-- 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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The baseline is a one bedroom apartment in a major city, which not how most people live, and it doesn’t cover the disparity between low income and high income areas. Most people in cities live in units larger than one bedroom and live outside of the city limits. Chicago and the above median suburbs are plenty expensive with taxes, gas, real estate taxes, insurance, food, etc. It’s certainly got to be in the top 10.