-- 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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Gerrymandering turns Illinois from a simply majority Democrat state to a super majority Democrat state. For example, in a state wide election, someone like Attorney General Kwame Raoul received 54.7% of the statewide vote. This is a respectable tally but only a little more than a simply majority. I use this as a proxy for statewide R/D ratios because he wasn’t an incumbent and he was running against the same. But the Illinois Legislature however is the exact opposite. The general assembly is 66% (D) and the senate is 68% (D), super majorities. But how do Democrats obtain a supermajority… Read more »