Public Pension Funds Issue Threat to Wall Street

Nicole Gelinas reports:

Last year, the major labor unions (including the Service Employees International Union; American Federation of Government Employees; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; American Federation of Teachers; and United Mine Workers, to name just a few) threw their money behind one key political objective: Ensuring major banks and investment firms didn't push too hard for Social Security reform. In the spring, many Americans remained in the dark about what Social Security reform would have meant for them--and some pension-fund trustees wanted to keep it that way.

Three union trustees of the main New York City pension fund--from the local chapters of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Teamsters, and the Transport Workers Union--issued a threat to six top Wall Street firms. They warned in a letter that if JPMorgan Chase and its competitors supported private Social Security accounts or kept contributing to lobbying groups that did, the firms risked losing the hundreds of millions of dollars in fees they earn each year from managing public-pension funds.

Pretty amazing from a group that has members that don't even pay Social Security taxes.We here at Newsalert don't think public pension funds are a good idea.