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2011-01-07 Home Front: Culture Wars
US Inquiry Said to Focus on California Pension Fund
Federal regulators are investigating whether California violated securities laws and failed to provide adequate disclosure about its giant public pension fund, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission normally polices companies, but last year it brought its first enforcement action ever against a state, accusing New Jersey of securities fraud for misleading bond investors about the condition of its pension fund.

The commission signaled, in its settlement with New Jersey, that it was going to look more broadly at the pension disclosures of states and cities.

The fund, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, known as Calpers, lost about a quarter of its total investment portfolio during the financial crisis, leaving the state responsible for replacing billions of dollars each year and contributing to its huge deficit.

The question is whether California adequately disclosed in the preceding years how risky the pension investments were and how much money it might need to cover any shortfall.
Looks like the wheels are starting to come off.
Posted by DarthVader 2011-01-07 10:29|| || Front Page|| [11143 views ]  Top

#1 The State pays into Calpers, but it's not owned by the State. The money belongs to the members, a point that has had to be made repeatedly to Governors who see it as a giant piggy bank.
Posted by mojo 2011-01-07 11:11||   2011-01-07 11:11|| Front Page Top

#2 As a CalPers member, I get to see the leadership election nominations each term, and the slate of leaders is always dominated by union hacks. So, when they pay millions to "placement agents" for investments, who turn out to be union hacks, and take trips funded by investment groups run by union hacks to influence what crummy real estate junk they buy in New York that totally tanks, do we really need investigative reportion or the SEC to figure this one out?
Posted by NoMoreBS 2011-01-07 12:28||   2011-01-07 12:28|| Front Page Top

#3  This is a sideshow. The SEC was asleep at the switch for years while fraudsters & conmen (e.g. the men working for Sachs of Gold) were selling crappy paper to pension funds & other investors worldwide. The SEC is supposed to police companies, but doesn't.
The money needed to cover the CALPERS shortfall is mostly due to promises CA legislators made that they didn't fund, dwarfing the portfolio loss generated by the financial crisis.
This 'investigation' amounts to going on to the battlefield and shooting your own wounded.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-07 14:56||   2011-01-07 14:56|| Front Page Top

#4  How to tell the wheels are about to come off:

  • US Treasury has a failed bond auction

  • Widespread insolvency of the largest US Banks is recognized

  • Large US state defaults on its debts

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-07 14:58||   2011-01-07 14:58|| Front Page Top

#5 This event may well lead to the recognition of widespread insolvency of major US Banks:
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a contentious land court ruling that puts in question the ownership of hundreds, possibly thousands, of foreclosed properties in the state.

The ruling challenges the way lenders have traditionally foreclosed on properties -- without having all the paperwork in place at the time a home is seized. It affirms a 2009 lower court decision that invalidated foreclosures on two Springfield [Massachusetts] home.
This decision has nationwide consequences. Banks may not be able to foreclose on many defaulted mortgages, and these mortgages may turn out to be worthless (to the banks, anyway). The 'Best and the Brightest' will attempt to deny or ignore the significance of this finding.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-07 15:25||   2011-01-07 15:25|| Front Page Top

#6 The 'Best and the Brightest' will attempt to deny or ignore the significance of this finding.

IIRC they tried to get the last Congress in the dying days to pass a revision to the law to cover their malfeasance. They know they're in deep kimche. If your county assessor, treasurer and sheriff aren't owned by the local banks, unpaid back taxes could be the final nail, but would also create clean new papers.
Posted by Procopius2k 2011-01-07 16:23||   2011-01-07 16:23|| Front Page Top

#7 More news from the Best and the Brightest:
The discredited and deranged Senate Majority Leader Reid said tonight on ABC news: "The economy is getting better all the time" and that the Tea Party will disappear when the economy gets better.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-07 18:45||   2011-01-07 18:45|| Front Page Top

#8 This event may well lead to the recognition of widespread insolvency of major US Banks.

Not likely. More likely it will increase, perhaps sharply, the cost of borrowing in MA.
Posted by AzCat 2011-01-07 21:05||   2011-01-07 21:05|| Front Page Top

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