Report: $25M in NJ pension funds lost (by Obama's earliest and biggest campaign fundraisers)

northjersey.com ^ | 11.20.08

[Coleus]

Mod note: It appears that first year journalism students are now writing headlines.

A New Jersey pension fund run by one of Barack Obama’s earliest and biggest campaign fundraisers has lost $25 billion -- including $9 billion in October, a published report says.  The New Jersey Investment Council, chaired by hedge fund manager Orin Kramer, says that the value of the state pension fund has shrunk from $82 billion in July to $57 billion, Politicker NJ reports.  The report could not be confirmed.

Kramer, 63, a former White House aide in the Carter administration and a partner at Boston Provident, was brought in to help what analysts say is one of the worst-performing public portfolios of its size in the country. He was selected to head the state retirement benefits panel by then-Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2003.  The state Division of Investment is one of the ten largest public fund managers in the U.S., with a market value at of $70.7 billion as of the end of September, according to the Treasury Department website.  The fund provides retirement benefits for more than 700,000 current and future retirees. Less than three weeks ago, the Politicker report says, Kramer pushed the investment council to add $94 million in pension funds to their $450 million stake in the BlackRock Inc. Kramer said the hedge fund needed to protect cash reserves to avoid selling part of their holdings.  The New York Observer published a story in August about Kramer: King of the New York Obamasaurs

[Coleus]

(NJ) State: Pension fund took $23B hit

[Parley Baer]

Typical for dimocRATS. I just hope Obama does not follow through on his campaign rhetoric. If he does the best days of this country will surely be behind us for a long time to come.

[Don Corleone]

Ho Hum. Definetly NOTHING new here. Just move along peasants.

[Red_Devil 232]

Gee do ya think ... maybe that $25B is now in Detroit?

[Boiling Pots]

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_should_the_government

[HighlyOpinionated]

So, I guess we can figure out where that “LOST” money turned up. Say, as a “BUNDLED” donation to Obama, perhaps?

You can’t make this stuff up. A CARTER left-over screwing up. Who’d a thunk that up?

[RegulatorCountry]

Your headline is 1000 times too low.

[Glacier Honey]

ping

[Balding_Eagle]

No big thing.

These kinds of losses, unlike for those of us in the private sector, are simply made up with new ‘voluntary’ contributions made at the point of a gun.

[harpu]

Hit the link and you will see that the error in zeros was in the original headline at the ‘Regulator Country’...

[RegulatorCountry]

I didn’t do it, I promise.

[harpu]

Sorry, I meant at www.northjersey.com. The headline they used refers to $25M versus $25B...

[lowbridge]

bump

[muleskinner]

This Kramer?

[Wally_Kalbacken]

“Carter”, “McGreevey” and “Obama” in one very short article...

[bvw]

With all due disrespect to the Dems, this loss is not so bad as many have had. Fact is, these el-biggo public pension funds are all very risky if not for the political insurance they might gain by being a big vested interest voting bloc, so their investments would be weighted towards the front of the line to the bailout tank of fedgov fiat money.