-- 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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In a rational marketplace, i.e., one without students acting as federal loan conduits irrespective of the value of the education which is the subject of the loan, schools like John Marshall would not exist. This is not to say that John Marshall doesn’t educate people reasonably, but in a marketplace without federal government/academic industrial complex cronyism, there would not be enough demand to continue operations. $44,000 in tuition? For what kind of outcome? Bloviating about the name change gives the woke something to talk about, but the economic premise of the school is the elephant in the room. As an… Read more »
Marshall for many years had a great reputation for jurists and community leaders. But about 20 years ago, during the law school bubble (which now popped!) it became the school of last resort for those in Chicago who were unable to attend other, more prestigious, law schools. Now that the law school bubble has popped, there are not enough students willing to pay $44,000 a year to attend low ranked law schools. In the mid 2000’s, there were over 1,000 test takers for the February exam (traditionally the smaller of the two exams); this May, only 271 students will be… Read more »
There are many connected Democrats in the state sending their kids to Marshall to burnish their credentials for a job in goverment, so it will remain. It’s all about the Con, not actual work.
For those who don’t land connected government jobs, a debt load of $130,000 to $170,000 or more is crushing, especially since this debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy and the relief programs which permit partial payment carry with them continued accrued interest, making it very easy to end up owing considerably more than the initial principal amount. Again, this is not a knock on the education itself at schools like John Marshall – the content may be superior to top ranked schools. But outcomes are really painful. Note the beneficiaries of all this are in the legal academic industrial complex,… Read more »