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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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You have to wonder about the competence of many of the folks quoted in this article. “The fiscal picture had improved” over the last few years? What? Don’t any of those folks follow the local news that made it crystal clear the only reason the “cash” position is any better is because of federal largesse in handing out Covid money, which of course the City used on almost 100% non-Covid expenses. There have been almost no meaningful budget cuts. The contribution to the pension funds is so small it is almost immaterial. The City is spending hundreds of millions of… Read more »