-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Business representatives are crying foul as 11th-hour legislation to allow unlimited punitive damages in wrongful-death cases is poised to pass the state Senate today and clear the Legislature. The bill, known as HB 219, flew through the House on Tuesday on a party-line vote of 75-40. The Senate Executive Committee cleared it yesterday, also on a strict party-line vote.
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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