-- 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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
Can any one in the State of Illinois do math any longer? WAHOO! The all time record return of $200 million for one month on a $43 billion portfolio is supposed to be cause for celebration? We already know that there are not a handful of humans in Springfield that can digest numbers over $100 million. Billions (like in the state budget) are beyond their mental capacity. I guess no one has a calculator to do the rate of return on that whoop- de- do $200 million. Even if they could produce that record monthly return for twelve straight months… Read more »
I’ve said this many times before. When the Fed decided to keep rates artificially low for a decade or so how much money was lost by not getting 4% or so in interest on cash reserves in all of the pension funds. Any cash in banks were a interest free loan to them. That’s why large banks were posting record profits. How much money was lost thru the compounding effect of almost zero% interest for years? Just getting 3 – 4% on cash reserves would increase funding levels at little to no risk. But taxpayers are on the hook nonetheless.