-- 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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Gas in Missouri has been under $2.00/gallon (significantly under) for some time. Every day Illinois tells me how right I was to leave
IF carbon emissions are a significant contributor to global climate problems (still debatable) then a gas tax could discourage drivers’ contribution to those problems. Gas taxes could also contribute to highway and bridge maintenance and upgrading. Is there a legal way to put collected taxes beyond the reach of politicians who’d otherwise use it for their own questionable purposes? I have heard of “tax increment financing” where certain real estate taxes are dedicated to repayment of bonded debt, for example. Taxpayers should look for more ways to assure that their dollars support expenditures approved by a majority of those taxpayers… Read more »