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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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“Plans to continue …” sounds like a carbon reduction pledge. The liability numbers are likely understated and who knows what the actuaries have done with salary assumptions and COLA projections. The best analogy for pension contracts is weapons contracts: They start with a number that everybody knows won’t come close to the final price. The “government,” the unions and most of the workers understand the charade. It’s all political theatre and the actors deliver their lines and act their parts. Much Ado About … B.S., which by any other name would still stink
PPF is right. Only when full pension contributions are made will people who are not public-benefits-entitlement -workers understand the magnitude and impact of paying for these entitlements. The first impact will be to make all Illinois nurses and doctors unavoidably aware that they are being exploited and not appreciated by Illinois citizens. If Illinois values its teachers enough to give them multimillion-dollar guaranteed defined-benefit pensions after 20 years working at age 55-58, then Illinois must have nothing but contempt for medical professionals who are required to fund those pensions through income and property taxes., and work over a decade longer… Read more »
“The advanced payment policy, which the city plans to continue in years to come, will save the city $2 billion in the long run, according to the mayor’s administration.“
It sounds like paying the debt down faster will save money. Taxes should be raised and directed at pensions so we can save money. Pension reform that’s also constitutional. With all the supporters of fiscal reform this should be extremely popular.