-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
"Every major city is grappling with Covid's economic aftereffects, but in Chicago, the departures sharpened the focus on longstanding problems that predated the pandemic...Most of its challenges long predate Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term early next year, but business and political leaders as well as residents are looking to her for leadership and urgency to steer the city’s course."
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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
The article misses why Chicago hasn’t recovered: Suburbanites no longer want to commute forty-five minutes to an hour each way to get downtown. The rest of Chicago’s recent problems stem from that. Chicago was unique in that we funneled upwards of 1,000,000 per day from far flung suburbs into the loop using trains, buses, cars, helicopters, bikes, and walking. Now we don’t want to do that any more, or maybe just one or two days a week, like my spouse. I don’t ever go downtown anymore, and everyone I know that used to go downtown, no longer goes downtown, and… Read more »