-- 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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Hmm, could this be expanded to include illegals?
The question is not who is going to get their debt paid off but who is going to get the money.
“If approved by the governor, the five-year pilot program will work with a nonprofit to use $10 million to pay off up to $1 billion in medical debt.”
The way this reads, a politically affiliated nonprofit gets a cut, and will probably negotiate down the debts of JB friends and contributors with medical debt.
I’m very sympathetic for people burdened with medical debt. Not so much for a program that has the earmarks of another politically tilted Illinois payoff.
“It’s estimated nearly two million Illinoisans have more than $4 billion in medical debt.”
$1B out of $4B may get relief. So who do you suspect will win this new political lottery prize?
It’s not even a lottery as the people with children will get pushed to the front of the line.
I hope I’m wrong, and that if implemented the program is properly and effectively administered.