-- 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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Martire is a union hack fraud —
https://westcooknews.com/stories/511183116-teacher-s-union-lobbyist-martire-ready-for-his-victory-lap
whatever comes out of his lying mouth is bought and paid for by Illinois’s crooked labor racketeers
“Crisis du jour”? Yeah, the IL pols may not be bad at resolving the crisis du jour, but are great at ignoring the ever-worsening pension/healthcare benefits crisis of the last 30 years or so that’s crushing the state financially.
It is not a pension system, It is a huge illegal Ponzi scheme. They are paying todays benefits with today’s contributions. If a public company did this, they would go to jail for life. Ponzi, is Ponzi no matter who does it and it is illegal.
Again, Ralph separates pension costs from line item costs to make it sound like we’re not spending enough. A teacher’s pension is education spending, whether it’s the normal pension cost or the payment on pension debt.
And he talks only about the General Fund that does not include the pensions. So, he just ignores the growing unfunded pension liability.
What makes Martire’s work so misleading is that he never ends up accounting for the full pension cost. For example, if the state contributed $600 million instead of the actuarially required $1 billion, Ralph includes that $600 million but the remaining $400 million is never accounted for because it’s debt and he ignores debt. He’s using cash basis accounting to obfuscate the financials.
Just another Springfield hack
Gee Ralph, if the problems that placed Illinois on the precipice of fiscal armageddon still exist, wouldn’t that mean that Pritzker didn’t do a damn thing except be in office when Uncle Sam sent Illinois billions?
What kinda happy drugs is Martire using. Asking for a friend!
And in other breaking news:
“Flat Earth Society reports earth remains flat.”
Brilliant satire…!
He must be auditioning for the Babylon Bee…
This guy is someone who would commend a liar for telling a great lie!
Some people are just too gullible to live!
Ralph must be brain dead or has not seen the pension cash flow predictions.
The Pension Time Bomb is exploding and will cost way more money than anyone ever dreamed it would. Time to run for your economic life. This is going to turn out to be one of the worst generational thefts in history of the world. Texas and Florida will benefit from the public sector greed.
Ralph has always been a shill for the system.