-- 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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While nowhere near as bad as other Illinois GO’s, Cook County still can’t live within its means, as this budget is balanced only with $60 million in tax increases. The tax increase dwarfs the $35 million in spending reductions indicated. That leaves $90 million pulled from the General Fund Balance, or what normal people call their ”rainy day fund’. There is no talk of how to restore that rainy day fund in the budget. What we have is another Illinois GO overspending and we have the Civic Federation patting them on the back for it. Cook County is not doing… Read more »