-- 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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Going unreported in this article is what rents are going for in Class A buildings. Could it be businesses are moving to Class A buildings because they can get in at a bargain rate? If so, what does this tell you about other office spaces and the likelihood of those spaces being leased out?
So 1/3rd of the loop is empty and only office buildings in the west loop and further have vacancies less than 25%. Companies are downsizing right and left. My partner just lost ze/zir’s physical office location because ze/zir isn’t downtown often enough to justify ze/zir’s own office with a door. (Of note my own pronouns are ze/zir, pronounced sē′zər or more commonly with the Chicago accent caesar.) And this is framed by the news media as “downtown market isn’t quite dead”. Well, it’s not dead, but it’s certainly on an ECMO machine