Due to the stock market downturn, public pensions invested in private equity are about to face a reckoning — but thanks to lax transparency regulations, pension members have no way of knowing how bad it might get.
Pension legislation historically has been bipartisan—and it very well might be again in the future. After more than a decade of failed efforts, the retirement security of 1.5 million Americans and their families, finally, took priority.
Robbing workers’ pension funds has long been central to Wall Street's business model. A recent Supreme Court ruling opened the door for financial managers to take their looting of those pension funds even further.
Marc Dann and Leo Jennings III
Working Class Perspectives
Federal officials have floated a number of proposals for dealing with the dilemma of underfunded multi-employer pension plans. Most have one thing in common: they punish the innocent victims. The contrast with the bailout of bankers is striking.
...drilling companies (are) hunting for capital to fund continued drilling — and they are increasingly turning to so-called private equity — a category covering both private investors like Warren Buffett and asset managers like pension funds.
More than 120 multiemployer pension funds—plans that cover workers who regularly work for different employers, largely in trucking, mining, construction, and entertainment—are considered in danger of insolvency. They cover about 1.3 million workers.
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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.
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