-- 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
It looks like an expansion of the long-held principle in public employment that the phones aren’t answered after 4:45. Workers blame it on management who won’t pay time-&-a-half. Or they blame it on having to catch the 5:07 bus. They walk among us. I recall peer pressure during my six months in the public sector if I didn’t take my full 15″ coffee break (AM and PM). Since the elevators were slow, one needed to allow five minutes on either end to get your full 15″ in the cafeteria. It’s top down; pay increases are almost automatic and promotions based… Read more »
Are you surprised?
Does anything in Illinois work?
Gig workers and independent contractors have not paid into unemployment insurance. They do not deserve any money form IDES. They are like automobile drivers who have an accident calling up state farm and demanding a claim payment.
This is no slur against gig workers and independent contractors. They do great work and are the cutting edge of the free market but they haven’t paid into unemployment insurance. Their unemployment insurance is self insurance by socking away savings for the times when their independent contracting work is slow.
Yes, you are correct about the Gig worker and not paying into UI. However, the Fed passed the C.A.R.E.S. Act which provides financial assistance $$ to ALL unemployed workers including Gig workers. That is what the Gig worker is filing for as of May 11th and is now in the same boat as everyone else while waiting for the State of Illinois to get it’s act together. Gig workers are not going to receive any unemployment insurance $$. This is a different and temporary measure that they are filing for. It’s not UI, but they still have to file through… Read more »
Thank you for the clarification. I still think that it is wrong and a mostly Democrat driven ploy to justify their California elimination of gig workers and hopes to expand it nationwide. Of course this plan is fueled by unions who simply want more union dues. Frankly it seems unconstitutional to me and will ultimately have it’s own Janus ruling.
Behold the delightful quagmire that is big government at work.