-- 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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Reasonable people may differ on whether a progressive income tax is a good or bad thing on balance, but I just do not see any plausible way in which adopting a progressive tax would cause an increase in inequality. If your view regarding a progressive tax causing higher income folks to move out of state is correct, then it might be bad policy overall but it would still mathematically reduce inequality. I can, however, easily tell stories in which the causality is in the reverse direction. For example, a state with high and growing inequality that fuels voter resentment is… Read more »
A progressive tax increases inequity if it exempts retirement income.