-- 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
Pass a constitutional amendment to repeal the pension sentence added to the state constitution in 1970. After the pension sentence was added, legislative benefit hikes to underfunded pensions escalated, in the same years the employer / state annual pension contribution to the pension fund was underfunded, typically in the same years salary hikes occurred (hiking salaries hikes the pensions), sometimes in the same years retiree healthcare was passed, sometimes in the same years current healthcare benefits were hiked. There were exceptions as there are 18 pension funds in the Illinois Pension Code. Repealing the pension sentence added to the constitution… Read more »
The Sun Times needs to explain why the proposed cook county pension reform is so “smart” when it is clearly unconstitutional. Why would the Sun Times call it smart I wonder? What Fools.