-- 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
Hmmm…Illinois does not want to build more power plants or electrical transmission lines, but they want data centers and AI, that use vast amounts of power. Time for some magic fairy dust to solve these problems…or in Illinois terms, cash stuffed envelopes.
If these things are so important, but dangerous to be around, why not put them out in the sticks, on the edge of one of the thousands of IL’s rural towns dying a slow death? The employees could live a short distance away from them but far enough removed to not be negatively impacted by them. Makes more sense than cramming them into communities and then fighting lawsuits from now until kingdom come.
They might get in the way of all the windmills.