-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The CTA this week said it is losing more than $1 million a day as normally packed rush hour buses and trains roll around the city carrying little more than the operators behind the controls. Ridership is down 70%, and Metra is faring even worse.
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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A bit of cognitive dissonance — stay 6 feet away and ride the bus. I expect if they stopped the buses to preserve social distancing, the drivers would have to be paid anyway. Might save on fuel but the major costs are likely to be labor and administration. There is a social welfare network in place with unemployment insurance and food stamps etc. That network involves a careful balance between the interests of those who pay and those who receive. As we pay public employees for not working we totally disrupt that balance. Fair or unfair, that network was established… Read more »