-- 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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The definition of the word “balanced” has been usurped in all departments of Illinois government. Borrowing nor even the restructure of old debt of any kind should never be put on the income side of the sheet. In Illinois we balance things in the current year by increasing debt in some future year. And we do that over and over. I yawn when I hear righteous talk of balancing in Illinois, because Illinois budgets in any agency simply don’t follow accounting principles. They are a waste of time and fraudulent.
That’s a useful reminder and should be repeated over and over again. These “budgets” mean nothing.