-- 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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While property values were declining in the towns mentioned and around Illinois school districts were giving themselves raises-bonuses-pension spikes-almost free healthcare without any regard to where the money was coming from. Theft of equity by excessive taxation should be a crime. If I break into a home and steal $30K worth of stuff I go to prison when caught but if I am a taxing district and put an excessive tax burden on the home and it loses $30K in value no problem.