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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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Look for Lightfoot to encourage more candidates to dilute the field.
In 2019, Wilson got about 10% of the vote, and that was running against multiple African American candidates: Lightfoot (18%), Preckwinkle (16%), Enyia (8%), Sales-Griffin and Ford (1%). Betting there is a lot of crossover for Wilson from most of those candidates (I got the sense Enyia was supported more by white progressives than anyone else). Lopez is going to get the majority Hispanic vote. The socialist-Hispanics who hate Lopez will be forced to vote for Lori, whom they also despise, which is funny. Assuming no law-and-order white candidates enter the race, Lopez could rack those up too. The only… Read more »
Quigley doesn’t speak much because when he does he sounds like a complete buffoon. When he does talk, tows the Democrat Party Line as much as every other Democrat Party Apparatchik, and he’s indistinguishable from every other Democrat White Dude.
Lopez is the guy, he checks all the intersectional boxes – gay, hispanic, socialist, but tough on crime for the white collar crowd.
I never got the impression Lopez was socialist.
He might not be but I assume all Chicago alderman are even if they’re not specifially a member of the DSA
I heard that Quigley was viewed as a possible machine candidate. Separately, I also heard that progressives don’t like Lopez at all, consider Vallas a law and order guy, and aren’t critical enough of Lightfoot to have written her off.
Based on the above, I think Lopez would have to score big with identify voters to have any chance. So far, the socialist vote favors Lightfoot.
Lopez does appear on Fox news quite a bit too so that’s a negative strike against him at least from a Democrat’s perspective. Maybe my analysis of him is a bit off on the socialist part. I tried to find some of his specific policy positions other than
”Prior to his political career, Lopez worked as a skycap for Southwest Airlines at Midway International Airport. He was a skycap for 12 years.”
Good for him if he makes mayor. I’m coming around to the belief that the highly educated progressives are actually the dumbest people around.
“The highly educated progressives are actually the dumbest people around.” Spot on. That’s one of the major lessons of the last few years. I would add who I have come to conclude are the smartest people around when it comes to the things we write about here. They are self-educated commoners. They are typically older and have studied history and government on their own. They usually have no degrees on point, or maybe even little advanced education. They are typically older and have a variety of work experiences. I have met them through my work here at Wirepoints, and they… Read more »