-- 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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Ah, Illinois. Where good ideas come to die under a pile of bureaucracy and taxes. The plan to fast-track international doctors sounds great—on paper. But let’s be real: the moment these skilled professionals get their bearings and realize their paychecks are devoured by Illinois’ astronomical taxes, they’ll pack up and head to states where they can keep more of what they earn. I spent 21 years working in 18 countries, many of them third-world, and I can say this much: the doctors there were competent, the systems functional. Here? Even the best idea gets sucked into the black hole of… Read more »
Instead of importing doctors, give tuition aid to US citizens for medical school.
The cost of medical school isn’t what keeps U.S. applicants out. Not everyone who applies gets in. Space is limited. Virtually every student who gets out of medical school is hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt but the high earnings over their career easily pay off this debt. We don’t need to do any government subsidizing of U.S. citizens in medical school. One of the few college loans that can easily be paid off by the recipient of the loan.