The Great Pension-Bonus Giveaway Fiasco

Over the past month or so, readers have asked me to comment on Matt Taibbi's article about public pensions. I have various issues with his version of events, but his fundamental point -- public pensions should not be investing with hedge fund managers -- is quite sound. They shouldn't be investing with hedge fund managers.

The difference between me and Taibbi is that I see public pension officials making bad decisions not because they're deluded right-wing ideologues, but because they and their predecessors, and the legislators who made the pension laws, made a bunch of awful decisions that have left them with few good options. Plunging pension assets into hedge funds and similarly risky investments was a Hail Mary pass to save a failing system.