-- 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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Job growth is way different than skill growth. With a job you eat for a day, with a skill you eat for a lifetime. Mere jobs cannot lift it.
I live in an affluent suburb – no one *ever* talks about bringing “jobs” to my suburb. In fact, we don’t want jobs here and in many ways actively discourage it. I’m not sure why southsiders get the luxury of a short commute while the rest of us are driving/public trans all over the region for our jobs. They may bring these jobs to the southside, only to have workers from elsewhere work there instead.