Arnold Will Raid the CALPERS Pension Fund

[Yavin4]

You read it here first. In the end, Arnold will bleed CALPERS dry. That's how he'll pay for his tax cuts and spending increases.

[Cha]

1. They better watch their fund, then! And Not end up like the

defunct Florida enron state fund did.

[Vitruvius]

2. Or like the endowment of the University of Texas, which Bu$h looted while

governor of Texas.

Smash-and-grab; it's the Bu$h Rethugnican way. And Schickelgroper's learning? Or is it the Rethug apparatchiks who write his scripts for him?


In corporate terms, Selection 2000 and Recall '03 are the political equivalent of hostile takeovers. And the first thing an Enron style takeover artist does is to loot the treasury of the company they took over. In the Rethug political case, that means looting the US treasury and Social Security Trust fund, the Florida pension fund, the UT endowment, and the CALPERS Pension Fund.

To us, America is our country. To the Bu$h Rethugs, America is only the equivalent of a giant corporation -- to be taken over and looted.

[Octafish]

4. It's the Bush Organized Crime Family way.

Target CalPERS:

http://www.calpers.ca.gov/about/factglan/factglan.htm

They've got almost $6 billion just WAITING for the taking, eh, Ahnolt?

[Clete]

5. Thanks

I bookmarked the link to study.

[Zan_of_Texas]

6. more

This thread makes excellent points!

CalPERS is showing $145 billion in assets, that's no small change.

Ken Lay -- one of the first things he did when he had control of Enron was to mess with the pension fund and take money out -- way before anyone had heard of him OR Enron. If memory serves, Halliburton took away pension money when they bought Dresser. And the UT fund, UTIMCO, is another good example -- way way cozy with Bush buddies.

CalPERS has invested in the Carlyle Group in the past, also Enron partnerships, so it has a rather checkered history.

[cosmicdot]

24. the Carlyle Group connection is what came to mind for me, too

according to The Carlyle website, only one institution has invested in them ... CALpers ... lured in? to fatten the coffers???

could this be one of the biggest bait and switch scams in history???

perhaps we need a regulation geared to institutions holding public pensions and such when 'investing' others' futures in private equity investment firms like Carlyle which operate without the visibility of proxies and other SEC filings

... sitting loopholes being exploited ....

I don't think Poppy presidented during his term ... Carlyle and Blackstone were created on the eve of his term ... I think Baker, Carlucci, Peterson, Poppy et al spent time scoping the scams out ...

3. Who owns The Carlyle Group?

Carlyle is a private partnership, which means that it is owned by a group of individuals, most of whom are managing directors at Carlyle, and one institution, CalPERS, which owns 5.5 percent of Carlyle. CalPERS is the California Public Employees Retirement System, one of the largest institutional investors in the world. The companies and real estate Carlyle buys and the companies it invests venture capital in are owned by the funds that invested in the companies.


February 2, 2001
CalPERS Invests $425 Million in the Carlyle Group
By Roy Mark

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is investing $425 million as part of a strategic financial relationship with the Carlyle Group. CalPERS initial funding will consist of a $250 million investment in various new Carlyle private equity funds and a $175 million investment for a minority equity stake in the Carlyle Group.

In addition, CalPERS has an option over the next two years to invest an additional $425 million as part of the relationship with Carlyle.

The Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group has offices around the world and manages over $12.5 billion of private equity capital in 14 active buyout, venture, real estate, high-yield, and energy funds. Founded in 1987, Carlyle has invested $5.2 billion in equity and achieved a 34 percent annual return.

~snip~

CalPERS provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1.2 million state and local public employees and their families. It has more than $16 billion invested or committed to be invested in the private equity arena, and total assets across all investment classes are approximately $170 billion.

http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/5321_577661


"What is not well known is that Carlyle's profits also benefit the 1.2 million members of the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the United States.

"CalPERS has about $730 million invested in Carlyle itself and in various Carlyle funds. It owns 5.5 percent of the Carlyle Group in a minority equity stake and has an option to double that holding during the next two years.

"We're not too keen on discussing anything related to the political nature of the people at Carlyle," said Pat Macht, a spokeswoman for the fund. But she noted that "Carlyle is among the top five largest private equity partners of CalPERS."

http://www.rense.com/general17/kdks.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Carlyle+Group+and+CALpers

[shanti]

30. ugh, i suddenly feel like a bath after

reading your post...i didn't know about carlyle's involvement with PERS....*shudder*

to me, this is as bad as the people who investments in SA during apartheid.

[cosmicdot]

33. Davis should have used this issue - 1.2 million members

could have made a difference

The Carlyle Group and other auxilliary private equity investment companies know who has money invested in these PEIs ... and, we don't ... they can pull the 'integrity' rug out from under those who represent opposition to the Rethuglicans ...

[twilight]

32. yeah and CalPERS lost a hell of a lot of $ too

As a retiree I should know being I get their newletters, etc. They stopped printing one for the retirees a long time ago to cut costs. That should give a *hint* as to the shape they are in.

CalPERS lost a bundle in Enron as did UCRP (Univ. of Calif. Retirement Plan). I wonder how much UCRP has? I know that those working for the University haven't seen a pay increase in years. The only reason many continue to work for them is the benefits, and that is the only reason being the pay is so crappy!

Raiding CalPERS will be difficult indeed as it is surrounded by a variety of Union organizations (CSEA and AFSCME). They've had to really cut a lot the past few years as far as benefits go already. I for one now forfeit my entire crappy little pension and send CalPERS checks to continue to have health benefits.

The reason the fund has the money it does is because State employees pay into it every paycheck and they also pay into Social Security. This leaves a slim pickins paycheck for many out there, esp. those in the types of jobs that don't pay a lot (i.e. office assistants, etc.). I know of many out there that would quit their State jobs in a minute if they could find a job that had the same benefits. The pay from the State tends to be a joke unless you are one of those that has hung in there for many years and put up with the crap.

Ahnuld will be in for a real wake-up call if he tries to raid CalPERS or UCRP because the workers are already pissed off! I cannot help but wonder how many of them voted to recall Davis.

:kick:

[smallprint]

12. hey where is that pic from?

is someone doing a political puppet show? kinda reminds me of that 80s british show 'spitting image'...

[Octafish]

16. Yeh! The guy's a pro.

It's from Rick Lyon's web site, smallprint. His style is unique and he really does some up the, um, complexity of his characters.

http://www.lyonpuppets.com/

Like you, I'd welcome a political comedy like what our British cousins had. In fact, I wish Al Franken was the producer. Lyons could do the puppets in a way that would be humorous and yet compelling. I feel a proposal stirring...

[cosmicdot]

25. so, will Ahhhnold be given direction to change CALpers Board?

Chief Executive Officer Fred Buenrostro
who's he and how does the CEO get selected?

any sore thumbs sticking out here?

Sean Harrigan, President
Designated by State Personnel Board

Rob Feckner, Vice President
Elected by School Members

Sidney L. Abrams
Governor Appointee

Philip Angelides
State Treasurer

Willie Brown, Jr.
Governor appointee

Robert F. Carlson
Elected by Retirees

Dr. George Diehr
Elected by school members

Priya Sara Mathur
Elected by public agency members

Marty Morgenstern
Director, State Department of Personnel Administration

Mike Quevedo, Jr.
Appointed jointly by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Rules Committee

Kurato Shimada
Elected by all members

Charles P. Valdes
Elected by all members

Steve Westly
State Controller

[salmonhorse]

3. Bankrupting CalPERS would bankrupt the nation in short order...

http://www.calpers-governance.org/forumhome.asp

[cally]

7. How...It is not the same as the feds

Maybe they can do this but I seriously doubt it.

[Yavin4]

9. Arnold Will Say That It's A Loan

He'll take the money and give the fund worthless CA bonds, or IOUs, in return.

[AP]

8. The Republicans just got their insider bailout fund for the big crash

When the market tanks, this is where the Republicans are going to get all the money to protect themselves.

[salmonhorse]

10. You got it!

They are crashing it and they know it. Sucking all the monetary resources to the top 1%. When the shit hits the fan they will jump behind their gated communities and be the only ones who wiil be able buy it all up for pennies on the dollar just like the last time. That is the 'cyclical' part of this bullshit "free market capitalism" that needs to be abolished with a prejudice. All this: Robber Barron/Bush Family Oligarchy Crap needs to cease & desist ~

[AP]

11. It isn't free market capitalism which allows RW'ers to profit off the...

...cycles.

They have to do a lot of rigging of the markets to be able to achieve this.

[dutchdemocrat]

13. And the US dollar goes freefall

Russia's talking Euro for it's oil. Iran, Iraq, Saudi, Venezuela, Brazil....

[moondust]

14. Seniors too.

They're vulnerable to predators.

[cthrumatrix]

15. Whitehouse supports a plan to "modify" the metric for corporate

pension contributions...therefore when they change the requirement ...it frees up the required dollar contribution ...which free's up cash...perhaps based on this calculation ...the pension becomes "over funded" and available for use.

This bill should pass very soon....Bush supports this of course. The question is ...how many people would support this bill if they knew about it?

{you can pull the latest on this suject...it was in the washington post yesterday I believe...the current benchmark they use for calculations is the interest rate on the 30 year t-bill}

[warrior1]

17. Pete wilson did that when he was gov

Calpers sued and got the money back. Will arnie try and do that? Will pete is on his staff, so yea it's possible.

[pippin]

20. source please

[warrior1]

18. what wilson did

http://www.psych-health.com/linda2.htm

[Gin]

19. I hope the groper gets sued by the women he groped and gets

served papers while * is standing next to him...I would pay to see that.

[Character Assassin]

21. There's certainly precedent: Davis did it three times.

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2002/01/28/editorial4.html

[Capn Sunshine]

22. That's essentially a Letter to the editor

hardly a fact based article. But we know about your dislike for Gray Davis. What the writer calls "raiding" might be viewed differently by a partisan from the other side of the aisle.

Or is that too much to consider.

[Noordam]

23. Plus a One Billion from Calper is not 20 Billion.

with no hope to replay

[Character Assassin]

26. How about something from the President of the CA State Employees Assoc?

http://www.calcsea.org/president/csea_voice/20020114-01.asp

or how about this?

http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:GaNrzxeCXucJ:www.calcsea.org/president/csea_voice/20020211-voice.pdf+davis+calpers+raid&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

The facts are there in the public record. You can chose to dismiss then if you wish.

[dutchdemocrat]

27. Bump

This needs some more feedback

[The Lone Liberal]

28. Why should the muscle-head be any different

Last week the Republicans raided every pension fund.

[shanti]

29. if he TRIES to touch the PERS funds

there will be HELL to pay by the state workers - believe that!!!! :grr:

[Noordam]

31. Shit he will allow the Talent he is importing from Florida

to do what Florida did.

Buy Enron....

Currently buying lot stock and barrel a failing private schools system.

All with State pension funds.