Should One New York Politician Control 145 Billion Dollars For 1 Million Workers?

The New York Post reports:

MEDIA attention on the comptroller's race has focused more on incumbent Alan Hevesi's use of a state worker to drive his ailing wife around the city than on a far bigger issue: the urgent need to reform New York state's massive pension fund.

But the attention on the Hevesi scandal may not be too much of a distraction - for it illustrates that the pension fund concentrates far too much power in one place.

As comptroller, Hevesi is sole trustee of New York's $145 billion in pension assets, which he invests in the financial markets to fund retirement benefits for nearly 1 million state and municipal workers and retirees. State law governs how Hevesi invests the funds, and he gets plenty of advice from financial firms - but he's the only one who's actually responsible.

The public sector leads to monopoly.Monopoly leads to a few powerful exploiters.