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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 Drunken Sailors of the Civic Federation still don’t understand the problem with Chicago transit. Notice I didn’t include the word ‘mass’, Mr. Ferguson. That’s because it isn’t there. Ridership was on a long decline before the Coof and cratered due to Mayoral incompetence (Lightfoot) and the authoritarian dictates of the then-Governor (JB the Hutt). More money to move empty chairs back and forth all over Chicagoland just to maintain current employment levels at the operating wings of the RTA is the wrong solution. The avoidance of this typical transit agency pitfall was the 50% farebox recovery rate, meaning that… Read more »