-- 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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what’s being planned: higher state income taxes, significant jump in gas taxes, taxing retirement
what should be planned: significant reductions in excessive pensions and health care benefits, so IL wouldn’t have to, you know, increase state income taxes, increase gas taxes, and tax retirement income
Once again, pensions and health care benefits could be reduced by 50 percent for State of IL retirees, and these retirees would still have better retirement benefits than most retirees in the private sector.