-- 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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Orphe’s got it wrong when he states: “But while rent growth continued to cool nationwide, rent disinflation in Chicago stalled — not because of relatively higher demand for housing, but because Chicago continues to lag the rest of the country when it comes to building new housing.” When in fact rents in Chicago area going way up because we are building NOTHING compared to a Florida or Texas, for example, where rents are falling because they have been slamming out mountains of apartments, homes for rent, and new homes with booming demand for years. Here’s a redfin article from April… Read more »
“Prophets of doom have finally got one right.” C’mon, Orphe, we’ve been right year after year. It’s been a drip, drip drip of bad news for a long time, which is the way we’ve said it will go.