-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
After slipping into a deep freeze during the pandemic in 2020 and running hot in 2021, the market is cooling somewhere in the range of “just right.” The downtown occupancy rate remains high—94.4% in the first quarter, versus 94.5% a year earlier—but rent growth is slowing, according to the Chicago office of Integra Realty Resources, an appraisal and consulting firm.
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
I don’t believe these statistics.
The bubble of all these downtown apartments — for a downtown that is mostly a ghost town (thanks to crime, riots, COVID lockdowns, and a high tax, hostile business climate) — will eventually burst — the fallout won’t be pretty — especially if Democrats decide to (once again) make taxpayers foot the bill for this Mega Moral Hazard