-- 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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
$200,224,896,429 is the total 2018 Unfunded Actuarial Liability for most of the public sector pension plans in Illinois, per the Illinois Department of Insurance, Public Pension Division, Pension Data Portal, 2019 Biennial Report Summary Spreadsheets.
https://insurance.illinois.gov/Applications/Pension/PensionDataPortal.aspx
That excludes mass transit (CTA, RTA, METRA, PACE, etc.), housing (CHA, etc.), and the South Cook County Mosquito Abatement District Pension Plan in Harvey.