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The cases of Burke and Madigan spotlight how the public pension spigot can take a while to shut off when public officials face legal troubles. And the two Southwest Siders from neighboring wards stand to benefit from the variety of lucrative laws that favor longtime politicians in Chicago and Springfield.
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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The article outlines a number of pension failures – who in the private sector gets a ‘refund’ of SSA contributions, or gets a ‘refund’ on an annuity purchased, or gets a ‘refund’ on a whole life policy purchased? It’s all wrong, and shows how ‘Pension Pigs’ have gamed the system to make it ‘legal’ yet incredibly unethical and fiscally untenable.
How many millions of Madigans $11 million pay-to-play campaign war chest, that he can now spend on himself tax free, was made up of public sec union dues, especially from “new machine” righteous CTU/SEIU types?….I’m sure it’s in the millions
Downstate we had the Head of the Board of Review claim multiple homestead exemptions on his rental property that he was not entitled to for years. Like a good Democrat he was allowed to retire, rather than be prosecuted, ostensibly to collect his pension just like they do in Chicago. It is not just a Chicago thing rather it is an Illinois thing.
Neither one of these corrupt Illinois Dems will need a pension in Marion.