the california calpers and strs pension plans provide lifetime benefits for ca state workers and teachers. they have been grossly mismanaged. they are about $50 billion in the hole or underfunded and multiple investments have lost a great deal of money. there have also been several scandals whereby investments were made in firms that were owned by the members of the sacramento state legislature. yet these pension firms have been given many mini-bailouts in the past because the sacramento state legislature have raised taxes on california citizens to pay for their losses (i.e. proposition 98) and has imposed other costs on the california taxpayers such as higher state income tax rates to pay for k-12 schools that funnel money back to the pension funds. how do we classify this situation that the california pension funds are facing?
