-- 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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Just goes to show you how much the Chicago Dems really care about the regular folk in Chicago. Remember, we elected a black mayor 40 years ago. So many top government jobs in the City and County have been filled by minority individuals for thirty or forty years ago and none of them have given a hoot about this problem. So what’s another 40 years!
Its not the governments responsibility to change your feed line. Its up to individuals to do it, or not. The public has been informed of the risks, informed consent should now drive it. That is where the governments responsibility ends. Maybe they can make it a requirement when homes are sold, like any other code violation. That would be the most efficient way as both seller and buyer could negotiate the price and hire the contractor. Asking Chicago to do this “lets boil the ocean” task, when they freak out over housing a mere 10,000 illegals is a fantasy. The… Read more »
When auto safety belts (or airbags) became the law, they didn’t retrofit all existing older cars.
Of course not. Chicago is a failure. Illinois, as led by JB Pritzy, is a failure. We are neither led nor managed. That a CLEAR health danger exists and there is NO funding in place to mitigate and no rainy day fund that can be employed to facilitate a fix, is all one needs to see to understand the depth of our mismanagement under years of liberal/progressive/democrat stupidity.
Interestingly, I have always wondered how successful presumably educated folks could vote democrat… Hmmm, maybe it’s the lead in the pipes that has destroyed their capacity for critical/analytical thought?
Should Chicago Democratic leaders spend money on their constituents or themselves and their minions?
A question never asked by any Chicago elected official.
Surprised there’s no reparations program for lead-poisoned Chicagoans.
Surprised Chicago’s army of personal injury attorneys aren’t pursuing this business.
Lead feed lines is the least of this city’s problems and the least of the country’s problems. Yes give them 40 years, 50, even 100 years. A 70-90 year old, well calcified, feed line into a Chicago bungalow is not at all a health hazard. The 70-90 year calcium layer in the pipe prevents any lead to water contact.
Where’s the evidence the city ever even made any attempt to bid out lead waterline replacement??—-“Cheng added that the city is also struggling to find workers. The state has a shortage of plumbers, she said, and with few contractors bidding to do the work, the city is having to pick it up.”
I started thinking who are the other players at Chicago Water Dept besides Operators Engineers union who have a vested interest in monopolizing lead water service line replacement? And I looked up Plumbers Union Local 130 UA. On their officers page they have big time machine player/ former State Senator John D’Amico as Director of Political Affairs (https://plumberslu130ua.com/officers.aspx)