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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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Spend money we ain’t got. Waste money that we need. Thank you democrats!
The only winners are under the table employers who do not pay for any benefits. We the taxpayers get stiffed to support their lawlessness that Illinois politicians stick to us. Why do we have such losers in our State?
For legal immigrants who followed due process to enter the country and citizens, yes.
For illegal invaders, hell no!
Not a word on how much this would cost….and I would not trust any Illinois politician’s estimate because I know it would be wildly low.
Fine. We’ll start with lefty politicians donating part of their salary, and dipping into their campaign funds. Liberal doctors can volunteer their time. Let’s see how that goes!
Insanity. But normal for Illinois.
You have homeless service men who fought for this country. You have senior citizens who worked to make this country great living social security check to social security check but you worry about the “new voters” who’ve been here for 2 years. Democrats only care about power and control
What about funding healthcare for US citizens who can’t afford care or insurance premiums? No more state funding for illegals over US citizens.
Pritzker owns this fiasco.
“IL lawmakers with a vested interest in giving illegals free healthcare push for more money to illegals in order to garner votes.” That’s the real story.
So true. Why would lawmakers push for things that would garner them more votes? They’re not very smart. It seems unfair we have to tolerate these elected representatives just because most of the voters like what they are doing. So unfair.
PPF, you yourself have pointed out that people have a decided inclination to vote for benefits without regard to cost. They will enthusiastically vote benefits for themselves as long as they believe they have a “right” to something, or if the benefit is “free”, or that somebody else will have to pay.
Are you seriously saying that politicians should cater to this delusion in order to garner more votes? It’s only right and natural that political leaders should sell this snake oil to the public?
I guess it’s a corollary to the theory of the sanctity of collective bargaining.
You must not have read my comment. I said it’s unfair. I’ve been convinced by your comments that it’s not the voters fault. Politicians should ignore efforts to please voters even if it means getting fewer votes. Sure they may lose the next election but it’s the right thing to do. It’s so unfair what they are doing.
It’s a real dilemma to defend contradictory propositions. I can see why you didn’t try.
You were just so persuasive. Now that you’ve convinced me, how do we get politicians to do better? What mechanisms do we have as mere voters?
Politicians don’t give a rip about fairness or doing what’s best for citizens. Their entire goal is to get in power … and stay in power.
So you’re saying politicians will do things that get them more votes instead of doing what’s right? That doesn’t sound fair. What can we do if politicians keep voting for their own best interest? Is there any way we can make these politicians do the right thing instead of doing things that get them more votes? It just seems so unfair.
First Amendment seldom requires truth telling or full disclosure. That’s why we have petroleum and tobacco lobbies and time-share sales hawkers. Those who sell drugs and stocks do have partially effective rules which is why we suffer fast-talk disclaimers on gold commercials. Still, who reads prospectuses? Best protection would be a curious and unbiased media but they’re all going broke trying to say what their dwindling patrons want to hear. I note NPR is interviewing more Republicans lately plus begging for advertisers to beat a path to their doors. Barnum was right about the birth rate of suckers. Plus how… Read more »
I’ll ask you the same question PT. How do we fix it? You’ve identified the need for a curious and unbiased media. How can we get that?
IMO, the only answer is that readers have to read unbiased, balanced sources. There aren’t many today. Ultimately, that’s what the media will provide if that’s what readers want, but they don’t. They want to read only sources that reinforce their own world view. Yes, the left is worse on that but it’s too common on the right, too. Here, we’ve been dedicated from the start to presenting the best of all viewpoints, and separate out our own opinions and analyses. Maybe that doesn’t get the biggest readership, but too bad. That’s what we do.
It sounds like you are blaming the reader of the information and not those who publish the information. Shouldn’t the media just do the right thing even though that’s not what the reader wants Mark? It sounds like you’re suggesting that the media won’t change until the reader rewards good and honest journalism?
Yes, exactly. I am cynical. I don’t trust the vast majority of any journalists to do what’s right instead of doing what will improve revenue. Most of them are desperate for income. I do wish that professional standards would be paramount, but I think Mr. Market is calling the shots.
I don’t know Mark, it sounds like you are blaming the reader and stating it won’t get better until the reader demands better. I’ve done that in the past and it seems to really upset people.
If we are not upsetting people sometimes, even our allies, we aren’t doing our job.
Thanks Mark. I’ll remember that the next time someone is upset that I provided truthful information that may be upsetting.
Or questions your interpretation of the Contract Clause.
So true Mark. I’ve learned that sharing the words of the IL Supreme Courts interpretation of the Contracts Clause is very upsetting to some people.
Have you seen how many comments you have made today? Ben is right. A comment here and there is all good on here for sure. But you… you might as well scream you need mental help and a life. Your comments fix nothing and don’t matter. The Supreme Court doesn’t care about the ILSC. When it all falls apart this will be a Supreme Court issue. Mark is correct about that. You have a good one, sir. Get some help.
Thank you for your concern Dan as well as your legal expertise. Much appreciated.
It’s reasonable to expect millions of voters to come to their senses, instead of expecting a few hundred elected leaders to stop proposing and approving insane policies?
That’s on par with expecting hundreds of thousands of students and parents to get better, instead of expecting the school system to do what it’s paid to do.
The numbers just don’t work out PPF. I guess we are all doomed. But we can go down screaming that it’s all the voters fault! It’s not fair!
I’m no longer blaming the voters. You convinced me PP. In the past I may have told you that it won’t get better until the voters choose different candidates to lead our government but with your persuasive words I have changed my way. It’s all the politicians fault. Now we just need to figure out why these dumb politicians keep supporting these things just to get votes. It seems so selfish and unfair.
What’s the solution PP? I now realize it’s not the voters but what do we do?
Maybe you are right. It’s just too much to expect a group of educated lawmakers to look at where their policies are leading, and voluntarily step back from the precipice. They cannot think for themselves, but must be dragged back to reality by the mass of ordinary voters. Alexis de Tocqueville was probably correct. The Republic will be lost when legislators learn they can bribe the public with the public’s own money. Or maybe legislators will look into the abyss, and realize that they too will be living in the society that goes over the edge. Maybe all of that… Read more »
I sure hope you’re right PP. The voters have no say in this matter and we can’t expect the masses to do the right thing so I guess hoping that elected politicians will come to their senses is all we have left. The old me would have thought that if the masses demanded change then the politicians would change their ways. Now I know the best plan is just to wait for these elected people to ignore their own self interest and do what is right and not what the voters want. Hopefully these politicians will realize how helpless we… Read more »
I guess we have a real problem when the voters’ self interest and the political leaders’ self interest converge on “let’s jump into fiscal insanity and see what happens!”
So it seems we’ve come full circle. Expect millions of voters to vote against their self interest, or expect a few hundred politicians to come to their senses and not make insane proposals to voters? The numbers are not in your favor.
I agree with you. Voters can’t be expected to do the right thing. I think we’ve established that. They are utterly helpless to choose different leaders. So now we wait for elected leaders to step up and do the right thing. As you’ve noted, there are fewer of them so that means it’s more likely that they will eventually do the right thing after staring into the “abyss”.
And by the way, PPF, what’s your solution? Or maybe no solution required because there’s no problem? Full steam ahead?
Well I used to believe that the solution required voters to start rewarding politicians making the right choice instead of the easy choice. Now I know that’s not possible since the voters aren’t capable. That’s why I was asking you and others what should be done. Unfortunately, nobody offered up any solutions. It’s very sad.
No voter ID, no proof of citizenship in Federal elections, etc. When Jim Crow was abolished, the polls were slowly but surely opened wide. Recently we have learned that the “secret ballot” means there’s “no evidence” of fraud. Low- to No-Information voters frequently do what they’re told — perhaps multiple times. AARP tells us elders how to vote; unions tell members [not to mention legislators] how to vote. Democracy seems to be a word without definition and civics classes have given way to memorizing correct pronouns. It took candidates as bad as Biden, Harris and what’s-his-name to overcome election-rigging. The… Read more »
PPF has no life at all. He spends all day here denying reality. He keeps mentioning voters owning Illinois’ problems when the voting maps are totally rigged. He lies about not getting a public pension. He lies about not being a bought and paid for poster. When people offer solutions he says they will never happen. He is dumb enough to think taxes can be increased forever in a state already taxed out. There will be MAJOR cuts, and sooner than later. PPF is a loser retired Chicago teacher who spends all day here fighting the reality that someday his… Read more »
“Love thy neighbor” isn’t your go-to motto, it seems. Tsk, tsk!
That was my old mindset. Now I’ve been convinced that the politicians are responsible and you can’t expect the voters to not be “tricked” by the slick words of politicians.
I’ll ask you the same thing as PP, what do we do to fix this? We can’t expect voters to be knowledgeable so what is our alternative?
Bankruptcy is the solution in a state that refuses to fix problems, and in time math will force it. Voters, politicians, and public unions will lose to math.
You need to be asking yourself why you have all the time in the world to be posting here all day. Look for a solution to your no life problem. Bye now. I have things to do.
Thanks for providing a solution. I have been accused of saying offered solutions “won’t happen” and those days are over for me. I’ve seen the light. How can we get the state to file for bankruptcy? What’s the process to make this happen? It’s so ridiculous that our elected leaders are not listening to you and starting this bankruptcy process. It’s so unfair that we have these incompetent politicians and we can’t do anything to change who is in charge. So unfair.
Is this comment one hundred today for you? Laws change all the time. Illinois’ collapse will force state bankruptcy allowance in time, other states could as well. You act like math won’t win, but it always has. Chicago is finished in the next recession, and so is your pension. Math is undefeated. You working on that no life problem? I really must go. I can’t just stay here all day like you. Say hi to your ignored wife for me. I know you are very worried about your pension. You prove it every single day you waste posting on here… Read more »
I wasn’t expecting you to reply today with your busy life. So there is nothing we can do? We just have to wait until the state collapses? That doesn’t sound like fun. How long do I have to wait? Why do so many people read and comment on this site if there is nothing that can be done. It sounds like everyone is wasting their time.
People LOVE to gripe. Even the few making it to heaven are bound to gripe. What’s more as the great philosopher Gomer Pile might have said “misery loves company.” That alone can help explain why such websites often have huge numbers of followers. Also, it’s far, far easier to sit at home and gripe than do the much more time-consuming job of getting involved personally to organize solutions and getting support for them. Count your blessings? No, way, Jose. Griping is far more fun!
Delia Ramirez should consult with her friends Brandon Johnson and Stacy Davis Gates to find out how much state funding Chicago and CPS are willing to give up so that money can be used to fund health care for immigrants. I’m sure Brandon and Stacy will jump at the chance to show their devotion to the progressive cause.