-- 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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If I were in the NS boardroom, I would have already begun agitating for massive land purchases in Indiana. Close Englewood Yard and move all that economic activity to Gary, South Bend, or Elkhart; or simply move to a newly built greenfield site just as UP did south of Joliet.
My family lived among the railroads for over 80 years. I don’t recall too much whining about it, except when the gates at Burnham Avenue would seem to be stuck in the active position.