It shouldn’t have taken a PhD in economics to notice this – Wirepoints Quickpoint
May 17, 2024
59 Comments
What a representation of Chicago’s plight.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Springfield Budget Director Bill McCarty said if the unfunded pension liabilities continue to grow, local governments may need to reduce services for taxpayers. "We would have to take from things that fund police or public works and fire. We have to take from that area, and that's a big concern that we are going to be sacrificing potentially or cannibalizing city services just to make our required pension payments." SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Twelve Illinois Congressmen vote against bill to give federal custody to non-citizen defendants charged or convicted with assaulting cops – Wirepoints Quickpoint
May 17, 2024
10 Comments
The bill passed despite their votes in response to certain incidents where local prosecutors are thought to have been too lenient with non-citizens assaulting cops.
The Chicago Teachers Union Plays Hooky – Wirepoints in the Wall Street Journal*
May 17, 2024
4 Comments
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board cited Wirepoints’ analysis of Chicago student proficiency data in their latest piece condemning the Chicago Teachers Union’s outrageous contract demands…all while a vast majority of Chicago’s children graduate unable to read at grade level.
Gov. Pritzker is using the threat of budget cuts to get more tax hikes passed – Wirepoints joins Tom Miller of WJPF Carbondale
May 17, 2024
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Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about the details of Gov. Pritzker’s proposed $52 billion budget, why the state is struggling now that federal covid dollars have run out, the controversy surrounding Tier 2 government pensions, why Illinois’ expensive education system fails to teach children to read, the outrageous demands of the Chicago Teachers Union, and more.
Public education staffing has ballooned over the years…yet kids still can’t read – Wirepoints on with Jeff Daly of WZUS Decatur Radio
May 17, 2024
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Ted joined Jeff Daly to discuss how politicians can never spend enough on education despite there being no accountability for that spending, the growth of education staffing across Illinois, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $1 billion demand for Chicago schools, why Gov. Pritzker is providing $830 million in taxpayer subsidies to struggling EV carmaker Rivian, and more.
Ask AFSCME state HQ for a handout. They’re right around the corner.
Illinois is most exited state in 2022.
PPF here is the result of the GREED.
You and your greedy lazy government employees have destroyed the quality of life for millions of working families. Be proud of stealing from unborn children.
Nope. It’s the result of lazy taxpayers like you that didn’t demand that your government paid their bills. Now the debt is increasing and you’re whining like a kid that took out too many student loans. Stop punting on the debt and start funding the pensions. Your bad debt habit is costing unborn children.
State retirees get nearly 40% more than what working Illinoisans earn – Illinois Policy
Pensioners receive these benefits through no fault of their own and they should be paid – Also Illinois Policy.
The state knew full well what they were offering and would need to pay these benefits. You know as well yet you remain in the state. You are responsible for this debt while you live in Illinois. You’re just jealous and you don’t want to pay.
You keep saying you’re going to leave yet here you are still paying me, I mean the state taxes. lol. It’s like you’re my Beeotch.
Stop all funding and just let the money run out. Deal with it then. It will take a few years to happen, by then lots more people will have left the state.
State retirees get nearly 40% more than what working Illinoisans earn – Illinois Policy
It’s a house of cards,totallyunsustainable. My company dumped my pension on the PBGC, I get 14% of what I was expecting. With SS and a minuscule annuity, I get by OK by not spending money like a Democrat. Just use your brain, it’s not that hard.
Start by going after all the pension fraud tricks — double and triple dippers — working your last day at a job with 5 times your normal salary, to inflate your pension check
‘Budget’ Director getting clear of coming sh#t storm? Probably smart.
Is Lightweight that stupid that she thinks the fat man can make 1+1=4? As long as 1+1=2 these immorally, obscenely generous pensions are un-payable
Get out while the getting is good. Hundreds of thousands already have and the number is growing fast. Punta Gorda, Florida is where all the Chitty of Chicago Cops go.
I like to sit on my front porch in Punta Gorda, Florida and have an empty popcorn box on my lap. As the little boys go by I ask them if they want some popcorn and just reach in to get some. I love that!
The pension time bomb is going off right now. It will destroy Illinois and its communities for sure. Huge generous pensions are unaffordable for any state. The only hope is bankruptcy for the state. The only real choice for a poor honest working family is to leave, vote with your feet and start over somewhere else. The Greedy Government worker has eaten the state, it is DOA.
You really need a SHRINK BUDDY states can
t declare bankruptcy youre constant bashing of working people is truly sickening the politicians pass the laws not the working man would love to know what you do for a living I`m sure it really helps CivilizationIL could lobby for effectively BK the way Puerto Rico did. In fact my guess would be that Pritzker, Democrats, and the public employee unions would embrace a kind of BK court, figuring they could rig it.
In July of 2022, Municipal Finance Conference was held. They had a panel of experts discussing the Puerto Rico bankruptcy. One of the 4 people on the panel, John Ceffalio (municipal credit analyst and now head of Northern Trust Municipal Client Portfolio Management) made the following statement. “there is a precedent that was set in Detroit and in some of the California bankruptcies” that “in negotiations… the pensioners I think have a better moral claim and better political claim… than does a mutual fund, who might be hesitant to get into a public fight with pensioners. So, I do think… Read more »
You’re a mean person. Nobody in Punta Gorda, Florida is as mean as you. Even the retired cops and firemen are nicer than you. What do I do for a living? I complain because I’m just a loser with no life. You probably have a mansion in Florida too. You didn’t earn it you just steal money from poor people like me.
I’m smart, smarter than you. I don’t complain I tell the truth. You steal my hard earned money so you can build a mansion in Punta Gorda Florida. I need more money to pay for my psychiatric care but you are greedy and take it. You didn’t work and retired with a million dollar a year pension for doing nothing. I worked hard at a circus cleaning cages of elephant dung and selling cotton candy and didn’t wash my hands between jobs. My dog bit me and it was your fault you pension thief.
“McCarty said if the unfunded pension liabilities continue to grow, local governments may need to reduce services for taxpayers. “We would have to take from things that fund police or public works and fire. We have to take from that area, and that’s a big concern that we are going to be sacrificing potentially or cannibalizing city services just to make our required pension payments,” McCarty said.” That’s what happens when you run up debt. It can be real inconvenient when you need to pay your debt and you can’t spend money on other services. It’s like those kids that take out… Read more »
The pain is coming PPF. Wait until the investments of your pension get marked to market and the funding ratio plummet. There is little appetite by pol’s to raise taxes and the low hanging fruit on the fee tree has already been picked. A nice hard Fed induced recession will be the final straw. Enjoy your sunny days now because storms are in the forecast.
I’m not worried. The state will just pay pensions and debt first. When there is not enough money for the other services, tax increases will be inevitable. Plenty more taxes to be implemented.
Increase flat income tax
Implement progressive tax
Tax services
Tax retirement income.
Maybe a state wide real estate transfer tax. I’m thinking 9% with a 7% credit if you purchase another home in Illinois within the year. One last tax for anyone leaving.
The pain is coming alright. I’ll be waiting.
I am not worried about it either, I am going to leave and let PPF eat its own young.
PPF is exactly correct. People think that public employee unions are influential in Springfield because they donate lots of money to the Democrats who are perfectly happy buying votes from others with money that should have funded pensions. While that’s true, it’s not the real reason. Public Employee Unions are influential in Illinois because Illinois is in debt to them by an amount equal to three or four or five entire annual state budgets. Illinois Public Employee Unions are the landlord in Illinois, and the rest of us are just tenants who are about $200 billion behind in our rent.… Read more »
Goodgulf, the public employees are the landlords in Illinois, but the politicians are their tenants, not the taxpayers. It is the politicians who are subject to eviction. The politicians have been paying the rent to their landlords every single year, and they use taxpayer money to do it.
Taxing retirement income would be my first option while drastically cutting state spending. But I’ll bet ya that someone would sue that taxing retirement benefits is a reduction in benefits and the state supreme court would agree and throw out the tax increase.
I think taxing retirement income is at the bottom of the list. The public employee unions would never support imposing an Illinois State Income Tax on their member’s pensions, and Democrats in Springfield don’t have the ability or the spine to buck the unions. I don’t think Illinois Democrats will even consider legislating such a tax, even if they were confident that the Illinois Supreme Court would rule against the legislation later That’s because neither the pol’s nor the unions want to risk the outrage that would result if they legislated a tax on retirement income that exempted public employee… Read more »
Maybe cutting special interests tax benefits would help. When the tax structure was set up it was supposed to be fair to all. Since then however farmers for example have been excused for not paying taxes based upon the fair market value of their ground. Whats fair is fair and when the tax structure was enacted it was based upon fair market value. Bill Gates they say is Illinois largess farm ground owner and be realistic. Gates doesn’t deserve any subsidies.