-- 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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IL is in a major death spiral, so it’s not coming back; at least, not for many years. Also, even after IL restructures itself after bankruptcy or a similar action, are many of these oppressive taxes and user fees going to be reduced? In the immortal quote of Mrs. Wormer, “doubtful.”
It comes down to whether the IL pols want to reverse the trend of outward migration. Obviously, based on their recent actions, they don’t care about IL continuing to lose population.
In the Daley Center the other day, I overhead some lawyers talking about where their children went to college. All out of state. Those kids aren’t coming back. The best and the brightest are leaving in droves. The downward spiral looks like this. College students leave, retirees leave, fewer new residents move here, even illegal immigrants are bypassing chicago these days for more economically productive regions. Before you know it, it’s too late.