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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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This article describes a whole lot of lawyers getting paid by somebody (likely the public) to make a whole lot of noise to put forward legal arguments and press releases. Even if those arguments are successful, nothing is going to happen to anyone who’s responsible for the mess. The city is plainly bankrupt, its creditors are basically S.O.L. and neither the state, the county nor any taxpayer is in a financial position to do anything about it. Maybe the case has some utility for deterring other public officials in other places from doing the same (or similar) sketchy stuff. I… Read more »