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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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In 1989 I was a relatively new police officer here in Illinois. When all of the pension enhancements were proposed, the first thing I asked was, “Are they sustainable?” I almost got lynched by my fellow officers who couldn’t believe I even asked that question because the politicians “promised” it WAS sustainable (imagine that). I explained that I would rather have a lesser sustainable pension than retire and find myself without any income in retirement. And here we sit! Please don’t lose sight of the fact that, in addition to the poor financial planning, the politicians HAVE played games with… Read more »
Law Enforcement Pensions are not the problem, anyone that has the potential to get shot at protecting the Public should not have to worry about retirement. But, even the nutsy pension program math that exists today could be balanced, if the state of Illinois wasn’t such a corrupt crap-hole, wasting Billions on social programs that do not work and have never worked, graft and corruption. The one that comes to mind here is the State getting ready to spend $4B on extending the Red Line. $1B/mile to build. It is insane. Then the transit authority in chicago claiming to need… Read more »
One of the things you need to look at in public pensions is the pension payment based on the base salary of the employee or the highest years of pay. Here in South Florida the Sun Sentinel newspaper did a series on public pension 10 to 15 years back. The poster child (and not the only one) was a police sergeant with the Davie police department. If I recall correctly his basement salary was about $85,000 a year. His last year he worked all the overtime he could, earing about $165,000 that year. Because of that his retirement pay was… Read more »
If you live in Illinois and DON’T know your already screwed you must be in a coma.
Pension costs are enslaving the taxpayer everywhere in Illinois and only going higher and higher.