-- 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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And it is not just the “little guys” who are having a hard time. Ask anyone in the distressed real estate business what they are seeing and you will hear there are scores of prime properties all over downtown and the rest of the city in big trouble. Large tenants are having trouble paying rent, don’t want as much office space, and won’t stay in buildings that don’t give major concessions. There is a bloodbath coming in commercial real estate and our new mayor is clueless. Good luck on getting funding for the CPS pension shortfalls from the new property… Read more »