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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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Hmm, my broken clock is right twice per day……
If only Bruce and Pat had free pandemic dollars…what might’ve been.
The credit bureaus know that Biden’s Blue State Bailout Billions are the only reason Illinois is not bankrupt — they are cooking the books to hide the fiscal failure — Moody’s, Fitch, and Standard & Poor all need to be hauled in front of Congress for a deep-colonoscopy investigation
From Schitt to a little less Schitty.
I wonder why public employee unions continue to spend millions of dollars of their member’s dues endorsing Democrats who campaign on platforms that depend on using taxes that should fund their pensions to pay for other stuff that Illinois can’t afford?
Their concerns are for immediate items like salary hikes. Pensions will be paid even if it takes confiscating all instate real estate to do it. Yes it can happen and based upon Illinois voting trends it will eventually happen.
Oh, and by the way. let’s not forget who pays S&P– the State of Illinois. What a surprise.
Still sounds like the baseball player batting .198 to me. “But , hey, last month I batted .175!” I am so proud of myself.
The fat man should take a victory lap! He can stop every few yards for rest, snacks and a statin
When the inevitable happens and the whole house of cards falls down for Illinois, Chicago, Connecticut, California and the other financially criminal states and municipalities then both the bondholders AND the pensioners will get haircuts. It will be bigger than the mortgage crisis and too big for the federal government to bail-out. It will likely result in a nationwide busting of public sector unions.
Keep dreaming. The only thing inevitable is more taxes. Plenty areas left to get more revenue.
Who are you going to tax when everyone with any fiscal sense has left IL? Just like the residents in Pilsen screaming because they can’t afford their property tax increases. Surprise! How much can you squeeze out of the poor dummies who didn’t see the handwriting on the wall?
The good old “everyone is going to leave” argument. Never gets old. According to this site “everyone” is leaving now in “droves” and tax revenue collected are at an all time high. Even Chicago business leaders in their plan acknowledge that income taxes could be raised and it would have very little impact on population.
Doom and gloom, doom and gloom. The sky is falling. People have been claiming this is going to happen for the last 13 years and population has been flat and tax revenue continues to rise.
Head in sand and fully boosted.
According to the IRS, the AGI leaving IL is in the billions yearly. Sure, tax revenues may be up, but residents are less and less able to afford all the tax increases as well as inflation, which is not going down as seen by the Fed increasing the rate again. And every indicator says residents are leaving. By the thousands. Very few of my friends, relatives, and business associates have stayed in IL. Only the ones with young grandchildren stay and as the grandchildren reach the teens, they leave. The grads who go away to college seldom come back. Maybe… Read more »
Florida is almost double the population than Illinois yet its GDP is only about 30% bigger. Illinois is about 2.5 times bigger in terms of population compared to South Carolina yet its GDP is 3.5 times that of SC. Perhaps there are other variables than just population. Illinois isn’t going anywhere. It’s going to need to get real about its addiction to debt but rest assured, everyone isn’t leaving. People are still making money in Illinois and that’s why they stay. Why do you think so many people say “I’m out of here in X number of years”? They want… Read more »
Since 2000, SC GDP has almost doubled, while IL GDP has increased only about 16%. Which state is more ascendant? And with property taxes about $10K cheaper as well as lower gas, sales taxes, and insurance rates, make the case for IL. Bottom line, IL lost one House seat every decade for 70 years due to population loss, while SC gains seats.
Even with all that growth it’s still a small economy compared to Illinois and produces much less GDP per resident. Sure you save on property taxes but my income taxes would be 16k a year there as a retiree compared to IL which is ZERO. So it would cost me more to live there. You once tried to tell me that SC got rid of income taxes, which of course is wrong. Everyone needs to look at their own situation when it comes to taxes. Also, taxes aren’t the only reason to choose where to live. Family and your network… Read more »
Congress working on legislation to prevent anymore bailout boondoggles for Blue States and their fat cat unions.
Collapse will be healthy.
““The upgrade on the GO debt reflects our view that Illinois’ commitment and execution to strengthen its budgetary flexibility and stability, supported by accelerating repayment of its liabilities, rebuilding its budget stabilization fund to decade highs; and a slowing of statutory pension funding growth, will likely continue during the outlook period,” Geoff Buswick, an S&P credit analyst, said in a statement.” S&P states it’s good news. The doom and gloom crowd will not be happy. Just imagine if JB had decided to use the additional revenue to plow into pensions. If the state really wants to improve its credit rating… Read more »
IIRC S&P has a track record of rating subprime bonds as AAA grade investments too…
Sounds like the bondholders are getting paid either way just like pensioners. Either way, this is good news compared to all the credit downgrades under Rauner.
Fixed it for ya!
Credit downgrades under
RaunerMike MadiganHahahahaha. Now that’s funny. Rauner said approve my budget and my anti-union reforms or else and our credit went into the $hitter. Madigan and the house over rode his veto to finally give the state a budget. Madigan has plenty of flaws but Rauner owns the budget impasse.
The only thing Rauner provided was Amendment 1. Without his anti-union agenda I doubt it would have been a priority. Your Republican hero is responsible for credit downgrades and strengthening unions within the state. Well done.
This is about as factually accurate as the 1619 Project or the Historia Arcana. Sure, some of the characters are correct, but the narrative is fiction.
PPF – you study this stuff. History has shown that in the event of a local govt (or state like entity if you count Puerto Rico) insolvency proceeding, the bondholders will suffer in relation to the pensioners. The pensioners have moral and political leverage the bondholders do not. The unions know this so there is little incentive, especially with the legal regime in Illinois, for the union pensioners to be even the least contemplative of reform. I do wonder – and it is not a gloom and doom question – what happens when the pandemic money recedes. I suspect we… Read more »
“for the union pensioners to be even the least contemplative of reform.” How do you negotiate with a group when no such group exists to negotiate with? Pensioners receiving checks are not members of a union. Pension members that are still working can’t have their pensions negotiated by their union. Their union and the respective employer they negotiate with doesn’t have the authority to negotiate a cut. “what happens when the pandemic money recedes” That’s a popular talking point here but only $736 million of $50 billion is federal pandemic relief. The five year revenue projections were published recently and… Read more »
“How much less money will our state receive than what’s projected?”
I’ve got my bag of popcorn ready!
Of course you do. You thrive and live for bad things to happen. Credit upgrades and more revenue does not please you. Stick with complaining about crime. At least that is bad news you can count on.
Detroit pensioners thanked their lucky stars that Obummer was in office when the city went belly up. They suffered a 5 percent haircut at most.
I don’t think Chicago pensioners will be so fortunate. Think President DeSantis.