{"id":565,"date":"2025-12-10T19:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/?p=565"},"modified":"2026-02-03T19:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T19:46:16","slug":"steiner-should-not-downplay-dismal-pers-investment-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/10\/steiner-should-not-downplay-dismal-pers-investment-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Steiner Should Not Downplay Dismal PERS Investment Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1248px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oregon Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner seems to think that cheerleading will somehow help revive the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregon.gov\/treasury\/invested-for-oregon\/Documents\/Invested-for-OR-Performance-and-Holdings\/2025\/OPERF-09302025.pdf\">dismal investment performance<\/a> of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF).<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.oregon.gov\/oregon-newsroom\/OR\/OST\/Posts\/Post\/OPERF-Performance-and-Growth-of-Diversifying-Strategies-Portfolio-Highlighted-At-Oregon-Investment-Council-Meeting\">press release<\/a> issued after the December 3 meeting of the Oregon Investment Council (OIC), the body that oversees OPERF, Treasurer Steiner once again highlighted a few shreds of good news while mentioning nothing about the fund\u2019s unprecedented four-year long investment meltdown. She issued a similar press release after last month\u2019s OIC meeting, as I pointed out in my <a href=\"https:\/\/lookouteugene-springfield.com\/story\/community-voices\/2025\/10\/08\/dreadful-financial-decisions-by-pers-boards-went-unchecked-by-governors-and-lawmakers\/\">op-ed<\/a> published by Lookout Eugene-Springfield on October 8\u00a0 highlighting the skyrocketing pension costs across all public agencies. Poor investment returns are a significant factor in these cost increases.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By downplaying the seriousness of OPERF\u2019s debacle, Treasurer Steiner may be parroting what she hears from existing staff and advisors, the same people that have driven the investments into the ditch. The Treasurer needs to do better, as does the Investment Council itself. Unquestioning acceptance of recommendations by staff and advisors has without doubt contributed to today\u2019s mess. That needs to change, as I detailed in my <a href=\"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/oregon-investment-council-must-act-urgently-to-get-pers-investments-back-on-track\/\">testimony<\/a> to the Investment Council at its December 3 meeting.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Failure to acknowledge the extent of the investment crisis and slow walking its solutions only serve to delay attacking the problem with the urgency it requires.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":567,"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oregoncommentary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}