How Government Pension Funds Overpay Wall Street Fees

The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending · Jul 13, 2026 · 8m · transcript

Public pension plans managing over $4.5 trillion in assets are quietly paying tens of billions in investment management fees each year — often for returns that trail simple index funds. This episode examines why CalPERS, the largest U.S. public pension, spent an estimated $2.6 billion on fees in a recent year, how the 'fiscal cost' of paying Wall Street is rarely disclosed in budget documents, and what happens when compounding fees eat into retirement benefits for teachers and firefighters. Lucas and Luna trace how opaque fee structures, carried interest, and 'alternative…