-- 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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Filing bankruptcy is the only option to save Illinois.
All in all, a pretty good article. What it lacks is the incredible amount of damage Rauner has done to the Republican brand nationwide. By having the only Republican loser Governor, he is damaging the good work so many Republican Governors have done to strongly differentiate the Republicans from Democrats. He also deprived the brand of having a Democratic governor accelerate the demise of Illinois in the face of the nation. Had Quinn been elected Illinois would certainly be poised to fall very quickly in the next economic downturn, in such a fashion to likely spike the 2024 Republican Presidential… Read more »
Rauner may not be the only republican governor to lose. Reynolds in Iowa and Walker in Wisconsin are both lagging their democratic opponents at this time.
The state of Illinois, city of Chicago, and the county of Cook will all suffer economically in the next downturn and it has nothing to do with who won the governorship in 2014 and everything to do with how they handled, or mishandled, their overall spending and pension obligations for the last few decades.
I don’t think anyone can legitimately compare Walker’s and Reynold’s tenure in the governor’s mansion to Rauner’s tenure. Rauner’s incompetence is legendary;he notably said he was not in charge. Rauner had no business staying in the initial race after his ballot initiatives failed. Madigan made him his woman then, before the election. Rauner demonstrated had no ability to affect change on his own and that was before the election. Rauner’s titanic ego is why he entered the Governor’s mansion though he was cur dog on arrival.
Do we really want to save the republican party in Illinois? They are just as responsible as the democrats for the fiscal mess that the state is in.