-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
As she prepares to leave office in 27 days, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s announcement amounts to a brush-back pitch to Brandon Johnson. While new mayors often blame their predecessors for whatever financial mess they find after taking office, Lightfoot’s decision to pull the curtain back on the city’s financial forecast months earlier than usual will make that more difficult for Johnson.
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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Revenues declining, Cost going up much faster than ever. This is a disaster in the making. They Pension time bomb will kill the Chitty.
Question: how much of that “shortfall” is directly attributed to cost of maintaining Lightfoot Army guarding her home and person 24/7?
Hmm, how can this be when we have one of the highest tax rates in the country?
Because Lori and the city council didn’t want the automatic property tax to be implemented. So now we are short.
If everyone could just work til death paying your pension that would be great.
Quit electing leaders that promise more spending than revenue and you won’t have that problem. Vote appropriately otherwise more taxes.
The voters here always vote for ‘the other guy’. Unfortunately, we are outnumbered. The winning candidate is the politician who promises to pick the pockets of the voters who voted for the losing candidate. I read some pundit the other day who said Brandon Johnson will be the first of many American Chavist politicians (Hugo Chavez copycats) who use racial animosity and class warfare to get elected, and then proceed to loot the treasury, and the wallets of the losing party’s voters, causing a collapse of states and urban centers, not unlike Venezuela. BJ said this election was about white… Read more »
Reading between the lines here, it seems clear Lightfoot thinks Johnson is inept in all matters financial, and has made this announcement to put him on the spot. She is the vindictive type. The actual financial gap is likely higher, but this 85M amount puts Johnson on notice, Johnson will have a property tax problem. Commercial real estate valuations are going to come in 50 percent of what they were in 2021, and the increase in residential and small business properties will be significant. The problem with being a radical leftist when there is no money is that they are… Read more »
Far too late to doing anything now. Well beyond the point of no return. Someone is not going to be paid, 100% for sure.
They should sue each other for defamation.