-- 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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
I’ve always wondered why restaurants and retailers had to pay credit card fees on money they didn’t keep: taxes and tips. Taxes are forwarded to the taxing bodies and tips go to the worker – so the restaurant, salon or retailer ends up paying fees on money they pass through, thereby lowering their net income.
In that they are segregated on the bill I don’t believe it would be a great hardship on credit card processors to exclude those items from interchange fees.
Another known disaster but went full speed again.