It's as if the economic meltdown never happened....at least in the myopic eyes of some states.  

They are willing to again act like Las Vegas gamblers with public pension funds and play in the Wall Street casino that caused the financial catastrophe. 

People should be very, very concerned by this news.

From the NY Times:  "States and companies have started investing very differently when it comes to the billions of dollars they are safeguarding for workers’ retirement.

"Companies are quietly and gradually moving their pension funds out of stocks. They want to reduce their investment risk and are buying more long-term bonds.

"But states and other bodies of government are seeking higher returns for their pension funds, to make up for ground lost in the last couple of years and to pay all the benefits promised to present and future retirees. Higher returns come with more risk.

“ 'In effect, they’re going to Las Vegas,' said Frederick E. Rowe, a Dallas investor and the former chairman of the Texas Pension Review Board, which oversees public plans in that state. “ 'Double up to catch up.' "

"Though they generally say that their strategies are aimed at diversification and are not riskier, public pension funds are trying a wide range of investments: commodity futures, junk bonds, foreign stocks, deeply discounted mortgage-backed securities and margin investing. And some states that previously shunned hedge funds are trying them now."

These states seem determined to Ignore the age old advice that the odds are always with the house, apparently resolved to commit fiduciary irresponsibility by deliberately gambling with public funds in many unregulated, exotic and murky financial areas, disregarding the financial debacles of the 1980's (e.g. Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky) and the recent massive financial disaster in this country.