Divest Oregon has questions for the state treasurer

Presenter: Here’s a message from Divest Oregon, a statewide grassroots coalition that includes Active Bethel Community, Beyond Toxics, Breach Collective, Climate Action Cottage Grove, Coast Range Association, Community Rights Lane County, Eugene DSA, Eugene Raging Grannies, Eugene Springfield NAACP, 350 Eugene, and many other groups across Oregon.

Divest Oregon: Private equity and the Oregon Pension Fund.

We’ve heard a lot about private equity lately and the Oregon State Treasury has our pension fund heavily invested in it, but what exactly is it and why does it matter?

[00:00:36] Well, when the Oregon Treasury invests in private equity, your funds go into investment that is kept secret. Since they’re not publicly traded, they focus on their own profit.

[00:00:45] So what do they do? They typically buy businesses with investors’ money, load up the businesses with debt, then lay off employees and cut services, plus charge the investors high fees. They make money.

[00:00:56] But the businesses? They often go bankrupt, but first services get worse, workers are out of work, often replaced by non-union workers. That’s union busting.

[00:01:05] What’s more, they are known to invest heavily, and I mean heavily, in fossil fuel infrastructure like oil pipelines and offshore oil rigs. They pour billions of dollars into fossil fuels, the same ones that are destroying our environment, the same ones that governments all over the world are trying to limit or end entirely.

[00:01:21] Our own Oregon treasurer proposed the net zero plan to do just that. And these are long-term investments. We are tied into these for 10+ years with hundreds of millions of dollars in each investment.

[00:01:33] But maybe they’re growing our pension fund and making it money? Well, not so fast. Private equity investments have performed well at times, but recently not so much.

[00:01:41] That’s probably why the Treasury isn’t supposed to be heavily invested in them, but they’re way over the limit set by the Oregon Investment Council. In fact, our PERS fund is 60% invested in private investments. That’s our retirement money.

[00:01:54] So many businesses and people all over the country are hurting because of private equity. Oregon’s pension fund is at risk. Let’s stop digging the hole deeper. Get Oregon’s pension fund out of private investments and fossil fuels by passing the Pause Act. For more information go to divestoregon.org.