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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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There is one very easy way to kill the red light cameras without having to do anything directly to the program. Simply make right turns on red a YIELD instead of coming to a full stop. I saw a stat a couple years back that the vast majority of tickets are these (over 80%). They know it, too, and will fight to the death to keep that law from hitting the books. Even if you come to a very slow roll at 2mph, you will get a ticket. It’s a ridiculous application of no common sense, but that’s how they… Read more »
Best way of removing the appearance of it being a conflict of interest would be for the city to give all the proceeds to Make A Wish foundation. That way children with a terminal illness would benefit from scofflaws, and the city could say they aren’t doing it for the money. It’s always been “for the children”, hasn’t it?