-- 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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
Shut down the hospitals. Save hundreds of millions of dollars.
“So since we have the opportunity to begin to expunge records we had to do that as expeditiously as possible … besides which we are required by law.” Funny how quickly the County is on this compared to other more pressing “required by law” issues.
Why is the onus on the county (taxpayers) to expunge the pot convictions. Shouldn’t the criminal have some skin in the game, make them do some of the work to get their record expunged. Make them fill out the paperwork, make them pay a fee with exceptions for the indigent. I’m guessing half of them could care less if their record is expunged.
Orange Man bad for not extending full healthcare benefits to illegals
Did you miss the memo? We no longer live in scarcity. Resources are unlimited. All of the world’s ills can (AND MUST!) be overcome.
When Medicare/Medicaid are sucking up a huge and rapidly expanding amount of all government spending, and more and more of this is going on the National & State MasterCards(tm), there is no brake on any of it. Denninger is right, all roads lead to us being literally bankrupted by the Medical/Medical-Insurance Cartel. But in a time of political warfare, it’s all about who to treat with the South African Necklace. Kooks like Lightfoot nominate Orange Man, of course.
Translation: Our budget is balanced except for $600M we don’t know how to handle. Rauner bad. Orange man bad.
Orange man so very bad!!!
Isn’t this 600M liability as challenging as the City of Chicago’s near 900M problem (which is understated after the unions get through with Lightfoot)? Question what kind of taxes Preckwinkle can levy to close the gap? Every single day there is reason to leave Northern Illinois.
Good question that we need to dig into. It’s not easy because the County’s budget and reporting is the most obscure of all the stuff we look at. That’s one reason why we are raising money — to have more resources to cover more issues like the one you raised.