-- 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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The article mentioned that a home valued at $1.1M in Highland Park pays $34K in taxes. That’s a bargain. Here in Rockford that home would pay $53,509 at 1/3rd value with a tax rate of 14.8363%. There may be just a few homes with that value if any here but businesses and factories pay that because all tax rates are applied equally not like Chicago where tax rates can not be more than 2.5 times the lower rate.