This is in addition to their investment pool for local governments which has been frozen to prevent withdrawals after defaulted SIVs were found to be among their “investments.”
“These were highly inappropriate investments for taxpayers’ money,” said Joseph Mason, a finance professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “This is the tip of the iceberg for pension funds. We know the paper is sitting there. There are substantial subprime-related losses that haven’t shown up yet.”
Pension funds are expendable since it doesn’t apply to those who supposedly invest them.