-- 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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Video gambling machines will be in conflict with Bally’s new casino. Now that’s funny. Rockfords new Hard Rock casino parking lot is crowded from morning til night and video gaming is everywhere. Video machines in almost every bar, restaurant, stand alone locations and yet the casino is crowded. The excuse of Chicago not allowing video gaming is nonsense. A huge amount of revenue is sitting there waiting to be captured and not using taxes or fees on people who don’t gamble or frequent a casino.
I can’t figure who made the bigger blunder- Six Percent for counting on a dying industry ( live casino gambling ) or a dying industry trying to turn a profit in CHI. One can’t swing a dead cat without hitting some tiny little gambling bistro in a strip mall or seeing someone betting sports on their phone. Casinos, like horse racing and bookies, are on life support and gambling will soon be down to slots and nothing else.
Put them in the homeless shelters, go directly to the poor and get it over with.