-- 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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On the flip-side, IL is probably one of the better states for upper middle class families because of the relative plethora higher paying jobs, a relatively low 5% income tax rate and lower real estate home prices. Which explains why so many Democrat/Liberal/Progressive families stay in this progressive utopia. $150,000 a year income in IL goes much, much further than $150,000 in many other urban counties these days. Just for example, the median home price in Cook County is $297k while formerly ‘affordable’ Maricopa County (Phoenix) AZ is $463k. It doesn’t matter if the taxes are $2,000 in Maricopa compared… Read more »
I agree debtsor. Your post is exactly why people don’t flee the state like many on this site expect. Increased taxes cause home values to remain stagnant or in some cases like Rockford, decline. When people look to move, many realize that they can’t get paid the same in Indiana as they do in Illinois, so many decide to stay. If the alternative area also has strong jobs (and lower taxes), then the price of real estate will make it difficult to live the same lifestyle. Most voters don’t process the opportunity costs of lost real estate appreciation and just… Read more »
It’s less than 99% that stay put. Far more people leave than 1%. The stats confirm this: The black population in the Chicago region has decreased from 1,671,899 in 2000 to 1,545,811 today; and the white population has decrease from 5,397,499 to 4,825,000 today. If you go back to the 1970’s, the white population of the Chicago region has collapsed from 6,461,712 to the 4.825 million today. These are massive population losses over half a decade. However, as I’ve repeated ad nauseam, these losses are masked by the increasing hispanic population. Hispanics were 633,549 in 1980 and today are 2,239,376,… Read more »
Opinion: A century of data shows who’s moving to Chicago, who’s leaving—and why SNIP First, Black population loss is driving population decline, while gains in the Latinx population are countervailing this trend. This is not new. Starting in 1980, Chicago has seen both a secular decline in its Black population, ending the prior six decades of growth, and a secular increase in its Latinx population. In the 2010s, for example, the Black exodus contributed to a loss of about 85,000 Chicagoans, a quarter of whom stayed in Illinois while the remainder moved elsewhere in the Midwest and to the South.… Read more »
Illinois soon to rank at the Top of states for Criminals to live and thrive.
Thanks to Illinois representatives who do not represent the law abiding tax payer and their family only criminals.
And these are the good times, taxes are only going higher, and higher.
Taxpayers were put on earth to work and serve the government employees.
Most pensions leave the state ASAP.
“Most pensions leave the state ASAP.”
Why make up random lies? The last report I read showed 83% of pensioners stay in the state. Another critic with zero credibility.
The large pension leave the state for Florida, the tiny ones stay in Hell.