-- 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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Illinois has been recognized in some recent articles as having the highest total taxes in the country. How does such a state treat its most vulnerable residents so poorly? If you want to tax me to better care for the disabled, or abused women and children or our heroic veterans, go right ahead. But we don’t do that in Illinois. We tolerate double dipping, egregious public pensions and wide spread corruption. Where is Pritzker on any of these issues?