In the July 30 issue of the Acorn , Samuel Rosen wrote in his letter, “It must be noted that most of the state retirement funds are derived from CalPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System) investments with little burden to California taxpayers.”

Information on the CalPERS website noted that in the year ending June 30, 2008, employee contributions were $3.5 billion and employer—mainly taxpayers’—contributions were $7.2 billion. In that same 12-month time frame, investment losses were almost $12.5 billion.

Nancy Needham reported in the July 30 Acorn that “due to poor stock performance, T.O. taxpayers could owe as much as $1.5 million to protect retirement accounts” for city employers due to CalPERS investment losses.

No burden on the taxpayers?

CalPERS investment account was $253 billion as of Dec. 31, 2007, and as of June 30, 2009, it was estimated to be $181 billion. For the year ending June 30, 2009, the 23.4 percent decline in the CalPERS portfolio will necessitate an increase in public employer contributions to 19.7 percent of their payrolls, up from last year’s 16.9 percent.

That’s not a sizable hit for taxpayers?

Employer contributions to the CalPERS fund—mainly taxpayers—were more than $30 billion over the past 10 years.

I suppose $30 billion isn’t much money to Mr. Rosen.

Maybe Mr. Rosen provided President Barack Obama financial guidance in developing the unconstitutional, mandatory healthcare plan being forced upon Americans, whether in the country legally or not, by socialists of the Democratic Party.

You know, the plan that will provide quality, affordable care and lower healthcare costs for all.

Note that no other state in the U.S. or any country in the world has been able to reach these lofty goals. To believe this is possible, you need to ignore more than 40 years of data showing that Medicare didn’t control costs.

This ridiculous health plan relies on coercion, mandates, price controls and rationing.

Is this is the “change” you Obama voters “hoped for”?

Please contact your federal congressional representative and urge them to “Just say no” to any nationalized health bill. Rob Kaplan Thousand Oaks