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DePaul University professor Joe Schwieterman said this dispute could lead airlines to take business elsewhere. “The difficult part is O’Hare’s a two hub airport,” he said. “United and American funnel a lot of people through here that aren’t originating in Chicago, and they argue that the rising costs, it just be more cost effective to route passengers to other hubs.”
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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Chicago and the state can’t manage the crime, schools, court system or budget (without constantly whining like my grade school daughter to the feds for a handout). What makes anyone optimistic they could come close to managing a multi-billion airport expansion near budgetary limits? Not these union coddling clowns. The airlines should say they will contribute a fixed amount, and let the clowns figure out what gets priority. (Hint, it won’t be a nice airport facility.)