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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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Meanwhile, IL’s even crazier cousin, California, has come back to reality, and Gov. Newsom has proposed a 10% pay cut for every state employee next year.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/05/14/faced-with-54b-coronavirus-deficit-california-gov-proposes-10-pay-cut-for-state-workers-including-himself/#10419ba47e8c
But back in IL, Gov. J Beluga Whale, he is giving raises in July to every state employee. As Capitol Fax likes to point out, the raises were negotiated, and there’s nothing he can do about it.
A number of folks in my professional circle are still working but their employers ended their 401(k) employer match. That’s like a $3-5,000 backdoor pay cut (albeit deferred). These types of cuts won’t make the news but cost private sector workers all the same.
I see no reason why university employees – particularly well-paid professors – couldn’t handle a 10-20% pay cut. Where else are they gonna go anyway? If the Assoc Prof of Gender Studies at NEIU had better options, they wouldn’t be at NEIU.