Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
18 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Are employees willing to incur an extended salary freeze and reduced health benefits if the govt commits to use that money saved for pension deposits? Probably not. Folks want money today and magic to produce that money tomorrow.
Whether it’s today or deferred, compensation is compensation. If pensions eat up too much of that compensation, then maybe the pension is too expensive.
It isn’t the lack of stocks in the Kankakee fire pension plan that is keeping it from capitalizing on strong equity markets; it is the critically low 19% funded level that is keeping the plan from recovering. Furthermore, while Mr. Brown advocates for the 65% equity limit to be raised to 80%, (an extraordinarily high level for public pension plans) according Illinois Department of Insurance Public Pension Division’s Biennial Report of 2017 p. 525, on 4/30/16, the Kankakee Fire Plan had $4.8 million in equities and $9.9 million in total assets, for a 48% equity ratio. Kankakee’s pension challenges will… Read more »
Screaming BS continues. ” A well funded pension is 70% funded” (paraphrased). A well funded pension is 100% funded for the costs incurred to date. Its actuarial math; beyond the realm for most of us, but an actuary can do it easily if the various boards stop fooling around with the variables.
Yup. Ignorance about pensions doesn’t stop people from writing about them.