-- 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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Aon and Allscripts both announcing pay cuts and staff reductions… Yet the IL public sector doesn’t have to feel any pain. Please explain to me how there are not 2 classes of citizenship within IL?
Sorry folks, but there is no excuse for this. To proceed with these unearned/earned raises at a time when 1.5M illinois residents are affected by the stay at home rules and 755,000 Illinois residents applied for unemployment between March 1 and April 18 is ridiculous. The state is royalty and is basically telling us “let them eat cake”. With this many of our fellow citizens out of work and struggling, to award a RAISE is pathetic and clearly illustrates the disdain government workers and our elected officials have for the people of Illinois. Are we really in this together? I… Read more »
That’s ok, we’ll just take the money from the account used to buy insulin for African American diabetic children. The important thing is that the unions get obscene raises!
Recall. Just look at his peers in our bordering states… He is “Thelma & Louising” Illinois off a cliff… Maybe not criminal, but morally and intellectually, to join our current financial state, bankrupt.
In his defense, the raises are a contract. Sure, a contract he negotiated, but it’s still a contract. The state has to pay it. He could ask the unions to renegotiate, which I’m sure he’s done in private, and the likely answer was “we’ll support your primary opponent if this thought ever crosses your mind again”. So, we the tax payer is paying the price.
What idiot writes a contract that doesn’t have a emergency clause in it?
The contractual obligation is understood. Nevertheless, hundreds of citizens who are out of work and have been sitting on the fence could see this as a flashing red EXIT sign.