-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
In July 2017, with Harvey more than $20 million in arrears on its water bills to Chicago and continuing to improperly divert water funds in violation of a consent decree, a Cook County Circuit Court judge took the extraordinary measure of revoking the city’s control of its water operations and appointing an independent receiver to oversee them.
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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