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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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Mixed legacy for Rahm? Any real positives anyone can point to? Nice riverwalk but that’s about it. No progress on murders and crime in the neighborhoods. Violent crime spreading rapidly into downtown and all over the CTA. City, CPS and any other pension fund he had control over are barreling over the cliff. TIF program a shambles.General budget he left for Lighfoot a disaster. CPS teachers union out of control. Racial tensions higher than before he got in. Streets and bridges in much worse condition because he had no capital plan. He washed his hands of it all, vamused as… Read more »
You can give him credit for pilfering some large office tenants from the suburbs. Would like to know what he gave away to get them.
Rahm was the best of the three or four other candidates running for mayor. Chicago has been on the precipice of becoming a Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis or Newark for a long time. It’s much closer to breaking bad than breaking good like NY or SF or Denver or Seattle like some of the other more vibrant urban centers. Chuy as mayor or any of the others would have sent it spiraling down. Rahm did his best I believe to keep it from going down. Lori, well, that remains to be seen, as she seems more interested in the culture… Read more »