-- 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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What I always found hypocritical, when traveling all over IL for work, were the prison towns/employees. Almost all of the prisons are located outside Cook County. Majority of prisoners are from Cook and Collar Counties. Downstaters have no problem working at facilities that housing prisoners from Upstate. Collecting salaries and pensions negotiated by Upstate unions. Lastly, they Vote Republican, but their paycheck dues fund AFSCME.
Downstate needs to realize where their bread gets buttered.
Chicagoland has imposed numerous fees, taxes and regulations upon the downstaters that are costly and unfunded. Employers now run from Illinois thanks to the aforementioned. I could write quite a dissertation on this but why?
Simply go away Chicago and take your chronically underfunded school district with you. We will live quite well without all of the unfunded mandates once and for all!