-- 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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I suggest that you look more closely at this article, especially figures 1 and 2. It shows that in every year between 1989 and 2013, both revenues as a percent of gross state product, and expenditures (including pensions) as a percent of gross state product, were lower for state and local governments combined in Illinois than for the average of other states. This article very effectively contradicts the propaganda narrative of this site that Illinois taxes and spending are out of line with other states, and shows that Illinois has plenty of room to raise taxes in order to meet… Read more »
Huh? I suggest you take up your claims of a “propaganda narrative” with the author at the Fed. The article itself says this, which is what I put into the summary I posted: “The article shows that compared with the national average, Illinois used to be a relatively low-expenditure, low-revenue state. This changed in the mid-1990s, when, unlike the typical U.S. state, Illinois began consistently spending more than it brought in. A major contributor to this budgetary imbalance was the accumulation of pension liabilities.”