-- 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
A lot of these “old” buildings are beautifully designed with lots of big old windows and high ceilings. They’ve managed to teach generations of students going back 100 years or more for a lot of them. They are always blaming the buildings, the pipes, the boilers, lights, av equipment etc and crying for money and never blame the bloated cps beurocracy or ctu pay rate. Someone or group has a vested interest in keeping the perpetual “buildings and teachers are underfunded” narrative going and they have successfully convinced nearly all the minority groups in cps to believe it.
““CPS has a history of not caring about Black children and this is before COVID. So I think it is very unfair for this institution to think that we are going to trust them with our Black life.””
Yes, the CPS boogieman, when CPS does such a terrible job of teaching students, they produced graduates with this level of stupidity.
Yet, these same parents, who truly believe that CPS doesn’t care about their Black life, continue to send their kids to the same crappy schools.
Can’t fix stupid!
Get out of Chicago now!
Crumbling buildings and the pandemic are separate issues. Like Trump said, you cannot use covid as an excuse to ask for pension bailouts or new buildings. When states and cities get into trouble with their budgets, the first thing they cut is education because it’s a big target and it’s something that you can cut. Illinois is $250 billion in debt, just with pensions. You can cut school funding but you can’t cut pensions.