-- 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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I take the progressive view; Throw’m in jail! We’re creating jobs for corrections officers. It’s a win-win!
Why has no one suggested reestablishing the state mental health hospital system. They didn’t call them asylums for nothing. People whose mental illness rendered them unable to cope with independent living had a place of shelter. They weren’t perfect, not even very good being dependent on state funding and management, but they were better than what we have now.