-- 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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Unfortunately all those generations of children who couldn’t read or do math are now adult Chicagoans. One of them became mayor and the others elected him. You can’t cure stupid
It sure doesn’t sound like a letter you would want to issue as you are trying to lure suckers into buying your $830 mil in bonds, on which you want to pay only interest for 20 years. Oops, I mean as you are offering investors a great opportunity to profit on Chicago’s amazing success.
Uhm, er, how about a hard NO? You signed the contracts for services and now you have to abide by them.
I wonder if cities ‘sister agencies’, i.e. CPS (CTU), are asking vendors to take a 3% haircut as CTU is shooting for 9-12% raises, zero layoffs, already highest paid in nation, carpetbagger Stacy’s $300gs+ salary, etc, etc? Beyond ridiculous. What can anyone say anymore, other than CTU/Brando & crew are a complete disaster.
Send the same letter to all current employees and pensioners.
Sure, send the letter. You’ll spend more money on the labor to send the letter than you’ll ever receive in savings. The time to have employees cut their salary is during contract negotiations. The time to reduce pension contracts is before they are hired.
The city should just file bankruptcy and let the courts settle it.
They can’t without state approval and there is no desire by Springfield to jump in this mess any time soon.
Not one single government entity in Illinois has either reduced or eliminated altogether their offerings of a pension in their information sheets that are handed to potential new hires for employment. The first rule when you are in a hole? STOP DIGGING!
In the private sector, this is a tactic used by a company trying to stave off bankruptcy. You beg for price reductions from your vendors so you scare them into thinking their customer might be gone soon. And it rarely saves the day, only prolongs the inevitable, and bankruptcy is usually the case. Any vendor who has much of a receivable backlog from City work better start planning on getting stiffed in the next twelve months.
Don’t worry. Mayor Conehead is on the case! Bwahahahaha!