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Please read my latest and post your coments here:
http://pensionpulse.blogspot.com/2010/04/calpers-battles-blackstone-on-middlemen.html
Thank you,
Leo Kolivakis
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The power politicians in Cali like the system as it is. These placement agents recycle their fees into political contributions and soft dollars. This system is so obviously corrupt that it boggles the mind. And the MSM has little interest in reporting the story.
All these fees come right out of the taxpayers' pockets.
Leo - I hope you're able to get the MSM interested in this story. By the way, this story is very connected to the Millberg Weiss legal fee scandal. The tort lawyers were using this system way before the PE people adopted it.
as a member of Calpers, when they held their most recent election, I emailed everyone I knew, (a lot of people, and potentially a lot more if the thing daisy chained) advising members that they should vote off anyone who a) was an encumbent b) anyone whose resume suggested they might be a 'financial' professional. And a funny thing happened, one of the candidates I suggested ended up in a runoff election. So I emailed her, and I said, just tell me you know the fund has been aggressively mismanaged, and you will protect our fund by implemented capital preservation.
Well nothing, and no matter because the people I email, whose retirement depends on their management skills, don't care either. NOBODY CARES. people are f**ing helpless, not really, but they act that way, professional people, too. very sad.
Only the recent hires need to rely on management skills. All hires previous to a few years ago (not exactly sure) have guaranteed pensions paid for by taxpayers, regardless of CalPERS performance.
Well they better start caring because the private sector is broke or moving out or moving assets out. Good luck getting blood from a stone.
Leo you are converting me into a true believer that "they" will not let this market go down over the next three years.
I have no idea how they can do it but by the looks of things they just have the big boys trading stocks back and forth like a game of tennis to keep the momentum perpetually UP!
Leo, I don't pretend to know anything about CALPERS/CALSTRS portfolio composition. Is it your take that they have outperformed or underperformed a passive index strategy containing similar asset allocations?
California is in a world of shit.
Excellent, excellent contribution , Leo.
CalPers and CalStrs shenanigans fly way under the radar in Ca , except the press is beginning to editorialize a lot more on the issue. But not to the extent you do here. Some large counties in CA are 100% to annual revenue underfunded, and it's starting to draw attention. It's not just a State employee issue.
Continue to remind people that public pension funds were top line targets for the peddling of risky investments. And their obscure accounting is a total mystery to people who have a vested interest in the health of the pension funds.
< not a public pensioner > .....just an outraged taxpayer in CA.
CalPers is 90% offshore already. California is in a severe depression with 25% real unemployment state wide. Bring back the money and invest in 21st century infrastructure improvements here and give the pensioners a piece of the action. Cut out the Wall St parasites.
Calpers is going to stay in the market until the bottom falls out and all the money is transferred to the big banks, leaving retirees peniless and destitute.
Blackstone will get their way.
For the past 20 years California had two massive booms — Silicon Valley and real estate. Where is the massive revenue from those multi decade whale sized booms? Spent on hiring public employees who do nothing but demand dot.com salaries and pensions and were never dot.bombed or downsized. Why is the infastructure so frail? Because the money was spent on hiring do nothing gov't. employees who start at $70,000 per year with a high school GED.
CALPERS is a ponzi scheme.
As good as it sounds to "invest in 21st century infrastructure improvements" I doubt California could do it. Their political class and societal elites are cripplingly mis-educated, and anything they tried to "invest" in would be either a feel-good boondoggle, or get so tied up in enviro/ethno/gender tribal infighting and pay-offs that billions would be spent yet nothing done.
Believe me... I lived in San Francisco for a decade. They really still do think that good intentions equal good results, no matter what the condition of California today might say about that viewpoint.