-- 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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I think a Secular Great Awakening is what got us to where we are today. I can do without a Secular Great Awakening.
Leadership yes, but leadership to where? Being a leader requires making choices and sticking to a clear direction, then bringing others along. Lincoln chose to oppose the Confederacy, despite there being nothing to prevent them from leaving in the Constitution and the fact that the US itself had seceded from Great Britain less than a hundred years prior. Steve Jobs is remembered as a strong leader, and he operated by deciding which products to pursue and how they would work, and then forced his engineers to toe the line or leave. I can see why the author was liked by… Read more »
He staked out his positions on many issues repeatedly in his other columns and throughout his career.
Ok I have been properly chastised. I went through your search feature to find some of Jim’s recent articles. Most give me a 404 error but I found a few still posted. This one was instructive of positions: https://www.pjstar.com/opinion/20171023/nowlan-nobody-speaks-for-me-anymore
I agree with his sentiment, but once again his positions are aimed at not offending anyone and not actually solving anything “I am for it, but against it.” Nothing personal, I am sure I would have a great time chatting with Jim, but he is the one who declared “leadership” to be the answer to the universe.
p.s., I do like his idea about a third political party for Illinois, but maybe it would be better to start by having a functional second party
Perhaps a functional first party too.