Comment: PERA's antiquated investment strategy has not helped returns. Index funds have beaten the old pension asset allocation models for many years. College endowments and more enlightened state pension funds are switching large chunks of assets to passive investments.  The projected 7.25% return, weighed down as it will be by large investments in fixed income investments, is wildly unrealistic. There is no reason to keep more than two or three years of pension obligations invested in fixed income assets. There is also zero justification to invest in foreign stocks. That diversification argument was destroyed years ago. If the US stock market catches a cold, the rest of the world will be coming down with double pneumonia.  This ain't rocket science.

It was surprising not to see coverage of PERA's multi-million dollar slush fund for small business. This is PERA's lame attempt to pick winners and losers, something governments have never been particularly successful at doing.