-- 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 author makes a good empirical case for lost bond proceeds. I still can’t past that The state of Illinois is likely paying 40 percent of its budget on pension and opeb pbligations. And the numbers will get become worse, with no fair tax being able to come close to drawing down the debt. Residents with means at some point will not pay for services long ago provided. Throw in the corruption, and a remaining population with a heavy reliance on social services, and lost bond proceeds, while regrettable, seem to be minor in comparison.