-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
"As always, the public sector dominates the top five in our annual ranking. Crain’s list of Chicago’s largest employers has a perennial chart-topper: the U.S. government. The private sector doesn’t even make an appearance on the list until we reach No. 4, while the public sector’s presence includes four of the top five spots and three other listings, making up 28 percent of our list entries." After the U.S. government, the top three are CPS and the City of Chicago.
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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In most communities one or more government entities (including school districts) is the largest or one of the largest employers.
If the local school district was responsible for their proportionate share of the TRS pension unfunded liability, as they are for the IMRF unfunded liability, all of the school districts in Illinois would be in miserable financial condition.