While the world is distracted by the credit problems in Europe's crisis to resolve the Greek debt, Wall Street's trade desks are making billions by churning union pension funds. Union members should press their representatives to stop this practice as it is a means of Wall Street making money from sales commissions. Bond managers and stock brokers are creating increasing ups and downs in the market to increase their earnings. They are able to do this as the sales managers of the pension funds are people who are trained on Wall Street and when they leave the pension funds will look for employment on Wall Street or in other enterprises where selling and buying stocks are the focus of making "earnings" instead of investing in stocks that will produce long term earnings by actually making profits. This kind of capital "strike" will hit Wall Street in the pocket book and will have a measurable effect on how people's money is handled. Investment in companies that make products in American results in jobs and not profits for banks.
People might find two books of interest in this regard:
1. Gervais Williams wrote a new book, Slow Finance: Why Investment Miles Matter. This book investigates the cost of financing projects abroad instead of locally. The farther the company or project the less transparent the use of funds and the impact of the investment.
2. Amy Cortese's book, Locavesting: the revolution in local investing and how to profit from it, might be useful reading for union members of pension funds. The book reports findings of how local investing results in multiplier effects to communities in employment, community institutions and stability.