-- 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 Illinois recovery, such that is, is stalling. Seasonally adjusted non-farm payroll has declined for four straight months and the year over year increase in jobs has fallen every month since March. Illinois’ reached its peak employment level in September 2000 and is still more than 80,000 jobs shy of the cyclical peak in January 2008. Clearly November’s change of administration was not enough, our state needs leadership change in the Senate and House.
But Cullerton says everything is great! Him and Madigan must be staffing up to protest the new tax hikes for their Chicago clients.