Opinion: CalPERS sees flat earnings for a second year
By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System – the nation’s largest pension trust fund – took a beating during the Great Recession, dropping nearly $100 billion in value.
Dan Walters
However, it recovered nicely as the nation emerged from recession and finally got back to its pre-recession level three years ago.
At the time, it sparked much celebratory verbiage from the system’s professional cheerleaders. But the public employee union flacks have been noticeably quiet since then – for good reason.
CalPERS’ investment portfolio barely eked out a profit during the 2014-15 fiscal year and it performed even more poorly during the 2015-16 cycle that ended June 30, declining by $8 billion (2.6 percent) to $293.7 billion.
Why is this not shocking news? There will be many State employees who will be left surprised that their retirement is not what it was promised and the tax payers of California will be forced to make up the difference for corruption and misuse of power and investments.