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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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Mark is right, these are just platitudes. Every point is drafted with waffle language, showing that it was all drafted through a lens of social justice/ machine politics. Chicago needs brutal rules, like return total expenses to the 2019 level by 2027, freeze hiring, outlaw consideration of overtime in all retirement formulae, or average retirement salary of the final 10 years of employment — to make it harder to goose pension payments. Oddly, I would respect the supposed leaders more if they made a bold, categorical, and terrible suggestion like a city income tax: at least it would show they… Read more »
“No revenue increases without expense reduction: Couple consideration of any revenue increases with meaningful cost reductions to demonstrate fiscal discipline.”
That’s not good enough, reductions should be at least 2x increases.
Also need across the board cuts start at 5% anyone that can’t live with that has to justify taking it back from someone else.
Fiscal responsibility by CPS will be fought against by CTU. Why doesn’t anyone look to improve education in public schools? Quit indoctrinating and start teaching.
“Budgeting is hard” NO IT ISN’T! Having the courage to balance a budget responsibly without spending recklessly and increasing taxes is hard for those that don’t know how to do anything but increase spending. “No revenue increases without expense reduction: Couple consideration of any revenue increases with meaningful cost reductions to demonstrate fiscal discipline.” WRONG! They are not tied at the hip, they do not go hand in hand. You cut expenses first. Tax increases are a last resort. “Make smart evidence-based investments that create more economic mobility for low-income Chicagoans.” Government does not invest. It merely transfers from those… Read more »
If it would truly work you would have to read it to them. They don’t understand rationale thinking
It’s interesting that they call for consideration that the Sister Agencies are interconnected and rely on the same base of taxpayers for revenue. It’s too bad the bond rating agencies don’t use the same standard.
Platitudes. Just platitudes that nobody would quarrel with but offer nothing specific.
Yep, these are all common sense thoughts and activities that certainly should be done when running a city or household. They are simple and straight forward. Unfortunately, the people living by and implementing such an approach need integrity, Intelligence, a backbone and honesty…yep, nothing like that in Springfield or Chicago City government. Only greed and grifting.
After JB signing HB3657 you’d think all these good Government/ civic group/ biz groups would realize they are completely irrelevant from Spingfield to City hall. From JB, to Welsh, to Harmon, to fake progressive Brando…they’re all the same. When and who are they going to put their backing and $donations$ behind somebody who’s not “machine”?
It seems like somebody gave chat-GPT a prompt like “Write something that’s the exact opposite of what the City is doing.”