Posted on 03/29/2007 5:25:56 PM PDT by nuconvert
Iran pension divestment
March 28, 2007
SACRAMENTO --The Assembly retirement committee approved a bill today requiring two giant state pension funds to sell about $24 billion worth of investments in 300 international firms that do business in Iran.
The bill by freshman Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-La Mesa, similar to previous pension divestment bills on South Africa and Darfur, split powerful public employee unions whose members are covered by the pension funds.
The Service Employees Union that represents many state workers dropped its opposition. But two teacher unions, the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers, said investment decisions should be made by the pension fund boards.
The California Public Employees Retirement System has an investment portfolio valued at $228 billion. The State Teachers Retirement System investment portfolio is is worth about $158 billion.
Anderson, whose bill has attracted national attention, said he introduced the bill because investing in Iran is risky and could result in losses if Iran nationalizes private firms.
"That's why I am pushing so hard," said Anderson, pointing to the City of San Diego's $1 billion pension problem as an example of what can happen if pension funds are not properly monitored.
The bill, AB 221, was approved on a 4-to-1 vote and sent to the Assembly judiciary committee.
More here......
Divestment: Will California Take On the Mullahs?
by Ardeshir Arian
MARCH 28 - Today California will become the first state to decide whether or not it will continue to do business with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The State Assembly will hear proposed legislation (AB-221) by Republican Joel Anderson of El Cajon, and Democrat Jose Solorio of Anaheim that will require state pension funds to divest from companies that do business with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Iranian-American community and many exiled Iranians are supporting this legislation. Several prominent Iranian-American activists have announced they will testify in support of AB-221, and Iranian groups as far away as Sweden and Turkey are backing the measure. Support for the bill has also come from the Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi but it is opposed by William Reinsch, Undersecretary of Commerce during the Clinton administration, and IRI promoters and apologists like the NIAC. (National Iranian American Council).
The California initiative is the nation’s first, and has inspired similar action in Massachusetts, Maryland, Georgia, Ohio and Missouri.
CBS “60 minutes” stated on January 4, “Just about everyone with a 401(k) pension plan or mutual fund has money invested in companies that are doing business in so-called rogue states”. California’s colossal state pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, have invested about $24 billion in hundreds of companies doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to figures released by private consulting group Conflict Securities.
On a federal level, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R - FL), and Tom Lantos (D - CA) introduced legislation a few weeks ago that would require all U.S. government pension funds to divest stocks of companies that have invested more than $20 million in the Islamic Republic’s oil and gas sector.
http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/03/iran_divestment_bill.php
Very interesting. Bi-partisan and backed by the Iranian-Americans. Hope it has a chance.
Sure hope it spreads thoughout the US and the world.
No honor here.
Just simple greed.
Even Cali knows what's in store for Iran.
Sell.
Short.
Russia already did.
Get out while you can.
Looks like everybody knows that the Mullahs and Ahmanutjob's days are numbered. They picked the wrong President to screw with....
What a dumbass. Not that divestment might not be a good idea, but someone with so little understanding of the markets that he doesn't know that the troubles with Iran are already priced into the stocks has no business whatsoever even commenting on what the state funds ought to do with their money.
Now, the being said, I am against divestment. One, politicians should stay out of investment decisions. Two, divestment doesn't do anything other than cause your to drive down the prices of securities, allowing various scumbags to pick them up on the cheap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.