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The cost of constructing the Enjoy Illinois float, the performers on board and the entry fee cost taxpayers $560,000. The theme spotlighted the state’s music history along Route 66 and was called “Illinois: The Middle of Beats and Blues,” a nod to the state’s tourism campaign, “Middle of Everything.” The float did not grab any of the 24 float trophies awarded this year.
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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How can you have an Illinois float without a U-Haul trailer?
P.S. Too many taxpayers DID NOT ENJOY ILLINOIS. Had something to do with high taxes, corruption, and high crime. That’s why they packed up and left.
What a waste of money. This is not even an attractive float–design is too busy and ugly. No tourism dollars were brought in by this wreck. Illinois should discontinue their participation in the Rose Parade. Add this to the mountain of stupid ways Illinois wastes taxpayer dollars.
I thought they won “Most Likely to Deceive” award. Maybe the home state of the parade took that prize.