-- 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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Can’t get around the old minimum wage, Mortimer. Time to raise taxes.
I see a resemblance between this and the orders respecting pensions and retiree health. To comply is unsustainably expensive. The legislature must appropriate the money and the voters (who’ll end up paying) vote for the legislature. In Illinois, of course, they also vote for the judges. One might say that indirectly the voters are saying “have your cake and eat it too.” It’s a form of collective cognitive dissonance. Whitman: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” What does this say about democracy generally or about our legal system? Primarily that… Read more »
Great comment. Collective cognitive dissonance is a perfect description of our situation.