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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDavid Sirota: Wall Street’s Secret Swindle
from truthdig:
Wall Streets Secret Swindle
Posted on Apr 25, 2014
By David Sirota
In the national debate over what to do about public pension shortfalls, heres something you may not know: The texts of the agreements signed between those pension funds and financial firms are almost always secret. Yes, thats right. Although they are public pensions that taxpayers contribute to and that public officials oversee, the exact terms of the financial deals being engineered in the publics name and with public money are typically not available to you, the taxpayer.
To understand why that should be cause for concern, ponder some possibilities as they relate to pension deals with hedge funds, private equity partnerships and other so-called alternative investments. For example, it is possible that the secret terms of such agreements could allow other private individuals in the same investments to negotiate preferential terms for themselves, meaning public employees pension money enriches those private investors. It is also possible that the secret terms of the agreements create the heads-Wall-Street-wins, tails-pensions-lose effectthe one whereby retirees money is subjected to huge risks, yet financial firms profits are guaranteed regardless of returns.
North Carolina exemplifies the latter problem. In a new report for the union representing that states public employees, former Securities and Exchange Commission investigator Ted Siedle documents how secrecy is allowing financial firms to bilk the Teachers and State Employees Retirement System, which is the seventh largest public pension fund in America.
.......(snip).......
So what is happening to retirees money? As Siedle documents, more and more of it is going to pay the exorbitant fees charged by the Wall Street firms managing the pension money.
Fees have skyrocketed over 1,000 percent since 2000 and have almost doubled since (2008) from $217 million to $416 million, he writes, adding that annual fees and expenses will amount to approximately $1 billion in the near future. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/wall_streets_secret_swindle_20140425
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David Sirota: Wall Street’s Secret Swindle (Original Post)
marmar
Apr 2014
OP
xchrom
(108,903 posts)1. du rec.
Squinch
(50,932 posts)3. Kick. I'm never going to collect on my tiny little pension, am I?