-- 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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“bond sales the state intends to use to balance its books”
How does that balance the books? It’s like me doing a cash advance on my Chase credit card to pay off my Bank American credit card.
We’ve written about that a billion times and it can’t be said often enough. Budgets are bunk. Borrowed money and asset sales count as revenue. Growing debt is not counted.