-- 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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I have no sympathies for the credit card oligopolies. They *never* lose money. Ever. They literally never lose money. They might earn less one quarter than another but they never lose money. They only earn billions of dollars in profit. I never really thought that the merchant would be required to pay a transaction fee on the TAX it collect for the state and the processor made the merchant pay for it. Screw MC and Visa. Let them figure out the coding behind this. I’d guess their 40 year old processing systems are still using COBOL, making billions off their… Read more »
The merchant is also required to pay a transaction fee on the tips it collects for the servers. Wonder why the payment systems are pushing for 25% and 30% tips? It’s not for the benefit of the servers or the business, those people have to worry about angering the customers. The credit card oligopolies don’t have to worry about angering the customers. Fees on the tips are icing on the profit cake and they add up to millions/billions of extra profit for the credit card processors.