-- 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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Wait; how is the progressive state income tax going to give working families a fair shake? Wirepoints readers know that’s not going to happen. Even if the initial tax rates would indicate that some of the middle class may save a little money, that wouldn’t last as the rates “progressively” get higher over time.
Hey, now I know why it’s called a progressive state income tax.
So Biss quotes Mayer’s book, which is a scholarly and sobering study of the hidden influence of self-interested right-wing billionaires on American politics.
Wonder how many books Biss has read about the hidden influence of public sector unions on left wing politicians.