Foreign investment is cool and all but it also means foreign actors get to have more say in our economy and politics. We should be getting the money we contribute to invest in us.

[–] festus@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ehh, there's actually good risk reasons why funds, like the Canada Pension Plan, should be investing worldwide. Basically, if a crisis hits us in particular and all your investments are here, then then all your investments suffer. Meanwhile, because the economy is suffering, some people may opt to retire early so your withdrawals also increase. Whereas if your investments are distributed worldwide then you're less exposed to any individual crisis. Canada's economy might suffer as the US kills free trade, etc. but your investment in Australia continues generating returns.

I would also be worried about cronyism & connections interfering with the funds if your investments are more local. I imagine business leaders in Canada would have better success in influencing a local fund to make an unfair investment (good for the business, bad for the pensioners) than foreign business leaders might have. Plus it's a lot easier to say 'no' to a bad investment the more options you have.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I understand the financial argument for mitigating risk. That argument makes sense individually. I think the implications are a bit different at the collective - national level. If Canada tanks and Auatralia is fine, sure CPP's runway remains longer and pensioners are paid, but the rest of the economy around them falling apart with high unemployment doesn't make for sustainable retirement. The pension payouts are only as good as what they can purchase. If the local economy can't sustain services and prices, what those pensions can actually buy here since pensioners don't live in Australia, can change dramatically. And in bad economic conditions locally, we need local investment to keep the economy able to deliver the goods and services us Canadians need, retirees included. This is why there's an argument made for pension funds to shift investment home. An argument Carney makes.