Free Republic

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has joined the FBI in the investigation of Pennsylvania’s biggest pension fund, subpoenaing records about its board’s adoption of a false figure for its financial performance — and about improper “compensation and gifts” possibly offered staff. State employees are forbidden from accepting such gifts under a ban imposed by Gov. Tom Wolf. The subpoena issued to the PSERS school pension plan Friday was the first indication that investigators are looking into possible presents or money from investment advisers and consultants. The FBI and federal prosecutors launched a criminal probe of the $70 billion PSERS...

Pistachios in California, citrus in Florida, hotels, retail malls and mobile home parks across 18 states. And, let’s not forget, the former site of The Patriot-News in downtown Harrisburg. Pennsylvania taxpayers own all this and more thanks to several decades’ worth of investments made by the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), the pension fund that safeguards the retirements of some 500,000 educators statewide. The pension fund reported $1.2 billion in directly-owned real estate investments nationwide through the start of this year, a figure that — according to internal documents — includes various costs, including “site development” at the former...

County employees across Texas are part of a retirement plan that would be the envy of most taxpayers, and Collin County Judge Keith Self wants to dial it back. The Texas County and District Retirement System allows counties to match employees' contributions up to 250 percent, and it guarantees their accounts will grow by 7 percent every year.Self says the system is too onerous for governments and too generous, and needs to be adjusted. "Our citizens do not get anything close to this," he said. "They don't get anywhere close to a two-and-a-half-to-one match. They don't get guaranteed interest." Self...