By J. Patrick Patterson
Source: In These Times
If pensions make your eyes glaze over, that’s by design. The less attention they get, the more quietly Wall Street can profit from them. But these massive funds quietly shape the economy we all live in.
As of September, the largest public pension fund in the country — the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS — manages approximately $575 billion. In New York City, five pension funds and systems — representing more than 750,000 current and retired public workers — hold more than $295 billion in assets, making them some of the largest institutional investors in the country.