State's investment lost about $1 billion

by SamCogar Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:11 am

October 15, 2008
State's investment portfolio value has lost about $1 billion
Unrecoverable actual losses are $35 million, director says

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia's $10 billion-plus investment portfolio lost about another $200 million of value in August, bringing total investment losses since July 1, 2007, to about $825 million, the executive director of the state Investment Management Board told legislators Tuesday.

However, Craig Slaughter said actual losses from unrecoverable investments in stock of companies like Lehman Brothers that collapsed during financial upheaval is much smaller, in the range of about $35 million.

"I can tell you it is very small. Our exposure to any one company is tenths of one percent of the entire portfolio," he told the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.

Slaughter did not dispute the assessment of Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, that the portfolio's losses prior to Monday's market surge probably approached $1 billion.

"The reality is, the value of this portfolio is $1 billion less than it was when we were in our heyday," Helmick said.

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200810140741

by sodbuster Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:12 pm

Well if they had listened to Darrell McGraw they would be a billion dollars better off.

I know the anti-McGraw gang will never admit it, but facts are facts.

And just think how much Soc Security would have lost if the republicans got their way.

by **ohio county** Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:16 pm

How so? You mean if they'd bought key holders and pins with the taxpayers money, they'd have saved? That's a great idea. Maybe we ought to turn the bastard out to think up more scams...

by Aaron Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:27 pm

What was McGraw's advice Sherm? Please post a link if possible as I've heard nothing about it and would love to see what he had to say.

by sodbuster Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:33 pm

Aaron wrote:What was McGraw's advice Sherm? Please post a link if possible as I've heard nothing about it and would love to see what he had to say.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE0DC1131F932A35756C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Well here is one to start with Aaron.

I was just working from memory when I posted.

I am surprised you dont remember.

The establishment crowd fought McGraw tooth and nail for years.

Just like they opposed his efforts in the tobacco suit.

From the above link:

"Darrell V. McGraw Jr., the West Virginia Attorney General, argues that stocks would open floodgates of corruption. "West Virginia is a sordid, crooked state," Mr. McGraw said. "And pots of money are attractive to politicians. I don't believe government should be sitting on giant sums of money and playing the market."

Mr. McGraw says brokers are not trustworthy, either: "The tradition of brokers is churning. They get paid for churning, not for success."

West Virginia's Civil War-era Constitution prohibits investments in "private corporations." Even so, the state's employee pension fund invested in some stocks. Then, in 1993, a new state auditor asked Mr. McGraw whether these investments were legal.

In a surprise response to the request -- which the auditor thought was a formality -- Mr. McGraw said no. His ruling has been appealed to the West Virginia Supreme Court.

Meantime, the West Virginia Board of Investments -- a group Mr. McGraw called "yuppies" -- sold all the fund's stocks. As a result, the fund's returns have fallen and, last year, it lost money. Its underfunded liability -- that is, its projected cash shortage in the years ahead -- has worsened. Last year, the all-bond pension fund, which invests primarily in United States Treasury and Government agency securities, went from 98 percent funded to only 80 percent funded.

H. Craig Slaughter, executive director of the board, sees politics at play -- but in a different way. "Mr. McGraw views this as a good political move," he said. "He heads lobbying groups against the liberalization of anything." That charge is not denied by Mr. McGraw. "I have a constituency of retirees who are loath to allow politicians to start messing with their money," he said."

by Aaron Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:38 pm

I'm a relative new comer to politics Sherm. I'll give it a read.

by Aaron Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:45 pm

sodbuster wrote:Well if they had listened to Darrell McGraw they would be a billion dollars better off.

No, they wouldn't be a billion dollars better as before stocks, WV invesments weren't making enough to cover the liabilities and there wouldn't be $10Billion in the fund to start with.

If you don't want to invest in stocks, that's fine. But you then have to make up the shortfall (increased taxes) or reduce the liabilities.

But it's hard to argue the state wouldn't have lost money if they had listened to McGraw when odds are, they likely wouldn't have had the money to lose if they had listened to McGraw.

And if the loss is as stated, $35 Million, less then 1% of the fund, then it's worth the risk, imho.

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State's investment lost about $1 billion

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