-- 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
So, in IL, the pols want a constitutional amendment to raise taxes but not to lower pensions and health care benefits. That’s absolute insanity, of course, because: 1) IL residents already pay the highest combination of property and sales taxes in the country; 2) even if a constitutional amendment cut pensions and health care benefits in half, state retirees would have better retirement packages than most American retirees; and 3) higher taxes will cause even more people to move out of IL, lessening the expected increase in revenue. Doesn’t this writer understand the concept of a death spiral?