-- 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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
Most Chicago cops and many in government routinely take a year or so vacation on “disability”, finding a doctor to write the “bad back” diagnosis is really easy. It’s a use it or you lose it kind of employee benefit, we all pay for. Ask any Chicago cop about it.
I believe it is also true that certain “duty disability” pensions of public safety workers are not subject to federal income tax. If that is the case, then the doctor’s finding may open the door not only to monetary benefits but also to tax benefits. Well-intentioned tax relief intended for a police officer injured in the line of duty becomes a perk for all who get old enough to experience backaches and flat feet. It is of course a rule of fiduciary conduct that all beneficiaries are treated the same. Therefore if Joe got a pension in 1999, then that… Read more »