Mismanagement of investments, skyrocketing undisclosed fees paid to Wall Street, growing secrecy, and, most recently, suspension of the Executive Director, have all created a crisis of confidence.
By Edward Siedle Dec. 1, 2023
Historically, the SEC has looked the other way when the victims of Wall Street are public workers and pensioners. Public pensions, solely by virtue of their size, are considered by regulators to be “sophisticated investors” who can fend for themselves. In reality, these pensions are oversee by lay boards—utterly lacking investment expertise—who are hoodwinked all the time by Wall Street. Worse still, the participants in these funds whose retirement savings are at risk—teachers, firefighters and police—are not even permitted to see the prospectuses and other documents related to the investments.
It may seem like a long-shot to demand an SEC intervention. Nevertheless, I honestly believe that if enough STRS Ohio stakeholders, including reform-minded board members, petition the SEC to investigate, the federal agency may choose to take action.
Better still, imagine if stakeholders in every state pension in America were to sign petitions demanding SEC intervention. In my opinion, such a national outcry would be impossible for the agency to ignore.