It can't happen here...
Can it?
Down in Florida, local governments' state-run investment pool has been doing so poorly that there's been a run on the fund as nervous government entities pull their money out. Oregon has a similar pool. I wonder how it's doing, but I'm afraid to ask. It looks like Mover Mike has been working on this topic, and at last report, he found no cause for alarm.
| Posted at 8:33 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (4)
I especially liked the comment from the treasury that they are aware of the "headline risk" from investing in certain areas and so had put any new investements there on hold. "Headline risk?" Is that like a headline in the Oregonian screaming "State of Oregon invests in subprime paper."
Greg C
Posted by Greg C | December 3, 2007 11:28 AM
Montana and Connecticut are also getting nailed by state investment in SIVs.
Posted by Dave J. | December 3, 2007 12:50 PM
This is an issue that deserves - but rarely gets - close scrutiny. Before PERS reform, returns had to be abnormally high to keep up with the skyrocketing benefits the State and local governments were paying their retirees. Now, not as much, but if we were to get a couple of years of bad stock market returns, the pressure to invest in riskier instruments to make up the shortfall would be huge.
Posted by John Fairplay | December 3, 2007 9:08 PM
I have checked into OSTF and PERS further and some things don't add up. Oregon has been swimming in the same pool as Florida, Montana, King County, etc. and playing with some of the same bad boys. If Ley Garnett is telling me the truth, how'd they do it, when others got their investors hands slapped?
Posted by M ike Landfair | December 3, 2007 11:07 PM