7 Mayor Cassidy’s presentation: https://www.facebook.com/MayorCassidy/ videos/1844481835571456/ Full video of the San Leandro city council session, including CalPERS presentation on pension costs. In Mayor Cassidy’s presentation, he stated: “The City Council, the City Manager, and the Finance Director, you need to leave CalP- ERS. You’re never going to get honest advice, without an inherent conflict of interest. Most of you are members of CalPERS. You need to withdraw from CalPERS yourself. Your next contract with the City Manager needs to be a contract that does not include CalPERS. Oth- erwise, you’re getting the wolf telling you how to have proper security at the chicken coop.” – Stephen Cassidy, Former Mayor of San Le- andro, California addressing the San Leandro City Council, February 13, 2017 As I watched his presentation, all I could think was: “Mayor Cassidy, you have no idea the extent to which the fox and his friends have been dining out on your chickens for decades.” I also wanted to underscore that leaving CalP- ERS should not mean letting CalPERS and the State of California off the hook for their liabil- ities. I would suggest a deeper investigation of the governance and management decisions that resulted in CalPERS staggering losses on its real estate portfolio during the financial crisis are in order in light of the President’s state- ment to me in 1997. Hopefully, you will have an idea about the fox and his friends and your pension funds after you read The State of Our Pension Funds. I hope this knowledge will improve your ability to navigate the impact of the underfunding of pensions on you, your family, your communi- ty, and your network. If this knowledge arms a sufficient number of people, it can make a difference in what we collectively can return to the pension fund “banquet table” from what has been siphoned, drained, and stolen. The future can turn out well. I know of no economic reason for want or poverty. How- ever, a positive future will require that a large number of people turn our at- tention from the distraction du jour and attend to what is really happening in our state, local, and federal budgets and in our pension and retirement funds. Follow the money. Don’t let your narrative be con- trolled centrally. Bust up the narrative. Don’t let your money be controlled centrally – build family wealth that you govern independently. If you want real change, you are going to have to stop the drain from your pocket- book and your pension. If we each do what we can, a mighty army arises. — Catherine Austin Fitts The Solari Report by Catherine Austin Fitts Thank you for being a Solari Report subscriber. Solari_Note_Card_final2_Layout 1 5/14/15 9:47 AM Page 1