-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
At its core, the proposal is an investment decision: whether the future revenue from the meters would justify the cost of buying out the lease. Politically, Johnson would also have to convince aldermen and voters to swallow the optics of repurchasing an asset for far more than the city received when it sold it nearly 20 years ago.
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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I read this contract several years ago as part of another matter that I was working on. It struck me as laughably bad back then. The only thing the city got was a big payment upfront. It smacked of a payday loan situation.
What took him so long. I am sure the government can do it better than any private business. It will only require 4,000 patronage hires, 1,000 middle level management patronage hires and 100 top level executives making $150K or more each to run it. Hmmm, might even need a separate Board of Directors to make sure the graft and corruption takes hold. It will work out just like most government prOgrams do. Go for it Pinhead.
BJ wants to have race based meters for reparations