-- 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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One thing I’m grateful for, our winters keep the homeless from dropping deuces on the sidewalks like out west. You have to look at the bright side.
Perhaps the homeless have greater mobility than underwater Chicago homeowners. Much suspicion on the Left Coast that Rahm was furnishing one-way bus tickets to Seattle or LA.
Of course, they would love to gentrify the entire Chicago metro area, turn it into a new New York or Silicon Valley. Push lower and middle class folks out (of state or into the burbs), renovate neighborhoods and boost property taxes. That is their prerogative, not helping the lower class or the children — that should be obvious by now. And dumb young yuppies WILL pay those big price tags to live close to the city if the neighborhoods are cleaned up. And the cold winters will keep the homeless population at bay, which is something California is struggling with.… Read more »
IL Legislators want the middle class out of state entirely, just not pushed to the suburbs. Because the middle class votes the wrong way. This should be very obvious to everyone by now. They don’t even want the farmers to farm downstate because, you know, climate change and GMO something or other. And because they all voted for Trump. Left wing ultra blue Oregon has the same agenda. Just this week, Democrat legislators tried passing a cap and trade carbon emission bill that would have destroyed the exurban and rural areas. On purpose. Taxed rural areas into poverty. Because you… Read more »
“But recent economic growth has been unevenly distributed. According to recent UIC research, in 1970, roughly half the city was considered middle income. In 2017, that distinction applied to just 16 percent of Chicago.”
And 12% of Chicago voted for Trump in 2016…hmmmmm….