New York City & State Pension Watch: No, Don't Play With the Assets
Dammit, socialists, we can't keep our eyes off you
From August 2025, the commies at Jacobin touted this bright idea: [before Mamdani was elected]
11 Aug 2025, Jacobin: Zohran Mamdani Should Mobilize NYC’s Pension Fund Leverage
While the mayor of New York has relatively limited economic powers, the big sums invested by the city’s public pension funds are a real source of leverage for Zohran Mamdani and other elected officials. They should make plans to use it.
NO THEY SHOULDN’T
CTRL-F “fiduciary”
[no hits]
Back to the piece: [I added emphasis]
If elected, the Democratic Party slate would control the city’s retirement systems, comprising five pension funds and covering the city’s municipal employees, police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other public school employees. In total, the pension funds cover roughly 870,000 current and former New Yorkers, half of whom are retired.
Altogether, the pooled pension system has approximately $280 billion worth of assets under management. This makes it the United States’ fourth-largest public pension plan and one of the world’s foremost institutional investors.
Each pension fund is financially independent and governed by its own board of trustees. The comptroller, currently Brad Lander, sits on each board and provides investment advice, while his Bureau of Asset Management oversees each fund’s investment portfolio. Mark Levine is the Democratic nominee for City Comptroller and will take office in November if elected.
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Under the lead of Levine and Mamdani-appointed representatives, the NYCRS should look to model itself after Canada’s largest public pension funds, known collectively as the “Maple 8.” The Canadian model is unique in bringing investment management expertise in-house, as opposed to handing responsibility (and payment of massive fees) to external asset managers.
This approach cuts into the sector’s grotesquely inflated bonuses and its financial support for right-wing politics. Following Canada’s example in New York would have the added bonus of not requiring Governor Kathy Hochul’s approval, unlike Mamdani’s fiscal policy changes and need for increased state funding.
However, the NYCRS should diverge from the Maple 8 in its approach to investment. This would mean moving away from an extractive model that displaces low-income tenants at home in Toronto, or contributes to failing infrastructure and rising utility bills for customers overseas.
The critical capacity of New York’s public pension funds should instead be used to deliver on long-term investment in local, low-carbon infrastructure that improves the lives of New Yorkers. Such investments could support wind farms off the coast of the Rockaways, heat pumps for those who can’t escape to the Hamptons for the summer, or electric vehicle plants in deindustrialized neighborhoods in the Bronx and Queens.
As the think tank Common Wealth has argued, progressive pension reform makes it possible to create “a win-win system where patient investment in a healthy, and sustainable economy is coupled with financially secure and dignified retirement for all.” Recent moves from Comptroller Lander have shown this is already feasible. The New York City Employee’s Retirement System stepped in to save 35,000 rent-stabilized homes and keep them affordable after the lender for the apartment buildings went bust.
A Vital Opportunity
Why shouldn’t our pension wealth be mobilized to deliver for the social good? As economist Grace Blakeley points out in her book Vulture Capitalism: “BlackRock’s money doesn’t really belong to BlackRock; it belongs to us. Yet that money is being used to augment the power and wealth of those at the top at the expense of everyone else.”
Despite the fact that the NYCRS is one of the largest pooled pension funds in the country, the direct implications of divestment on the resourcing of Wall Street’s operations are admittedly limited. However, New York’s public pension funds can provide an exemplary case study for other funds across the country frustrated with the fee structure and the moral nihilism of asset managers. Mamdani and the progressive slate standing in November’s election have a vital opportunity to deliver on this front for ordinary New Yorkers while simultaneously pushing back against Wall Street and Trump.
Some of the arguments above can be legitimate — there may be a good reason to reconsider how the pension assets are being managed. In my prior post on NYC pensions:
The city pensions seem to be underperforming the state pensions by a percentage point or more on a 5- and 10-year basis.
However, I am going to call into question whether a bunch of socialists, especially socialists who think the purpose of the pension funds is investing in the assets they like, as opposed to having a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the pension plan, are going to do better.
In fact, I bet they can make an even bigger gap… unless…
2026 Race for New York State Comptroller
All of a sudden, I’ve been getting ads about how great Thomas DiNapoli, the current New York State Comptroller, is. Especially in protecting the state pension funds.
Before going further: note, in the above item on the NYC pension funds, it was mentioned that the funds had boards of trustees. There is a group of people who are the fiduciaries for those pensions.
The NY state pension funds have a sole fiduciary: the state comptroller.
This is not good governance.
New York State is not alone in this model in the U.S., but that does not make it good at all. Especially if somebody comes into the comptroller role who wants to play politics with the pension funds.
However, having a board of trustees does not prevent politics being played, especially if that board is captured by the same political whim (and have smeared a thin veneer of “long-term financial yadda yadda” over it. Even when it’s pretty clear long-term financial prospects have nothing to do with the decision making.
However, when there’s a sole fiduciary, the decision-making responsibility is very clear.
Let’s see what the various Comptroller Candidates have to say about the state pension funds on their campaign websites. I’ll excerpt the policy statements related to investing or pensions directly.
I will let the excerpts stand alone, and then I will comment en masse.
Democratic candidates
DiNapoli’s Campaign: Record & Policy
Tom DiNapoli’s record includes:
On these issues and more, Tom DiNapoli has shown himself to be a battle-tested fighter for New York’s middle class, protecting taxpayers and retirees, exposing corruption and waste, and holding corporations accountable.
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Taking bold steps to transition the funds investments to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, protecting taxpayers, state and local government retirees from the fiscal impacts of climate change
Growing the pension fund to a historic high of $291.4 Billion, with one of the strongest funded ratios in the nation
Using shareholder influence to press companies to address climate change, increase diversity on corporate boards and more fully include women and minorities
Developing an Emerging Managers program to break down barriers that limit career options for women and people of color in the financial sector
Raj Goyle: Platform
2
DIVEST FROM fossil fuels
Climate change isn’t just an environmental crisis; it’s a financial one.
The Comptroller controls nearly $300 billion in pension investments, yet the incumbent continues to invest money into fossil fuel companies that are destroying our planet and increasingly becoming stranded assets. This is detrimental to the climate and to retirees. The incumbent reneged on his promise to divest from fossil fuels. As Comptroller, I’ll fully divest from fossil fuels and redirect those billions into clean energy, renewable infrastructure, and climate solutions that create good-paying jobs right here in New York. Major pension funds worldwide are divesting because fossil fuel investments carry massive long-term risk as the world transitions to clean energy — it’s time New York’s pension fund reflected our values and protected our future, not subsidized companies.
3
DIVEST FROM foreign bonds
The current Comptroller has underperformed the market and the NYC pension fund for years, wasting billions on excessive Wall Street fees for cookie-cutter approaches and investing in opaque foreign bonds.
If the state pension had simply matched the performance of other major funds, it would be worth tens of billions more today. As Comptroller, I will use best-in-class investment strategies to identify proactive investments and maximize returns for New York pension holders, including investing more here in New York. This includes the disinvestment of the New York pension from all foreign bonds. It’s the Comptroller’s basic fiduciary duty to avoid risky foreign bonds with mediocre returns, but the incumbent continues to play political favoritism. At the very least, public pension funds should not and will not be used to fund human rights violations and war crimes abroad.
4
INVEST IN affordable housing
The incumbent has invested in Florida condos and Chicago real estate while New Yorkers face a historic housing crisis, and parents struggle with child care costs. That’s backwards.
As Comptroller, I’ll redirect more pension capital to building housing right here in New York State — treating it as a core asset class that benefits New Yorkers while delivering solid returns. Every dollar we invest out of state is a dollar not working for New Yorkers. It’s time the pension fund built communities here, created jobs here, and helped families afford to stay here.
Drew Warshaw: Ideas
What does the comptroller do?
The fact that you don’t know is exactly what Comptroller Tom DiNapoli wants because if you knew, you would wonder what he’s been doing the last 19 years.
The Comptroller is the Chief Auditor, Chief Investor, and Chief Getting-Your-Money-Back-er for the entire State. That means as auditor he can get to the bottom of why your health care, housing and utility costs keep going up; it means that as investor he is responsible for $298 billion of the taxpayer-funded public pension funds; it means he has the ability to get your money back – all $20 billion he’s been sitting on in the Unclaimed Fund he oversees.
What will Drew do differently?
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As the sole trustee of the third-largest public pension fund in the United States, for nearly 20 years, Comptroller DiNapoli has handed over $11 billion in fees – New Yorkers’ tax dollars – to Wall Street bankers who then underperformed their benchmark by 39%. Instead of holding them accountable, Comptroller DiNapoli increased their fees by 400%. Drew will stop lining Wall Street’s pockets and invest smarter to give billions back to working New Yorkers while earning a higher rate of return for pensioners in the process.
Read our full report on the DiNapoli Tax.
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Drew will bring his personal experience taking on the housing crisis, as Chief Operating Officer and then as co-CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, where he led the largest affordable housing nonprofit in the nation to create and preserve more than 1 million affordable homes.
The Comptroller controls a $298 billion fund – and next-to-nothing is invested in solving New York’s affordable housing crisis.
Drew proposes launching the largest affordable housing fund in the United States by investing $20 billion from New York’s pension fund to build and preserve homes New Yorkers can actually afford where they live and work.
This approach will not only create a much-needed, currently nonexistent source of low-cost capital for affordable homes, helping to address the most acute challenge faced by working New Yorkers, it will also help to secure the futures of our dedicated public servants.
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As the candidate who has built more solar power than any other elected official in the country – putting more than $1 billion of steel in the ground to power 400,000 homes with clean energy – Drew brings deep, personal experience fighting climate change, building an industry from scratch, and democratizing access to renewable energy.
As State Comptroller, Drew proposes to completely divest from fossil fuel companies. This includes any actively and passively managed investments, including public equities, fixed income, and alternatives such as private equity. All of it.
Not only is this an urgent and necessary approach to fight climate change, but it is also financially prudent. According to Drew’s report “The Fiduciary Case for Divesting the New York State & Local Retirement System’s Common Retirement Fund from Fossil Fuel Companies” had the NYS Common Retirement Fund done this 19 years ago, it would have earned a 5.4% higher rate of return. Instead, the pension fund earned worse returns for higher risk, costing taxpayers and retirees more money in the middle of an affordability crisis.
Over the last 19 years, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has flouted the clear-and-present risk that fossil fuel companies pose to the New York State Common Retirement Fund, and it has been costly. In the middle of an affordability crisis, that risk translated into observable losses that forced New Yorkers to pay more in taxes than would have been necessary had the Fund not been invested in those fossil fuel companies in the first place.
Instead of mitigating this risk through divestment, the Comptroller has taken half measures, backed by complex, opaque methodologies that lack conviction, efficacy and run counter to his fiduciary duty as “sole trustee” of the Fund.
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Drew will divest from all foreign bonds, including the $368 million in Israel that Tom DiNapoli has amassed over his 20 years in office, and at an accelerated pace in recent years.
In the case of foreign bonds, New York has nearly $500 million invested in the bonds of just four countries: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Canada, and Israel, with investments in Israel making up the vast majority – nearly 80% in one single country. As Drew has stated unequivocally, the moral case for divestment is clear: we cannot continue investing our public dollars in a government that is committing genocide and waging wars to occupy its neighbors.
Israel’s government claimed self-defense in response to the October 7th attacks, but it has gone much further than that: the Netanyahu government has unleashed overwhelming killing power, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians and now Lebanese civilians dead and millions more displaced and destitute.
It has also sponsored a newly energized and brutal expansion of settlements in the West Bank; the government has approved more than 40 new settlements in 2026.
New York state must not enable or be complicit in such human misery any longer.
Our current state comptroller, who has been in office since 2007, does not see it that way. He continues to use New Yorkers’ money to finance Netanyahu’s war machine. He purchased an additional $20 million in Israel bonds after Oct. 7, and chose not to sell them as Israel’s government launched a genocide in Gaza. The present campaign, in which Democratic voters will be able to cast a primary vote against DiNapoli for the first time in 20 years, gives us the opportunity to make a different choice.
Regarding the fiduciary case, there is no justification either. The idea that 80% of New York’s foreign bond investments are concentrated in a single country not named the United States is investment malpractice representing an obvious “concentration risk” that no accredited institutional investor would maintain other than perhaps speculative hedge funds, and our state pension fund should not be a speculative hedge fund. Moreover, the narrow spread between U.S. Treasuries and the illiquid nature of the secondary market for the vast majority of the Israel Bonds that New York’s pension fund owns – to say nothing of the fact that it is a country at war on all sides – speaks to material risk that is not close to compensated by that tight spread from U.S. Treasuries or other similarly-rated foreign sovereign debt. Those are reasons enough.
Drew has laid this out clearly and personally: we have reached a point where “enough is enough.” It is why he is the only candidate in this race to commit to divesting immediately, not waiting decades until these bonds mature (and simply not renewing them such as one candidate has defined as his position).
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Drew’s “FAIR” plan for Immigrants starts with divesting from Palantir.
Drew has deep personal experience fighting for our most vulnerable neighbors and their families. In 2007, in the face of powerful opposition from the Bush Administration (and some conservatives in New York), Drew fought on the frontlines to provide drivers’ licenses to undocumented New Yorkers while working as an aide in the Governor’s Office the precursor to what became the “Green Light” Law in 2019.
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Use Pension Fund Power to Protect Consumers: As sole trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the Comptroller wields one of the most powerful tools for corporate accountability in the country. Drew will:
- Use shareholder engagement, proxy voting, and shareholder resolutions to pressure companies to limit abusive surveillance practices, disclose data-monetization strategies, and curb exploitative pricing schemes.
- Demand transparency from portfolio companies like Uber and Lyft about algorithmic pricing, dynamic pricing, and the use of consumer data to maximize profits at the expense of fairness.
- Launch a coordinated multi-state pension fund effort, inclusive of community and movement organizations, that identifies corporations engaged or complicit in unauthorized surveillance technology, data extraction and abusive algorithmic practices that pose a risk to the long-term financial security of the pension fund
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Expose Surveillance Pricing and Algorithmic Exploitation: Increasingly, companies use personal data and opaque algorithms to charge different people different prices for the same goods and services—often targeting lower-income consumers. Drew will:
- Commission audits and research reports on the use of surveillance pricing by companies receiving public funds or held in the pension portfolio.
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Republican candidate
Joseph Hernandez: Issues
Protect Taxpayers
The Comptroller’s most important responsibility is protecting taxpayers. Joseph Hernandez believes taxpayers are best protected when New York’s finances are managed with discipline, independence, and a clear focus on results.
Strengthening the Pension Fund to Ease the Tax Burden
New York’s pension fund directly impacts taxpayers and local government budgets. When pension performance falls short or costs rise, taxpayers are forced to make up the difference through higher contributions, higher property taxes, or reduced services.
As Comptroller, Hernandez will focus on improving long term returns while reducing unnecessary costs and excessive Wall Street fees. Stronger pension performance helps stabilize contribution rates for municipalities and school districts and reduces pressure on taxpayers across the state.
Reducing Costs Through Fiduciary Discipline
Hernandez will manage the pension fund as a fiduciary, not a politician. Investment decisions will be driven by performance, risk management, and long term value. Political pressure and ideological agendas have no place in pension management.
By cutting wasteful fees and prioritizing efficient investment strategies, Hernandez will ensure more dollars stay in the fund working for retirees and taxpayers.
Protecting Local Governments and Property Taxpayers
Local governments depend on predictable pension costs to balance their budgets. Hernandez’s approach provides stability by strengthening the fund and reducing volatility. This helps protect homeowners, small businesses, and working families from sudden tax increases driven by pension shortfalls.
….
Protect Taxpayers
The Comptroller’s most important responsibility is protecting taxpayers. Joseph Hernandez believes taxpayers are best protected when New York’s finances are managed with discipline, independence, and a clear focus on results. Strengthening the Pension Fund to Ease the Tax Burden New…
Hold Government Accountable
The Comptroller is New York’s independent financial watchdog. Joseph Hernandez will use the full authority of the office to hold government accountable and restore trust in how public dollars are spent. Contract Review and Pre Approval Authority The Comptroller has…
Invest in New York
New York needs growth, but growth must be responsible. Joseph Hernandez believes the state can invest in its future without risking taxpayer or retiree dollars.
Disciplined, Market-Driven Investment
Hernandez will support investment strategies that are based on fundamentals, risk management, and measurable returns. Investments must strengthen the economy while protecting the pension fund and taxpayers.
There will be no political pet projects and no taxpayer-funded giveaways.
Upstate Investment and Economic Growth
Too many regions of New York have been left behind. Hernandez will prioritize investment strategies that support job creation, infrastructure, and private sector growth in upstate and western New York.
By expanding the tax base and creating good-paying jobs, disciplined investment strengthens public finances statewide.
Building Long-Term Economic Strength
Hernandez supports investment in sectors positioned for long-term growth, including advanced manufacturing, technology, energy, logistics, and life sciences. All investments will be evaluated based on performance, sustainability, and their ability to deliver real economic value.
Okay, that’s everything I see as of 5 May 2026.
My comments on the candidates’ statements
Fiduciary duty to pension funds
First, let us be clear: the Republican candidate, Hernandez, will probably lose. It has nothing to do with his positions or who he will be up against. It’s just that it’s New York. If he wins, something interesting will have happened in New York or the world before November.
But notice he was the only candidate to point out that the comptroller has a fiduciary duty to the pension funds.
It’s not the place of the comptroller to use the funds as his political toy to drop on favored investments.
That said, he did make some noises about investments in New York state — in upstate areas, which yeah, we know is about political favors, yadda yadda. The pension funds probably have little exposure up there — given how few people are in certain areas of the state, it doesn’t take much money to make an impact near the border with Canada or in the big forested areas that are mostly state- and national-parks, with very little population.
The Democratic candidates, even DiNapoli, are all making noises about using the power of the pension funds to bend companies and economic sectors to their will… excuse me? That’s not the primary purpose of the pensions, thanks.
No, DiNapoli isn’t keeping his job a secret
Drew Warshaw’s accusation that DiNapoli is keeping the various functions of the office secret is laughable.
I am on the Comptroller email list and get every press release about pension frauds discovered, major investments, unclaimed funds returned, and on and on.
The truth is — most people aren’t interested in this stuff. Warshaw knows this. He’s trying to make the office more interesting, and fair enough. He needs to make a usually boring political race somewhat exciting, especially since there’s not a lot of daylight between him and the other non-incumbent, Raj Goyle.
What’s with this “foreign bonds” crap?
I understand making noise about fossil fuels divestment and affordable housing investment, but this “foreign bonds” issue came from nowhere for me … as headlines.
Until I read the items — this is about hating Israel.
Why not just put that in the headlines? “Stop investing in Israel”!
I wrote about this in September: September 2025 Public Pension Round-Up: New York, Divestment, Inspectors General, and CalPERS
So here’s the difference between Lander [NYC Comptroller at the time] and DiNapoli.
DiNapoli is the sole trustee of the state pension funds. So he can decide, on his own, “Hey, let’s buy a bunch of long-term Israel bonds!” without having to get a board of trustees to agree.
You can see the issue the mayor of NYC would also have if he wanted to divest the pension funds. To be sure, he could appoint trustees… so could others.
So the government bonds are gone, and they have around $315 million of investments in Israeli companies and real estate currently, out of a total of NYC pension funds of over $225 billion.
If they’re arguing that it’s playing politics to buy these bonds (and they are), and that the spread being earned doesn’t match the risk (and they are)… (but then they make NETANYAHU EEEEEEVIL noises, which doesn’t help the “We Are Serious Investment Professionals” pose)…. then you really need to spread that analysis to the affordable housing and fossil fuels decisions.
Which… I don’t really see you guys doing.
Drew is explicit in his statement, but Raj tries to hide the motivation by saying “no foreign bonds” at all… which makes absolutely no sense. [Yeah, he gives the game away in the last time re: “war crimes” … uh huh. Be explicit, you coward.]
Maybe foreign bonds are a bad buy right now (I don’t know; I haven’t looked recently) — but the whole paragraph is a mush about underperformance supposedly of the state funds compared to the city funds.
Would you like to give some numbers on that?
NYC ERS
NY State ERS
From my recent post… and here, just a little head-to-head comparison using the Public Plan Database:
Of the 8 plans in the database, only City Educational showed an edge, and it’s not a bad one, but 30 basis points (or 0.3 percentage points) difference for one plan is not some slam bang argument, especially when it doesn’t hold up across the entire landscape.
In any case, it’s not foreign bonds that’s bringing down the portfolio, if anything, and the NY state pension portfolios have relatively small allocations to alternative assets, which I find interesting, especially compared to the large pension funds out there.
But let me leave that for another time.
Do you guys know what the office is about?
DiNapoli has an incumbent advantage in that he really knows what the office is about and can point to results.
Drew does make noises about “long-term financial security of the pension fund” every time he wants to use whatever preferred political ends for the funds. He knows the kind of fiduciary cover he needs to make. Raj throws in “long-term risk” in once, but emphasizes the political ends as well.
But wait! Let me jump back to someone actually in a comptroller office — Mark Levine, who won the race to replace Brad Lander in NYC.
Affordable Housing as an Investment … a Big Investment
16 Apr 2026, Press Release from NYC Comptroller Mark Levine: NYC Comptroller Mark Levine Launches the NYC Housing Investment Initiative, A $4 Billion Commitment to Finance Housing Across Five Boroughs
[emphasis added]
New York, NY – Today, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine unveiled a $4 billion commitment to strategic investments in affordable housing production and preservation through a new initiative titled the NYC Housing Investment Initiative. The investments respond to the City’s worsening housing crisis, which is driven in part by limited access to financing.
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The NYC Housing Investment Initiative will commit roughly $1 billion per year over the next four years to housing investments, and address the affordability crisis through:
financing the creation of new mixed-income, workforce and affordable housing;
preserving existing affordable housing before it is lost;
supporting office-to-residential conversions that can add homes at scale;
and using pension capital responsibly to generate risk-adjusted returns while addressing a critical city need.
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The NYC Housing Investment Initiative will more than double the size of the Big Apple’s five public pension funds’ housing investment exposure. As of the end of 2025, the system’s residential portfolio totaled approximately $2.8 billion. These investments are spread across a diverse range of housing types and programs, including the PPAR program, the AFL-CIO HIT, the RBC Capital Access program, multi-family housing, student and senior housing, and more.
….they put that in the press release.
SERIOUSLY?
Do these people know anything about concentration risk?
They’re losing their minds over less than 0.5% of a portfolio in Israeli bonds, and the vast bulk of their residential real estate investments will be in affordable housing in the OWN CITY?
This has so many correlated risks that I stopped worrying about what return they were expecting, and now I’m wondering how bad the downside could be.
Allison Schrager, the author of this next piece, knows about risk:
21 Apr 2026, City Journal: New York City’s Comptroller Just Made a Risky Decision with Pension Funds
Last week, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine announced a plan to direct $4 billion of the city’s roughly $320 billion in pension assets to affordable housing development, more than doubling the city’s pension-fund investment in this area. The money will go toward office conversions and building and preserving affordable housing.
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The initiative constitutes poor risk management. As comptroller, Levine is tasked with investing pension funds prudently to ensure that benefits are paid. If the assets fall short, taxpayers bear the burden since pension benefits are guaranteed. Investing in local real estate further exposes the funds to the local economy. If New York City faces a downturn, real-estate investment will decline in value as the job market weakens and tax revenue shrinks. Better risk management would involve more diversification, not doubling down on the city economy.
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New York City’s pensions don’t have a dime to spare. Doubling investment in a money-losing asset class, especially as funding ratios are likely to deteriorate, would be a clear breach of Levine’s fiduciary duty. While hundreds of billions in pension assets may tempt policymakers as a source of capital for housing projects the private sector avoids, Levine’s responsibility is to safeguard the financial interests of beneficiaries. That mandate does not include subsidizing housing for New Yorkers at below-market returns.
Yeah, Levine’s financial background seems solely in community activism in setting up a credit union near where he lives in Manhattan (and the services are probably helpful and welcome), but that’s not on the same scale as managing city pension funds. Also, he did that 30 years ago, and doesn’t sound like he did much past the initial founding.
If he had any further financial expertise, he’s been careful not to show it.
The “good” news, such as it is, is that this would be “only” $4 billion out of what is over $300 billion in assets. IF they kept the expenditure to $4 billion, it would be about 1.3% of the fund, and we assume it won’t be a total loss.
It’s always good to think about how bad it could be.
But I can think of how the exposure could be worse than $4 billion. If they weren’t careful in how they extended themselves and exposed themselves to the risks involved. There is staff and outside consultants involved (and there is a reason these people get paid — they make sure the contracts are correct, the liability is limited, and all the good stuff so that you don’t lose more than the $4 billion investment!)
It’s Not YOUR or “OUR” Money
In both the case of NYC and NY State, all of these guys are forgetting that it’s not their money to play with… and for all their gushy politicking, it’s not “our” (that is, the taxpayers’ of New York State/City) money, either.
To be sure, all the money originally came from taxpayers, just like all the money that paid the wages and other benefits for state and city employees come from the taxpayers.
But I, Ms. NY State taxpayer, don’t go into the house of random state employee and say “Hey, you can’t spend your salary on that!”
The pension fund money is to be invested to generate the benefits that have been promised to the participants. That’s the purpose.
Not to fulfill the hopes and dreams of politicians, not to try to engage in war on Israel or Russia or whoever, not to build houses where people can rent at below-market rates, not to fund stadiums, what-have-you.
Mind you, there can be local investments that are good, but one must be disciplined in approaching them. Yes, the political temptations are high (which is why a sole fiduciary is bad… but also, one has to watch for the composition of a board of trustees. Having many people with the same motivations will also undercut fiduciary motivations.)
In any case, I am expecting New York State to join the city in sinking returns if they want to politicize the investments. And for NYC’s investments to start to get worse, if those are the primary evaluations.