Assemblyman Joel Anderson introduced legislation earlier this week to divest the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) of investments in Iranian-connected businesses, appropriately questioning why public funds should support terrorist states (read the original FR post and Joel’s SDUT op-ed).
At the time, not even he likely comprehended the amount of monies invested, as research was still being conducted to determine the total. Granted, California may have the best-funded retirement system in the world, but the answer is still unbelievable.
According to Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG), a Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm that specializes in corporate ties to Iran and other security concerns, CalPERS is invested in 152 companies with ties to Iran with investments that total some $14 billion. CSAG further identifies 69 of these companies, totaling some $6 billion, to have significant or “at risk” exposure to Iran.
Further, CSAG also says that CalSTRS is invested in 267 companies with ties to Iran with investments that total some $10 billion. 114 of these companies, totaling some $5.5 billion, are deemed by CSAG to have significant or “at risk” exposure to Iran. Those exposed to risk are usually those that have a larger scope of business or specialized type of business in Iran or other state sponsors of terrorism.
That’s $24 billion, including $11.5 billion of it pegged as "at risk."
Some may ask, okay, I hear the concern, but isn’t this a national security issue and therefore something for the feds to address? This is something for everyone to address, even at the state level…and especially California. With the amount of retirement monies available for investing, it is safe to say that California’s overall funding probably exceeds the total of at least 40 other states combined.
Dick Morris writes about this very issue on vote.com yesterday. An excerpt:
President Bush should continue and accelerate his efforts to destroy Iran’s economy by cutting off investments to companies that invest there. Frank Gaffney’s disinvestterrror.org campaign says that 87 state-administered pension funds in the United States have invested $188 billion in one of 500 publicly traded companies that "partner with terrorist-sponsoring states." These 500 companies among them "have $73 billion invested in Iran, Syria, Libya, and North Korea." (This 2004 data includes investments in Saddam’s Iraq).
The economic weakness of Iran makes disinvestment its Achilles’ heel. With its non-oil and gas economy falling apart and its oil exports dropping while domestic demand is rising, Tehran already totters atop a mountain of popular discontent, as evidenced by the trouncing the establishment took in the local elections a few weeks ago.
So President Bush should mobilize the American people to disinvest in Iran and other terrorist states. He should ratchet up his efforts to persuade states and unions to adopt terror-free investment policies and urge Wall Street mutual funds to do likewise…massive private action, catalyzed by Bush, can have a huge effect.
Thanks to Joel Anderson, California can also have a huge effect, catalyzed by the legislature and the Governor.