http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/calpers/ en-us Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:50:31 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277315/posts A milestone on California's meandering journey toward fiscal insolvency occurred exactly a decade ago when the Legislature enacted a massive increase in state employee pensions on the expedient assumption that it would cost taxpayers nothing. Although the new pensions would generate almost countless billions of dollars in extra income for retirees in the years ahead, the CalPERS board, dominated by union representatives, told legislators that taxpayers wouldn't have to bear the load because investment income, which was flowing into the pension trust fund from high-tech stocks, would continue indefinitely. "They (CalPERS) anticipate that the state's contribution to CalPERS will remain... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277315/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:50:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2272762/posts Ten years ago today, California's march toward its present fiscal chaos began. On June 16, 1999, the board of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) – its investment portfolio bulging after several years of large gains – voted to ask Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature to broadly increase benefits for more than 800,000 government employees and retirees. There was some skepticism. An aide to Davis, who was then cultivating an image as a pragmatic, can-do centrist, said the governor worried about the prudence of such a broad benefit boost. Assemblyman Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, questioned how CalPERS could... San Diego Union-Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2272762/posts#comment Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:17:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256945/posts Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento -- An ongoing investigation into pension fund corruption across the country intensified Friday as California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown directed subpoenas at politically connected firms and individuals, according to sources familiar with the investigation. Brown issued the subpoenas as part of a probe into "placement agents" who help secure pension fund investment contracts for their clients in return for large sums of money, often millions of dollars. The subpoenas seek information on the use and disclosure of placement agents and potential conflicts of interest, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256945/posts#comment Sat, 23 May 2009 17:34:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2250581/posts CRAIG BOWEN'S SALARY during his final year as chief of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District was about $221,000 a year. So how did he end up retiring in December with a tax-advantaged annual pension of $284,000? The answer provides an amazing case study that highlights problems with public employee compensation and reveals tricks that allow workers to spike their pensions at the expense of their fellow employees and taxpayers. The Bowen story has some similarities to the case I examined last month of Peter Nowicki, the chief of the Moraga Orinda Fire District who was able to turn... contra costa times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2250581/posts#comment Thu, 14 May 2009 05:07:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2246646/posts BRUCE MALKENHORST $41,639.57 $499,674.84 VERNON Top 10 CalPers Pensions JOAQUIN FUSTER $296,555.88 UC LOS ANGELES DONALD GERTH $278,054.64 CSU SACRAMENTO JAMES STAHL $265,740.96 L A CO SANIT #2 JOHN SCHLAG $255,600.48 UC LOS ANGELES WILLIAM GARRETT $254,745.72 EL CAJON RAYMOND PATCHETT $239,635.80 CARLSBAD ROBERT TOONE JR $232,947.36 PALMDALE DIANNE OKI $231,164.16 STATE COMP INS CARL BORONKAY $224,812.80 METROPOLITAN WT California Pension Reform http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2246646/posts#comment Fri, 8 May 2009 03:12:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2239291/posts The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking detailed financial information from two members of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions board, according to letters obtained by the Los Angeles Times in a joint investigation [1] with ProPublica. The letters to board members Sean Harrigan and Elliott Broidy ask for bank and brokerage account details, any finder's fees or placement agent fees, and documents "sufficient to identify all source of income greater than $10,000" received since the beginning of 2005. They represent the strongest evidence to date that the SEC's ongoing "pay-to-play" investigation of New York's state pension fund has... Pro Publica http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2239291/posts#comment Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:54:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2224913/posts Checkmate for Pensions? The FT reports that investment losses hit public sector pensions: The crisis facing pension plans for US state and municipal employees is deepening as investment losses deplete the resources of retirement funds for teachers, police officers, firefighters and other local government workers. The largest state and municipal pension plans lost 9 per cent of their value of more than $2,000bn in the first two months of this year, according to data from Northern Trust. That followed a loss of 30 per cent in 2008, equal to about $900bn. Smaller funds, which underperform the larger ones, lost more,... Pension Pulse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2224913/posts#comment Wed, 8 Apr 2009 16:44:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2221636/posts The California Public Employees’ Retirement System poured $1.71 billion into Apollo Management last year, more than twice as much as it gave any other private- equity manager, Bloomberg News reported. The move was a bet on Apollo chief Leon Black’s historical success in distressed investment, but, Bloomberg says, it hasn’t paid off so far. Apollo, which has posted average annual returns of more than 25 percent in the last two decades, is now struggling to right some of the tottering companies in its portfolio. One of its private equity holdings, Linens ‘n Things, filed for bankruptcy protection. Another, the real... New York Times Dealbook http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2221636/posts#comment Fri, 3 Apr 2009 17:08:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2209599/posts For a fleeting moment, between tabloid outrage over the crooked Illinois governor and Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, we caught a glimpse of the coming reckoning. Bureaucrats at various levels of American government play a game of hot potato with financial responsibility for the benefits that politicians promise voters. The game involves trick plays — unfunded mandates, off-balance-sheet transactions, and imaginary "trust funds" that don't contain any money. But these tricks won't prevent the potato from dropping to the floor. It may not drop this time. But it will drop. Already, in September of last year, California's state legislature was struggling... Liberty http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2209599/posts#comment Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:29:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201386/posts CalPERS: Thinking the unthinkable By Ed Mendel Last spring CalPERS doubled the amount of a program that uses the pension fund’s gold-plated credit rating to help state and local governments borrow more cheaply, moving the cap from $5 billion to $10 billion. Now as the economy crumbles, CalPERS is taking a look at what seemed unimaginable last year: What happens if the government borrowers default on their debts and CalPERS has to repay the loans? “In exchange for only a couple million dollars you are taking on a heckuva a tail risk,” Michael Schlachter of Wilshire Consulting told the CalPERS... Calpensions http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201386/posts#comment Sat, 7 Mar 2009 15:59:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2200803/posts http://ecoworld.com/blog/2009/03/04/carbon-taxes-public-sector-pensions/ EcoWorld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2200803/posts#comment Fri, 6 Mar 2009 17:59:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2200814/posts http://ecoworld.com/blog/2009/03/04/carbon-taxes-public-sector-pensions/ EcoWorld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2200814/posts#comment Fri, 6 Mar 2009 18:08:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2177480/posts Next Catastrophe Think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were a politicized financial disaster? Just wait until pension funds implode. Funds worth trillions of dollars start to plummet in value. Political pressure to be “socially responsible” distorts the market decisions of government-related enterprises, leading to risky investments. Investors who once considered their retirements safely protectedwake up to a sinking feeling of uncertainty and gloom. Sound like the great mortgage-fueled financial crisis of 2008? Sure. But it also describes a calamity likely to hit as soon as 2009. State, local, and private pension plans covering millions of government employees and union workers... reason.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2177480/posts#comment Tue, 3 Feb 2009 17:28:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2160597/posts When the city of Vallejo filed for bankruptcy last year, it made national news. Among claimed reasons for this financial debacle was, as usual, Proposition 13. Same urban myth, different city. Recall that Proposition 13 was also blamed when Orange County went bankrupt, in spite of clearly documented evidence of the Orange County treasurer's criminal wrongdoing and the fact that he used an astrologer to assist him in making investments. In some quarters, it is always Proposition 13's fault when government runs short of money. Nor is Proposition 13 culpable in Vallejo's budget shortfall. During more prosperous times, Vallejo promised... LA Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2160597/posts#comment Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:34:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2161863/posts CalPERS has sustained steep declines in the value of its real estate holdings on top of even larger stock market losses. CalPERS made aggressive investments in real estate at the worst possible time, when inflated property values had peaked and were already beginning to decline. The magnitude of the losses almost ensures that CalPERS will raise employer contribution rates. Pension fund officials have warned state and local governments that they may be hit with fee increases of between 2 percent and 5 percent of payroll beginning as early as 2010. If the recession deepens and sales and property taxes continue... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2161863/posts#comment Fri, 9 Jan 2009 23:19:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2152396/posts The front page of Wednesday's Wall Street Journal featured a shocking news story about severe financial problems in the public employees union-dominated California Public Employees' Retirement System, which has lost a quarter of its assets since July after investing heavily in real estate schemes — including high-risk speculative ventures on vacant land. According to the Journal, CalPERS has experienced its worst decline since 1932 and has lost 103 percent on its housing investments in the latest fiscal year. Here's the kicker: “CalPERS invested not only its own money, but billions of dollars of borrowed money that must be repaid even... Desert DIspatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2152396/posts#comment Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:53:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2149929/posts At the height of the property bubble, California's giant pension fund, Calpers, made a fateful decision: It aggressively poured money into real estate. As a result, today it's one of the biggest owners of undeveloped residential land in America. Partly because of these investments, California Public Employees' Retirement System is struggling to avoid one of its worst annual declines since its 1932 inception. Calpers has lost almost a quarter of its assets since July 1, the start of the current fiscal year. The problems come at a time of uncertainty for the nation's largest public pension fund, which has been... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2149929/posts#comment Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:56:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135496/posts Forbes.com has a lengthy piece that tries to devine whether another catastrophe will deliver a final blow to the economy before recovery starts. CalPERS is mentioned in the piece. John Osbon, one of the experts on Forbes' "Investor Team," says, "I can imagine CalPERS or TIAA-CREF making some announcement that they are cutting benefits and payouts by 30% due to investment losses, non-functioning markets and so on. That would be a real hit with real money." This strikes us as a bit ignorant, since CalPERS pension benefits are guaranteed. The fund can't simply "announce" a cut . . . Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135496/posts#comment Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:29:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2113053/posts Calpers suffers $40bn asset hit By Deborah Brewster Published: October 22 2008 23:38 | Last updated: October 22 2008 23:38 Calpers, the largest state pension fund in the US, lost 20 per cent of its assets, or close to $40bn, between July 1 and October 20 this year as a result of failing financial markets. The fund’s assets fell to $192bn, well below their height of more than $250bn three years ago. Pat Macht, a spokeswoman for the fund, said the Calpers board, which met this week, would not call on the state government to lift contributions next year. State... FT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2113053/posts#comment Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:47:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028672/posts The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) may lose nearly $950 million from its investments in US housing crash-victim LandSource. CalPERS invested $947 million in US property developer LandSource, which recently filed for bankruptcy protection. “CalPERS will represent the interests of the CalPERS fund in the bankruptcy process,” the pension fund said in a statement. “LandSource is one of thousands of investments of CalPERS, and it does not represent a large portion of the overall fund.” The investment by CalPERS went to MacFarlane Partners, who along with Weyerhaeuser took a 68 per cent interest in the venture known as LandSource.... Financial Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028672/posts#comment Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:37:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023996/posts Bursting the Speculative Bubble - May 30, 2008 The Bubble may be ready to burst. The CFTC pushed by Congress may be sharpening the point on the pin that bursts the price balloon. Futures, Institutional Investors and Oil Prices. The volume of email commenting on the Michael Masters testimony before the Senate was surprising to say the least. While we disagree with some of his comments comparing the number of futures contracts to physical barrels, we do agree with the basic analysis and believe it helps explain some of the oil price increase over the last few ears. Since all... The Energy Economist http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023996/posts#comment Sat, 31 May 2008 15:27:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018133/posts SACRAMENTO -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System, which poured about $1 billion into a troubled real estate deal, is in negotiations to keep a related loan default from turning into a bankruptcy. CalPERS, the nation's biggest public pension fund, and its partners acquired a controlling interest in 15,000 acres of undeveloped land in the Santa Clarita Valley early last year, before the meltdown in the housing market. The land, once owned by Newhall Land and Farming Co., was appraised at $2.6 billion at the time of the CalPERS investment but has dropped considerably in value since then. CalPERS chief... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018133/posts#comment Mon, 19 May 2008 16:33:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2015011/posts Something is happening at the nation's largest pension fund, the Sacramento-based California Public Employees' Retirement System, which has nearly a quarter-trillion dollars in investments ranging from real estate to stocks. With that much money and a governing board dominated by politicians and union representatives, there have been hints that factors other than pure fiduciary responsibility often drive decisions. Some of those other motives have been advertised – investment in low-income housing or environmentally pure ventures, for instance – while others have been all but virtually impossible to divine, since CalPERS has been a very tight-lipped shop. The processes by which... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2015011/posts#comment Mon, 12 May 2008 23:50:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2007758/posts The California Public Employees Retirement System Chief Executive Officer may leave by the end of the year amid tensions with the board, marking the third top level executive at the $244 billion retirement fund to depart in 2008... Calpers is in the middle of an internal debate over whether to require infrastructure projects that receive Calpers investments to use union employees... In February, Christianna Wood, senior investment officer, stepped down ... MarketWatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2007758/posts#comment Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:07:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1997172/posts I note from Bloomberg News that last year the former president received 2.8 million from a partnership with Ron Burkle. There are actually three Cayman Island accounts that Burkle pays Clinton from. To date, former President Clinton has received 15.5 million from Burkle's efforts. The link for this information can be found: HERE. Wikipedia describes the Burkle and Clinton Cayman Island relationship as follows: "..Recent calls for the release of Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton's tax returns have brought to light the fact that President Clinton is expecting a $20,000,000 payout from Burkle's supermarket... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1997172/posts#comment Sat, 5 Apr 2008 14:53:51 GMT