Taxpayers foot $850M bill for Wall St.'s pension fees

Josh Kosman
NY Post

New York City taxpayers are helping to pay $850 million in Wall Street investment fees -- even as these financial gurus have produced only meager results for strapped city and state pension funds.

City Comptroller John Liu this week released a comprehensive analysis of NYC pension costs over the past decade, revealing why they have risen from $1.2 billion to $7.7 billion.

Liu said one of the major factors in the shortfall was higher than expected investment and administrative fees, which were $71 million in 2005, and have risen more than four-fold to $313 million.

Nearly all of the increase was due to the pension funds shifting asset allocation in favor of private equity and real estate -- chasing bigger returns -- but which also have higher investment fees, he wrote.

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Regulators exist to ‘serve the banks,’ next House finance chairman declares

Sahil Kapur
Raw Story

Alabama Republican Spencer Bachus, the incoming chairman of the House banking committee, suggested Congress and federal regulators should play a subservient role with banks.

"In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks," Bachus told The Birmingham News in an interview.


The Republican leadership last week designated Bachus the next chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, which is tasked with overseeing banks, financial markets, housing and consumer credit.

Democrats characterized the remark as a Freudian slip, nicknaming the Alabaman "Big Bank Bachus" and claiming the new Republican-controlled House will put the interests of financial institutions ahead of the American public.

"Congressman Spencer 'Big Bank' Bachus has given Americans a startlingly honest answer about the House Republican agenda – do whatever is good for the big banks and Wall Street special interests, rather than what’s good for hardworking Americans,” said Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

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Big Banks, Hedge Funds Become Surrogate Tax Collectors

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Wall Street titans have a new sweet spot -- as surrogate tax collectors. They see profits in tacking on fees and threatening to foreclose when homeowners fall behind on property taxes.

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