-- 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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Shopping for anything in cook is convenient for me, but I don’t, I stay in my county, on principle I simply avoid buying anything there.
As. Predicted. What someone needs to quantify is the revenue lost from reduced sales at stores AND lost sales taxes revenue at the municipal level. Remember, when someone bought soda in Cook County, neither the store nor the municipality took in more revenue, every penny from the soda tax went to Cook County. The county was essentially gambling with someone else’s money.
If Cook County lost $12M in sales tax, and the county sales tax is 1.75%, wouldn’t that translate into $685M in lost sales?