Duane Tron: The most incompetent, corrupt, arrogant and out-of-touch Congress in the history of this country

Duane Tron to John Curry, March 18, 2008
Subject: Re: STRS,OPERS, Bear Stearns, & JP Morgan......a tale of downs and ups!
John,

The scary thing is their stock had been at $200 a share last month. This is the first time in my life I can recall the Federal Reserve holding an emergency meeting on a Sunday. Intervention by the Fed is too little too late. Why? The current administration has steadfastly refused to intercede into what has been going on at Wall Street for the past eight years. In fact I have written Congressman Jim Jordan several times and expressed concerns over what I describe as shoddy and marginal banking practices that have been occurring from the subprime mortgages to the out-of-control credit schemes.

I told my wife when the Republican-controlled Congress deregulated the banks, and everything else, they were flinging open the doors to all kinds of abuse. The people I contacted told me I didn't know what I was talking about. They told me it would create more competition and thus improve the economy. I told many that unregulated banks are like leaving pizza in an adjoining room at a Weight Watchers Convention and expecting to find it there when the convention ends.

The zeal for higher and higher profits has been driving the markets at clips that have never been seen before; that is with the exception of the late 1920's! The problem? It's like anything that is done to excess. Eventually things are going to catch up and this is what's happening. Newton's Law of Gravity states "that whatever goes up must come down" and this is the same principle I ascribe to economics. The problem is when they tossed out regulation they assured that we were going to see a harder landing than any of these fools could ever anticipate, or envision.

The problem is we have two, and a new third, generations of people in this country who have NEVER experienced, let alone lived through tough times. We have two adult generations who do NOT have any clue what it's like to do without. For those of us who grew up at the end of the Great Depression (my brother and sister were both born early during the Depression) we know. For those of us who grew up in four room houses without indoor plumbing, no hot water, no central heat, no microwaves, no television, no PC's, no Blue Tooth, no stereos, no real conveniences, no dishwasher, no washing machine, no dryer, and you get the idea, they have no clue!

For those who never grew their own fruits and vegetables, and cooked and canned them they have no idea. For those who never experienced the ice truck coming to the house to bring block ice to keep things from spoiling in the 'ice box,' they have no clue. For those who never had to go and weed an acre garden and hang all of the clothes on a clothesline they have no clue. For those who never grew up in a home where we had a single car and it was usually ten years old, or more, they have no clue. For those who never woke up on Christmas morning to find a stocking stuffed with hard tack candy, a few little toys, and received a couple of pairs of socks, or a pair of mittens, or a winter hat; and received one toy of some kind and a couple of oranges they have no clue! THEY HAVE NO CLUE! My wife and I do as we have both been there, experienced that, seen that, and lived that!

I felt like the Paul Revere of the Internet during the past four years and the problem is that unlike Paul riding in 1776 nobody today would listen. After all these were just the ramblings of a disgruntled old man! They are going to find out what it's like and I pray our entire fund doesn't go down the toilet because of the idiots and morons we have elected time and time again over the past 20+ years. When there isn't anyone guarding the hen house don't go out and expect to find any chickens left! This is where we find ourselves. Bear Stearns & Co. is just the beginning! There is an economic principle I call the "domino effect." Nothing of this magnitude happens that it doesn't reverberate throughout the economy. I assure everyone that the Fed can't step up and provide the kind of intervention they provided Bear Stearns & Co. in every situation that will occur.

Unregulated hedge funds, junk bonds, insider trading, subprime lending and other get rich fast schemes have damaged the markets more severely than anyone in Washington has been smart enough to realize or understand. I have told dozens of so-called lawmakers, who have been denying we are in a recession, that Ohio bypassed the recession part and went straight to a depression. This has been the case with many Midwestern states due to these ignorant and unregulated free trade agreements they negotiated. I assure everyone that the fat cats transferred most of their money and investments into offshore accounts outside of the United States during the past ten years. Many banks moved operations to Bermuda and other locations where they didn't have to pay taxes, etc.

For those who feel like someone has stuck something up your rear ends get used to it! I keep telling everyone that we aren't going to see any real change until we boot both the Republicans and Democrats, create a new third party, and elect a moderate group and send them to Washington. The people who have been running this country have run it into the ground like the previous STRS Board were trying to do with our retirement. I assure everyone we aren't out of the woods yet with what is taking place on Wall Street. I have pointed out time and again that the present United States Congress is the most incompetent, corrupt, arrogant and out-of-touch Congress I have observed in the entire history of the United States and I am a retired history teacher and administrator!

Duane Tron

From John Curry, March 18, 2008
Subject: STRS,OPERS, Bear Stearns, & JP Morgan......a tale of downs and ups!

Ohio pension funds weather Bear's fall

By Jim Mackinnon
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Tuesday, Mar 18, 2008
Among the 100 top shareholders in investment bank Bear Stearns & Co. are Ohio's two largest public pensions, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio fund and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement fund.

STRS was the troubled bank's 43rd largest shareholder as of Dec. 31, while OPER was 57th, according to the most recent data from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But the amount of Bear Stearns stock the Ohio funds own is a minuscule percentage of their overall assets of about $150 billion, according to records and the organization.

STRS lost about $17 million in its Bear Stearns holdings Monday as it sold all but 127,000 of its 790,000 shares at between $3.50 and $4 a share, spokeswoman Laura Ecklar said.

That loss was more than made up by the $27 million increase in value during the day in the 6.6 million shares it owns in JPMorgan Chase & Co., she said. JPMorgan shares rose 10 percent after the company agreed to buy Bear Stearns as part of a financial system rescue package engineered by the Federal Reserve and the federal government.

Bear Stearns stock on Friday, when it closed at $30 a share, made up only 0.03 percent of the estimated $73.5 billion in diversified assets owned by the STRS pension fund, she said. The pension currently pays 122,000 retired Ohio teachers.

''In the last 24 hours, we have purchased $150 million in global and domestic equities,'' Ecklar said. ''We're long-term investors.''

Likewise, the Bear Stearns stock plunge would have only a small effect on the value of the estimated $69.7 billion in assets in the pension fund and $13.2 billion in assets in the health-care fund owned as of Dec. 31 by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement plan, spokesman Rich Baker said.

The funds pay benefits to about 206,000 retirees and beneficiaries, Baker said.

The two funds sold most of their Bear Stearns shares last week, he said. On Monday, the funds lost about $300,000 when the value of its remaining shares plunged, while the plans' JPMorgan shares rose $23.6 million, he said.

''These type of situations typically have a minimum impact on us,'' he said.

Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.