-- 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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How much did Chicago’s political animals spend on illegal immigrants?
CHI/IL will always be stuck behind the eight ball so long as they budget based on “ expected revenues “ that either never materialize or vaporize as so as they are collected. That’s the way it goes when you elect free spending Dems that couldn’t turn a profit with an overpriced lemonade stand.
Anyone who paid attention during the Daley years remembers the budget battles to, barely, balance it’s budgets, and that was when the downtown was hitting on all cylinders. There’s NO WAY Chicago can even come close to generating that level of receipts in its current state. Extend-and-pretend can only go on for so long. The laws of economics are immutable.
Daley II proving to be no wizard of finance either and stands to get quite a haircut on the property he is currently trying to unload. He waited too long and stands to make half as much as he originally wanted . He can thank the triumvirate of Rahm/ Betelgeuse/ Homie for that.
Lots of Richard M’s budgets were balanced from the selling off of City Assets ( Skyway Parking Meters) and getting his hands into the Pension Funds all in the attempt to keep property taxes from going up. The closer he got to beating Richard J’s record in office the more he needed the gimmicks.
Look for lower than than expected corporate tax revenues going forward until the second coming.