-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Cities face an uphill battle passing new funding measures to support brand-new housing initiatives, especially when voters are invested in keeping real estate taxes flat. In Chicago, one of the main groups opposing the Bring Chicago Home campaign said raising taxes could also raise housing costs, hurting homeowners and renters alike.
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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Great comments.
Homeless problem? A good first step would be secure the border while deporting the hordes already here
Won’t solve the whole problem, but might be a good start.
Social engineering gave Chicago “affordable housing” with Cabrini Green and the projects … what are they planning for us now? More of the same?
Homelessness has NOTHING to do with affordable housing and everything to do with mental illness, drug addiction and alcoholism. Most homeless choose to be homeless so that they can do what shelters won’t let them do: take drugs and drink. State run insane asylums are the answer. Up until the early 1980’s every state had such a program until Ronald Reagan rightly said: “why is the federal government paying for this local issue?”He cut federal funding and handed it over to the states……..who folded and failed to pay for this clearly local issue. And here we are.
Real estate prices shot up because of low interest rates, which encouraged reckless borrowing, pumping more money into the economy, which causes inflation, causing people to borrow more money at low interest rates to keep the party going. The Fed is nearly 100% responsible for the lack of affordable housing.