-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The state college savings plan remains closed to new investors as the financial health of the program deteriorates. It's clear a state bailout will be needed to ensure all participants get promised benefits.
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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Can the state do anything right? We unwashed masses are lectured daily on how the poor deprived state doesn’t have enough money or power, and that explains our pithy lives aren’t perfect.
Are the rights of the parents and prospective students “contract rights” that must be honored at all costs? What reasonable expectations are NOT contract rights? If all or most promises of states and their subdivisions MUST be honored, why should they not all be pro-rated? How will the IL Sup Ct differentiate among those debts that should be paid and those which need not be paid? To me these tuition promises seem more deserving because people actually paid money to secure the promise. NOT TRUE of teachers or public employees to the extent their nominal contributions were paid by others… Read more »
How about reducing the salaries of the professors and administrators at the colleges and stop the golden parachutes. Move to virtual education for core classes. The best class I took way back in the 80s was to watch the Cosmos series on video cassette and read the book, then took a series of CBT exams for which I received 3 credit hours in intro to astronomy. And this was back with 1980 technology. The key is to reduce the cost of college, then the promise of the plan can be met simply by attacking the cost of college.