Portside

Investment of public money needs transparency and accountability. The CalPERS decision to end hedge fund investments should be a clarion call for pensions to re-examine their relationship with these and other nontraditional investment instruments. Trillions of dollars of public money as well as the retirement security of millions of workers are at stake.

Why does a millionaire mayor and a billionaire hedge fund CEO team up to attack public pensions? Because that's where the money is.

This is the heart of the new financialism and it is happening all over the country. If this were just one isolated case, we could probably live with it. It might even lead to a new law that would outlaw Ackman's outrageous behavior. But this kind of de-creative destruction is now a central feature of our new financialized economy. It is now routine for big-time investors to make bets against companies and then try to bring those companies down using a variety of tactics.

A troubling pattern emerges as private funds seek to profit from beleaguered cities.