Normally One Would Shriek “Fiduciary Malfeasance!!!” at the Top of Their Little Lungs Had the Name Been “Madoff”
…and not “Emanuel” when cooking up such righteous schemes ~ divesting their fund from stable, consistent money earners, who, thanks to the local homeboy, have nowhere to go but UP:
January 22, 2013
Teacher pension fund divests from gun makersOne of the city’s pension funds has quietly voted to give Mayor Rahm Emanuel what he wanted, moving to divest itself of any interest in assault weapon manufacturers.
But only a miniscule $260,000 in stock was involved. And the step did not apply to ownership in retailers such as Wal-Mart, which arguably would be far more meaningful.
The action came last week when, in a previously unreported step, the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund board voted unanimously to sell its holdings in Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. and two other firms. The fund overall has roughly $9.5 billion in assets, with the divested stock representing about 0.003 percent of the retirement system’s portfolio.
In a statement, board President Jay Rehak said the board is sensitive to its fiduciary duty and the “reputational, regulatory and statutory risks that may impact the shareholder value of assault weapon manufacturers and want to minimize those risks.”
But, with the price of most gun makers’ stock rising lately, the fund also had something else on its mind.
Especially when a mere month later…the “UNEXPECTED” (SHOCKA! SURPRISE!) word rears its ugly head.
Chicago teachers’ pension fund takes unexpected dip
February 21, 2013The fiscal cliff facing Chicago Public Schools got significantly larger today, with the release of a report disclosing that the cash-strapped system will have to come up with an extra $400 million next year — $70 million more than had been expected — to pay teacher pensions unless something changes.
The report, below, is the annual actuarial analysis of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. Presented to the board of the $9.4 billion agency today, the report discloses that on a market-value basis, the fund had a return of minus 0.4 percent on investment for the year ended June 30.
On the four-year asset smoothing basis that the fund uses, the return was 1 percent.
But either figure is well short of the 8 percent return on investments that the retirement system assumes.
And that means CPS will have to come up with an extra payment next year unless the law requiring it to make certain actuarial-based contributions is changed.
“ASSUMES” an EIGHT PERCENT RETURN?!?!?!? THESE DAYS? AND you smugly dumped the few moneymaking gun stocks you had?!
Gotta be a Democratic city.
And we all know what they say about “assume”. Well, besides “ASSUME the position”, I mean.
Biz, Nanny State, People, Politics | tree hugging sister | 
February 25, 2013 2:22 pm
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Given how gun sales are skyrocketing, one would think that investing in firearm manufacturers is a safe bet.
But then, these cretins assumed an 8% return in a tanking economy.
Which explains much, especially when one adds in the fact that Chicago, and the Chicago Teacher’s Union, are dominated by communists. Who place ideology ahead of reality, every time.
Which is what destroyed the Soviet Union. And may likely destroy the United States of America.
For which we can thank the low information voters everywhere.
I doubt that holding the stocks would help much in making up the shortfall.
8%! On what planet??
“the fund had a return of minus 0.4 percent on investment for the year ended June 30.”
jun30 2011 to jun30 2012 the Dow was up about 3.7%
they suck.
Exactly. They can hardly afford to dump the winners they had.
I think they’ve got both the “Assume the position” and the “Ass-u-me” down pat.