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.
I would hope AFT’s primary focus is ensuring those investments had 7.5% returns and low fees. But if Randi wants control over her members’ investments, then she is more than welcome to convert them to 401(k)’s.