-- 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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Makes sense how mismanagement of taxpayer funds results in so many fiscal cliffs in Illinois.
Don’t believe the hype—1,200 to 1,600 new CTA hires during COVID doing who knows what. Vallas claims the majority of them are in bureaucratic positions…all as ridership has plummeted.
Lets cut the fat first.
The CTA is 43.3% fat. That how far off their ridership was in 2024 from the peak in 2012.
Time for the “ Come to Jesus” moment for the CTA. Your grift is ending.
Raise the prices and eliminate underutilized routes, there’s empty buses driving all over the place.
Start with the over bloated, overpaid, board of directors
No. Just pay them with ‘transit access’ rather than taxpayer cash.
CTA is the best example of how last century’s public transit model is obsolete.
Bailing out CTA this year will only mean a much bigger bailout in the near future.
Time to pull the plug.
Or just charge riders the true cost of the CTA jobs program. No free lunches.
Start with going back to the premise that 50% of the budget expenses should be covered by rider fares. To high? Then start getting rid of all that union management bloat. Eventually, public service unions with destroy Chicago.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner. Yes. Asking the CTA’s remaining riders to pony up 50% of the operating costs is not asking too much.
Demanding that taxpayers pony up for the expired extra funding courtesy of the Autopen-in-chief’s Inflation Production Act IS asking too much. Also, asking taxpayers to pony up for the outrageously expensive Red Line Duplication of Existing Transit boondoggle is a nonstarter.