Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How One City’s Pension Math Broke Its Budget
In this episode of Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna zoom in on a single municipal pension crisis: Chicago's $30 billion unfunded liability. They walk through how the city's annual required contribution has ballooned from $600 million to $1.9 billion in a decade, crowding out spending on schools and infrastructure. Lucas explains the 'mortality assumption' trick that made the hole worse, and Luna asks why cities don't just cut benefits. They discuss the political catch-22 of raising taxes versus cutting services, and draw a wider lesson about how public pension…
The skinny
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