-- 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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Ridiculous to fabricate a “lead lobby” as an explanation. Under the old regime in Chicago the building trade unions wrote the building codes. Cast iron and lead are much more labor intensive than plastic as any do-it-yourselfer knows. The unions wanted to keep the codes as labor intensive as possible for as long as possible to keep the guys working. That is more likely the explanation for why Chicago was so slow to change labor-friendly building codes.