-- 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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Why is Greising calling this “pension reform”? It’s about increasing Tier 2 pension benefits, raising taxes to fund them and issuing bonds to fund them.
Not to worry Mark, one day soon you will become a resident of Wisconsin. It will be the best day of your life as it has been for tens of thousands of others.
Funding pensions is pension reform. Hoping the courts will let you lower the amount owed is not a plan and merely wishful thinking.