-- 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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Legislature, can you grant us another tax hike deferral? We can’t afford the pension payments now, but if we spread the pensions payments out with a cost deferral, maybe we can afford the pension payments in the future with future tax hikes. After all, a pension is a promise, which means pensioners are protected in the State Constitution, at the expense of taxpayers, oh, maybe a pension is extortion. But if the pension sentence is repealed via constitutional amendment, that would be a taxpayer protection action, at which point meaningful pension reform negotiations could take place, taking pension benefit hikes… Read more »