-- 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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Referendums should allow both sides of the issue to make a one-sentence statement. For example, this referendum asks “Should the state of Illinois lift the ban on rent control to address rising rents, unjust evictions, and gentrification in our community?” Before that sentence, the opposing side can say “rent control has been proven to cause higher rents and housing shortages everywhere it has been implemented, forcing low income people and minorities to find housing in other places.”