-- 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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Pritzker will create a property tax relief task force. This is laughable.
Since he refuses to reform the salary/pension/health care benefit problem that’s crippling the state, what good will any lower property taxes do (as of a result of implementing the task force’s recommendations)? That lost tax revenue will only be offset by increasing taxes and user fees elsewhere. Hey, how about quadrupling the gas tax instead of just doubling it?