-- 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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Can’t find the exact numbers, but IIRC revenues came in roughly 40% lower than the city expected the first year the bag tax kicked in, and similar results are expected for 2018. The state is going to wind up getting people to change their behavior, and will not come close to the revenues forecast for the tax.
And if the city and state were only interested in saving the environment, they’d mandate all the money from the tax go to Greenpeace or another environmental advocacy group.