The U.S. economy is so thoroughly corrupt and incestuous, each and every attempt to bring forward even the least bit of transparency is immediately stifled and quashed. The latest example is the thwarted attempt to bring some level of clarity surrounding private equity fees charged to California pensioners, which have amounted to $3.4 billion over the past two decades.
As reported by International Business Times:
Earlier this month, the nation’s largest public pension fund roiled the financial world: Officials overseeing $300 billion of California public employees’ retirement savings disclosed that the fund had paid $3.4 billion in fees to private equity firms over the last two decades. The news of the fees — and a call by California Treasurer John Chiang for legislation requiring more ongoing disclosure — seemed to herald a new trend toward greater transparency at a time when the Securities and Exchange Commission has warned that private equity investors may be getting hit hard by hidden fees.
That momentum toward transparency at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), however, appeared to abruptly halt last week when pension overseers quietly rejected a measure that would have required Wall Street firms to disclose all possible levies before they get their hands on the retirement savings of the system’s 1.7 million members. Some CalPERS board members said they were concerned the measure might alienate private equity firms, thereby denying pensioners the benefits of those investments.
Can you believe this ridiculous argument? It’s the exact type of absurd reasoning bank lobbyists use when they claim the government shouldn’t regulate them more or they’ll just move overseas and the U.S. economy will lose all that GDP from their criminal activities.
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