-- 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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Sorry, djt and the djtgop are now responsible for the border crisis and any military aged illegal crossing the border…Djt ordered the djtgop, about two months ago, to kill the toughest bi-partisan border bill in a generation…a bill negotiated by conservative republicans and approved by the US border patrol union and President Biden…Djt ordered that bill killed so he could continue to use immigration in his 2024 campaign…Djt and the djtgop now own 100% the southern border crisis
Any Republican who thinks that running for office in Chicago, would be sorely mistaken thinking they could make a difference. Grabbing the steering wheel AFTER the ships hit the iceberg, is a fool’s errand.
To all the CTU folks, fifth column, and other opposition lurking in the comments: pretending to be conservative and relentlessly attacking the red tidal wave is a losing formula. Even the most disinterested reader can identify astroturfing from the torrent of illogical and unflattering prophecy. It’s bad sportsmanship, bad for your brand, and a bad allocation of resources.
Dave, a “red tidal wave” in Illinois/Chicago is about as likely to happen as our Imposter – In – Chief Sleepy Joe BIden is to utter a simple coherent – and “truthful* – sentence…
My idea of a red tidal wave is Chicago going from D+62 to D+60 solely because of poor turnout!
Dave, make up your mind on whether they are imposters like you claim here or on the right side but too pessimistic as you usually claim.
It’s as if everything in the “playbook” discussed at the end of 2,000 Mules is coming to fruition. The script has been in place along with the mail-in ballot farce since pre-2020.
Why not do something that ushers in positive change instead of trying predict the future? debtsor is our resident fortune teller and he’s wrong most of the time.
I’m actually correct most of the time.
But you’re living in La-La land if you think Chicago at D+64 is going to ever go read. There’s simply not enough constituency left in Chicago to vote Republican.
Not principled politics, just a shift in patronage politics. As long as it sticks through November 5th.
Agree. This sounds more like the spoiled kid who tries to get what she wants by threatening to go live with Dad.
I will believe it when I see a GOP candidate get a minimum of 40% of the City votes. Within the last week, both Sen. Duckworth and Sen. Durbin endorsed a letter to fast track illegals path to citizenship. This should offend everyone but the Chicago voter will never hear of it or vote to protect their birthright.
Local Republican Party organization is largely dormant in Chicago, not able to slate sufficient electable candidates for most City of Chicago/Cook County elected-positions. One or two elected Republicans doesn’t make a locally-viable political party.
Example: Bob Fiorretti for Cook County State’s Attorney, hardly a viable candidate. Barely a placeholder on ballot. Likely a shill for Preckwinkle’s candidate Harris, who was surprisingly defeated by Burke due to poor voter-collection contingency-planning by Preckwinkle’s political operatives.
There aren’t enough Republican voters left in Cook County, that’s why there isn’t a Republican Party in Chicago. Most of them left decades ago. Heck at one of my recent high school reunions, nearly half my class moved out of state and their replacements don’t speak English natively.
New ones are created every day at an exponential pace. Who do you think you’re kidding?
Just my opinion. I don’t think the Republican party is as well organized as the Democratic party both in finances and in the voters. The democrats have much of the unions backing them with money from dues and private sources and a large very well organized voter block. The democrats with all their money can back or spend it opposing candidates whomever they feel as a threat. Look at all the money spent on bashing Irvin with negative ads and getting Bailey to run against Pritzker. Bailey had a smaller chance of getting elected but Irvin was a better candidate.… Read more »
Plenty of Cook County and Chicago resident Catholic adult women and men still go to mass, still follow rules of Catholic faith, still resolutely pro-life (*at least after 1st trimester), would vote Republican when given opportunity to vote for competent Republican candidate. Problem is absence of qualified slated candidates.
Biden is practicing Catholic solely by virtue of familial heritage and ultra-tolerant Catholic hierarchy. Little in his past history reflects genuine conformance to Catholic faith doctrine when not political expedient or in conflict with his personal goals. He gets little traction amongst devote Catholics.
The problem with the ‘competent Republican candidate’ argument is that it begs the question: no one knows who the ‘competent Republican candidate’ is until they win their election, and then we know they are the ‘competent Republican candidate’. And when they inevitably lose, the excuse will be that they were not a competent Republican candidate. IIRC, Jack O’Malley in 1992 was the last ‘competent Republican candidate’ to be elected to a countywide seat or even win the county in a statewide election, and he got his butt kicked in 1996 by Dick Devine despite his extraordinarily high popularity and was… Read more »
At this point in the history of Chicago; PAIN is the only teacher.
Where the heck is the Church? Both Pelosi and Biden should both be excommunicated.
And the Vatican is mute to all the nonsense going on in the U.S.? No wonder church attendance is in the basement.
Where’s debtsor? According to him, Democrats never flip. LOLOL
Dave, these impoverished inner – city folks will *never* switch to another party, simply because they are grossly dependent on and beholden to democratic party largesse. LBJ initiated this form of modern chattel with his misbegotten “Great Society” programs, and it ain’t *never* gonna end… they are like the Eloi in “The Time Machine” – but in this case there will be no dashing Time Traveler to “save” them…
El Gordo would not fit in a time machine
Everything GM said below is true. And as I like to point out: Republicans are against affirmative action, against abortion, against expanded welfare benefits, against DIE, and against unions, especially teachers unions. So, yeah, there’s that, so it’s not like they’re suddenly going to switch to the party that wants to take away all of their favorite things…
You’ll know they’ve truly switched parties when a Republican is elected mayor. So not happening in our lifetimes.
Or maybe a few Dem candidates will reject the radical left that now runs the show?
I dunno, Mark… seems like an “impossible” task – think of Gorbachev, who – in vain – tried to “reform”, and thus “save” Soviet communism… and we all know how *that* turned out…
Wouldn’t that be nice……………
Burke only won because of record low turnout and utter incompetence from the current Chicago machine. In any other year she would have lost. Because of the primary system, normie democrat candidates get slaughtered at ballot box. Heck, we just had Vallas on the ballot, who rejected the radical left, and he lost hugely, because voters failed to even show up. Normie Dems aren’t coming back in Chicago, there’s too few of them left. The radical left itself has to change, and that ain’t happening.
NO WAY! That would take COURAGE, good luck finding it.
Exactly! The Political, Ideological, and Philosophical illiteracy is too entrenched.