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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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One more thing: So in this scheme to combine all of these pension funds into one, will each legal entity have its own capital account within the larger fund? If so, what happens when one legal entity’s capital account runs dry? Or they don’t make the required payments? Will the workers of that legal entity still get their “legally un-impaired” payments, regardless of the funding the entity has to do so? it will be interesting how that plays out in the inevitable court case. An entity–say Harvey–will start off with a low balance. They will then not have the funds… Read more »
Pay up suckers!
The firemen have boats and Harleys that need to be maintained, luxury SUVs that need to be traded, and Wisconsin vacation homes that need upgrades. These things aren’t going to pay for themselves, ya know?
So true, so true. I know plenty of them too. The only saving grace is that a lot of them are obese and have health problems, so it’s not like the pensions will last until their 90’s or anything.