Asked in an interview whether investments aimed at poor communities were too risky, Angelides pointed to the enthusiasm with which CalPERS and other institutional investors pumped billions into places like Indonesia and Thailand in the late 1990s - investments that in many cases soured. How, he asked, could anyone credibly say an investment in an "emerging" California community was too risky? Well, that's an interesting point of view. "We can lose money just as easily at home as abroad."