of which is PPF, if I am in error my apologies.
Wow! Hit a nerve on that one. Oh well
can’t please everyone .
Hey, we really damaged their psyche, 8 and 9 thumbs down from the mental disordered liberal gutless wonders. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Hey Griffin, call Princess Victim and tell her to rally the social justice warriors to vote thumbs down because the meanies on WP are being mean again”
Actually, it is probably the same clown using different log ins. Get a life you pathetic loser! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bjs got all the buz words but knows absolutely zero
He is an accurate representation of the Chicago electorate, so keep that in mind too. He didn’t get there by accident, they asked for this
And the stupid believe his shit. Take note he never talks to a group of intelligent folks because they will call him bluff
He is an accurate representation of the Chicago electorate, they voted for this idiot, its more of a negative look on the voters than just the dumb as a brick moron mayor bj who wouldn’t pay his electric bill. Just wait till the next election, they will definitely find someone even worse than mayor bj moron, it seems impossible, but democrats always find a way to lower the bar even further
I warned everyone that the City would replace Lori would someone worse. Along these same lines, so I had to travel to the north side for business today for the first time in several years. Vacant store fronts everywhere. I saw several abandoned construction sites with half completed cinderblock flats. Saw one abandoned half-constructed site full of graffiti and a huge blown up rat in front (can anyone guess where that is?) Street parking was abundant which is not how it was pre-covid. Many of the bars I used to drink at as a yuppie were gone, and there are… Read more »
Well he is a pretty accurate representation of the Chicago electorate
I don’t know how any of Tommy Paine’s five points can be ascribed to systemic racism. Poor management – excessive spending? Corrupt politics. Sure. I can’t really understand Johnson’s point as to racism. Poor management hurts everyone, and often the most vulnerable.
You’re not supposed to understand Johnson’s point as to racism. You’re just supposed to accept it as a truth and not question. They say the racism part because they’re in charge now, and like all good commies, you are the ‘other’, you are the problem, the cause of all his voters’ problems, and he’s going to hurt you to satisfy his constituents. He’s already renamed your streets, taken down your statutes, divested valuable city resources from your neighborhood, even planted fewer trees…he won’t be satisfied until all of Chicago looks like Englewood. This is not hyperbole, we’ve seen this many,… Read more »
I agree a lot of it is hollow repetitive narrative. But can Chicago sustain itself on a 16.6B budget with a growing unyielding pension liability and a downtown/Loop which is declining rapidly from an economic and revenue standpoint? I don’t see it. There are reminders of a decline around – you mention that one bothers me from a sustainability standpoint in that the Big 10 schools (and I would include Notre Dame in this pool) increasingly don’t find Chicago a suitable home for its graduates. This was confirmed to me today with a discussion today with a recently retired CEO… Read more »