-- 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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I thought this interview was revealing for what CTU/Brandon says & what questions weren’t asked: Astoundingly no questions asked of Brando and Brando never mentions anything about Chicago’s astronomical debt?, pension debt? or how to deal with it? Brando repeatedly mentions “40 years of disinvestment” in Black community? (“look, 40 years of disinvestment. Whether it’s North Lawndale, Englewood, Roseland, Austin, Garfield Park, every single crisis that we are dealing with right now, I inherited it. There’s not one crisis right now that I caused. Not one.”): So, no surprise he’s saying you have to go back to the Washington administration… Read more »
Disinvestment happened in 1968 when the city’s newest transplants decided to burn down their neighborhoods. That’s how disinvestment began. What irks me is victimhood mentality BJ pushes on the community. Investment begins at home, with people in the community, who are capitalists, and want to make money. The very neighborhoods they live in were built by the penniless immigrants with their bare hands. Even the Mexican neighborhoods in Chicago, while rundown, have basic services with ethnic grocery stores, restaurants, and other services, with little government help. And my town is filled with local businesses, manufactures, restaurants, and services, staffed by… Read more »