-- 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.
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In a place where local government was fair and efficient, the remedy would be to increase the homeowner exemption. This would proportionally benefit low-income people more than the affluent. Unfortunately, as documented in Wirepoints and elsewhere, local government here is costly, wasteful, and inefficient, so that remedy is not available.
Since the lawsuit they lost might be a good option to just walk away from your home and let them, now required, to pay you the equity.