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Thank you, Richard M. Daley.
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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Although the NBC Chicago article was published Feb 23, 2015 and updated February 11, 2016, it seems an occasional reminder of the massive unused CTA underground concrete box is reasonable.
Perhaps label such articles as repost from …
Good to repost when we are about to embark on a massive infrastructure spend. Do you think any lessons were learned from building the concrete box for $400 million? Doesn’t feel like it, when a primary guiding principal is just whether your district is a D or an R.
In related news, Citizens Against Government Waste names Illinois Governor JB Pritzker Porker of the month.
“Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker (D) September 2019 Porker of the Month for signing a $40.1 billion budget without any spending restraints and $1.4 billion in pork-barrel projects.”
http://www.cagw.org/porker-of-the-month/cagw-names-illinois-gov-j-b-pritzker-september-2019-porker-month
Pigs get fed. Hogs get slaughtered. That’s the old commodity floor traders wisdom.
In this situation it is the taxpayers being slaughtered not the porker.
A few thoughts on this. It was a big win for the construction unions. They got their pay and union dues funds. And the politicians got their campaign contributions from the unions. About the CTA riders paying for this, that is not truthful. The tax increases are being put on gas and licensing, in other words,on car drivers (mostly in the suburbs.). I did not see the CTA fares go up with JBs tax increases. CTA fares have barely increased over many years. And the idea that the prior administration and CTA management did this made me laugh. Does anyone… Read more »