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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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This is a big victory if accurate. The Chicago workers’ comp system was a utterly corrupt before.
Having worked in the field of worker’s compensation for a few decades, I can assure you it’s an attorney-centric system where the only winners are workers comp attorneys – both sides, plaintiff and defendant.
Years back some reforms improved the system a bit, but it has a long way to go before the act truly protects both the injured workers and employers.
Too many spurious claims are honored and fraud isn’t punished.
It’s also one of the most expensive in the country. Workers compensation premiums in a so-called high risk injury are upwards of a third of an employees salary. I’ve been told, but can’t verify, that it costs $20k a year a premiums for a construction worker with a $60k a year salary.