-- 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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It isn’t really that complicated, but Illinois and Chicago Dems just don’t get it. Talk to any business location consultant and they all tell you the same thing: property and income taxes, low crime, good transportation, available skilled workers, available affordable housing for those workers, good health care, good public education, cultural options and low government regulatory environment. You really don’t need an MBA to understand this, but you do need to have the desire to provide those attributes, which is what is lacking in Illinois.