-- 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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I read another article this week that 4 individuals from Chicago were arrested once again by the Oak Brook Police after stealing thousands in merchandise from the Macy’s at Oak Brook shopping center. This happens with incredible frequency and yet nothing is done to these offenders. They are arrested and released due to Governor Carnival Barker’s commitment to allow criminals to roam freely. Here’s an idea Kwame, ring up your special pal Pritzker and tell him he’s an idiot.
I wonder if the loss in tax revenue due to clothes, laundry detergent etc being sold off of folding tables by nervous looking individuals on the sidewalks is included, along with the fact that much of the merchandise has been shoplifted in the first place. NYC is currently rife with such activity.
You and I may not buy stolen laundry detergent off some street vendor, but many people in poorer communities do. It’s crazy. I remember years back I was on the red line and some homeless looking guy reached into his bag and pulled out steaks, he was trying to sell steaks on the train. And for some single mom, who didn’t have dinner ready for her kids that night, and didn’t have any food in the fridge, she likely bought those steaks for pennies on the dollar, and her family ate steak that night.
More than one person that I know bought meat from a traveling merchant after having one too many drinks at the bar the itinerant was canvassing and was sick from eating it shortly thereafter.