-- 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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
Truly enjoyed the discussion around Chicago garbage fees. Fran does an excellent job pointing out that the fee hasn’t been raised since inception and now it only covers 20% of the costs. Jason pushes back that the voters feel entitled to this so now it’s too hard to just take that away from the entitled voter. Everyone wants the services but people don’t want to pay their share. Fran also does an excellent job pointing out that if property taxes were adjusted accordingly the budget deficit would be cut by 400 million. Yes Chicago should be more efficient but they… Read more »
When greed and mismanagement rule, a senior advisor is worse than an advisor.
An absolute must listen dynamite Fran Spielman interview with Jason Lee. It’s obvious Lee’s running things for CTU/Brandon as disastrous as it is. It’s obvious the last thing they’re going to cut are any public sec collective bargained jobs if any or change negotiated work rules if even possible. It’s obvious phony progressives CTU/Brandon & crew are no different than old school pay-to-play machine guys and they got the knee pads on big time for Martwick & the ghouls in Springfield. WOW!!, Spielman does a masterfully subtle job getting Lee to reveal what’s going on and what a complete disaster… Read more »
Yes! All Lee has to offer is “maybe this, maybe that” and the mayor’s office is sitting on its hands. Lee basically pushes off responsibility to the state and city council on everything, not giving a yes or no on anything whatsoever. Spielman is great as always and this is a great display of how inept the mayor’s office is.