-- 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 noticed that part of this grand plan is start the Northern Illinois Transit Authority. I found that “NITA would oversee the CTA, Metra and Pace, focusing on service coordination, infrastructure projects, and a universal fare system.” Seems to me to be exactly what we were promised the RTA would be doing decades ago.
Exactly correct! Inserting another middle man into the flow of the dollars can’t possibly lower cost or improve service. What it does is kick the can down the road and postpone the inevitable collapse.
A grift in which the politically connected can wet their beaks. We will never give them enough. There will always be a new project, like the insane red line extension. Elon should have a DOGE examine RTA.
No more money until CTA eliminates waste and political hires. Why should the entire state pay for something that is mismanaged and only benefits Chicago? CTA needs to clean up their act.
Ridership peaked in 2012 and has dropped off ever since. The Autopen-in-Chief attempted to prop up the RTA through JB the Hutt’s gross mismanagement of Covid in 2020-2021 with a massive infusion of Federal Taxpayer funds. The JB the Hutt Covid shutdowns were the perfect time to trim operations to serve remaining customers. Instead, the RTA executive directors spent as if the allowance money from Uncle Fed would never end, running near-empty trains and buses all over northeast Illinois and making dubious purchases of expensive virtue-signaling junk and grossly overpaying for warehouse space near the old IC Woodcrest shops. Ridership… Read more »
Great write up!
The entire blue state deep unsustainable and unpayable debt scam was to have the Feds bail them out under a Dem president.
It’s never happening so now the Dems are scrambling. Good.
Invest first in the existing commuter train lines in the area. Create a “shopper’s pass” for community members to use the existing lines for errands and appointments. Try shuttle bus services to community hubs. Add cars for local use. Create routes to and from the existing trains. Infrastructure exists–let’s use it!
Layoffs and schedule reductions first . Same number of employees or more since Covid . Ridership is down . Enough of taxpayers money.
Bottom line, CTA jobs are political with everyone over paid,time to cut pay not jobs.