-- 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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
What really struck me was the deal teachers got on their health insurance premiums. No increase in employee premiums for 3 years, then 1/4 of 1% in year 4 and 1/2 of 1% in year 5. This is almost unbelievably generous in the current environment. I work for a very well-endowed private university and am very pleased with my health care plan overall, but even we typically get hit with a 5-6% premium increase each year, combined with higher deductibles and copayments. Is it wrong of me to suggest that one reason pensions are underfunded is because too much tax… Read more »
Whoa, Andrew. I think we are winning you over.
Well yeah, Lightfoot got rolled. When you create no leverage and have zero political will to oppose a public employee union, what do you think will happen? it is amazing to me that whenever “revenue” is contemplated everyone points to the default unicorn of “state progressive income taxes.” Like that is some kind of panacea for EVERY single deficit that state and all its municipalities have. Wirepoints has pointed out numerous times that the gains from that tax have already been promised away several times over. No one seems to notice but the people here on this site. At this… Read more »
I consistently ask progressives if they think higher marginal taxes rates are exogenous to overall economic productivity. I consistently am met with a blank stare, or a murmur that is is good to tax the rich. But of course my question goes unanswered, and the group queried includes educated people. So yes smart money won’t stick around with higher tax rates, but there is a cadre of educated people who will never entertain the thought.
An answer we consistently hear to questions like that is “but there’s all that money out there..”
Higher tax’s of course! The real questions should be. What SHOULD the per pupil expenditure amount to? What $$$ figure educates a child ? $20K-$30K-$50K. There is no upper limit according to state law but has a minimum of about $6,500. School districts like the no limit figure but taxpayers like the $6,500. Home schooling costs about $600 plus whatever the stay at home parent loses by not working but that is by choice and even they have to pay public school tax’s thru property. A comparison of local private vs public costs should be explored. Here in Rockford approx… Read more »