-- 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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Inflation will make this a tax on all home sales in due time and will become a tax on leaving Chicago, Illinois. Eventually it will no doubt expand across the State as things like this are the will of the Illinois voters.
The state should enact a real estate transfer tax on every transfer. It that same person buys another home of equal or greater value within Illinois the tax should be waved. If they leave the state then they can pay the entire tax. Sure they will be upset but they no longer vote and we should get as much money as possible from these people. The theory behind taxing something will result in less of that behavior can be tested. Since people are fleeing the state in droves, we might as well start taxing this behavior and get the most… Read more »
“They no longer vote?” I question that because my thoughts are very few of them vote. My liberal utopia downstate area with a high population of college educated individuals had an 8% turnout rate in a recent election. Why vote when everything is so pleasant in Illinois? Besides isn’t the news on what new restaurant is opening locally much more important than politics?
PPF,
I say start taxing retirement income above say $40K.
No more free lunch in Illinois on your golden pension.
Wealth redistribution is NOT THE FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT
50.1% of Chicago’s BIPOC, Marxist LARPers and working class disagree. They see what you got, and they’re gonna take it from you. Just wait until they renaming your streets, taking down your statutes, oh wait, they’re already doing that..
Social Security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, section 8 housing, and every other welfare program out there disagrees with you. The majority of voters in this country want these things. All of these things are paid for by making the wealthy pay more and/or by giving the wealthy less of those same benefits. Unfortunately we are definitely a country of redistributing wealth. On top of that, it looks like it will only get worse in the future. If young people don’t believe they have enough opportunity they will just demand more redistribution. The current real estate market pricing them out of… Read more »
No, they actually just borrow money aka deficits to pay for these things!
Now they should create different tiers based on zone type.
Ha!! They’re debating how much of someone else’s money they should steal.
Yep, exactly. Sun Times makes a big-whoop about a ‘consensus’ among people who were all already agreed on taxing other people, who still think that their new tax is stupid and unfair.
In 1970s Chile, they had a plan to deal with communists — fly them out over the ocean and drop them to the waiting sharks
And it worked. Chile’s economy under the Pinochet regime grew, and it did so well that Chile was able to enter the OECD:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Chile
“The economy of Chile is a market economy and high-income economy as ranked by the World Bank. The country is considered one of South America’s most prosperous nations, leading the region in competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption…. In 2006, Chile became the country with the highest nominal GDP per capita in Latin America. In May 2010 Chile became the first South American country to join the OECD...”
You don’t even need a calculator to see how silly these numbers are. The City builds affordable housing at a cost of roughly $500k (choke!) per unit. Annual revenue under this new plan is going to be $140 million per year. That translates to 280 new units built with one year’s revenue. That’s about one good sized apartment building per year, with construction starting– when? Depending on whose numbers you listen to re the number of units needed in the City, anywhere from 3,000 to 15,000, it is obvious this program won’t begin to address the need. And you would… Read more »
They will be building affordable housing at the same rate they are replacing the lead water lines. About 400 years is my guess.