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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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This is a really well written article. I hope it gets a lot of attention.
It is too late – really it is. About the only way you can revitalize Illinois is to pass constitutional amendments that guarantee property taxes will not exceed x percent of home value and income taxes and sales taxes cannot exceed some set percentage. Of course that would mean the pensions would not get paid. The issue is simple, you would have to be mentally retarded to want to live in Illinois given the uncertainty regarding your assets. Illinois is no longer a place any sane, aware person would set down roots. It could make a stop for the transient… Read more »
Unless you can swap out the underclass they’ve imported in to replace the middle class that has left for greener pastures it is certainly too late. They have wedded this underclass and they aren’t going back on that. The state will follow them down the sewer. I doubt the neighboring states would be generous enough to take them off Illinois’ hands.