-- 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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“We’ve always measured the value of transit in terms of ridership… We may need to find alternate measures of value”. Translation- no way are we going to let funding be reduced, even if nobody rides the trains anymore. Pete Buttigieg will make sure of that!
Well “transit” has moved from wheels to wires. But yes, government will not only continue to run empty trains, they will pour money into new equipment for the handful of riders with jobs that require a physical presence. And those riders will have fewer choices at higher fares. Public transit is one of the sacraments of the left.
““That has changed as we have seen an expansion of bus rapid transit, light rail systems,” said APTA’s Skoutelas. “Those are systems that have really looked to make available transit as an option for other activities — going to the ballpark, going to a show, making it a part of normal travel itineraries, not just the work trip.””
Except that ball parks are closed, shows are shut down, restrauants are limited capacity, the streets are violent, crime is skyrocketing on public transit, stores are closed or shuttered.
There’s nowhere left to take trains except to work.
And many are liking work from home that it will have to come down to compulsion not volunteerism to fill up those buildings again. Many companies have no good argument as to why an employee must begin commuting when they’ve already given them a few good reviews for work done as well as before.
People will want to go into the office, few want to work at home forever, full time. But the days of the hour long commute are over, twice a day, five day a week are OVER for a good portion of the Chicago population… I live about 20 miles from downtown Chicago in a leafy suburb but it’s a hour round trip on public trans, and on an average pre-pandemic day, about a 75 minute drive in rush hour. It’s a horrible commute that hundreds of thousand of suburbanites used to make every day. I can tell for certain that… Read more »