Sovereign Wealth Fund

[james22]

1 hour ago, Xerxes said:

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

 

Woke up from a nap to first read this and thought I'd had a stroke.

[dwy000]

1 hour ago, Vish_ram said:

SWF assets:

All confiscated assets that are proven to be part of criminal operation that Govt isn’t selling,

If Govt bails out anyone, SWF will get some warrants. 
 

any NIH funding to private results in issuance of equity to SWF.

 

only prob is that Dems will squander it away when they regain power.

Aren't seized assets already divided between the local/state/federal agencies responsible for their seizure?  I think it's supposed to be both a funding source and incentive to seized crime related assets. 

 

To be meaningful, any SWF would need tens, if not hundreds of billions, of fairly liquid assets.  The problem isn't figuring out assets, it's getting those who control or benefit from them today to give them up for use by generations down the road. 

[Xerxes]

28 minutes ago, james22 said:

 

Woke up from a nap to first read this and thought I'd had a stroke.

haha. you got to work on your French. 
 

https://www.cdpq.com/fr/a-propos/histoire

 

Established the 1960s. Currently $C450 billion in assets. 
 

I should clarify that pension fund and sovereign fund serve different purpose. So my initial statement that stated that QC has a large fund despite not being a net energy exporter is erroneous. 
 

[Spooky]

It would be good to give all Americans a stake in the economy / output of the nation, it might help with inequality and the feeling that only the top 1% benefit from capitalism. I wish Canada had done something similar to Norway with its energy assets, we would all be wealthy . The downside is that there are additional fees and costs and less agency for individuals to make investing decisions. Governance also needs to be thought through carefuly, MBS took over control of the Saudi PIF and has been making some pretty bad investments. Ontario tried to set up a separate provincial pension plan and that was a disaster which ultimately fell apart.

 

Another idea that I thought was cool is giving every citizen a trust fund when they are born with like $5k in the S&P 500 which they can't sell until they are an adult. Give people some ownership and skin in the game.

[TwoCitiesCapital]

3 hours ago, Spooky said:

It would be good to give all Americans a stake in the economy / output of the nation

 

There is already the opportunity for this. Anytime can open a brokerage account with minimal upfront and buy the S&P ETF commission free. 

 

3 hours ago, Spooky said:

 

, it might help with inequality and the feeling that only the top 1% benefit from capitalism.

 

I am skeptical it will help anyone except the well connected and political elite.  

 

3 hours ago, Spooky said:

I wish Canada had done something similar to Norway with its energy assets, we would all be wealthy .

 

Norway find itself in an enviable position,  but it's not real 'wealth' if you don't control it. 

 

3 hours ago, Spooky said:

 

Another idea that I thought was cool is giving every citizen a trust fund when they are born with like $5k in the S&P 500 which they can't sell until they are an adult. Give people some ownership and skin in the game.

 

IMO, this is a much better idea and a program easily affordable by US govt compared to other social safety net services. Just have to make the money untouchable until 18 - ideally even longer. Maybe 25 or 35. 

Edited 9 hours ago by TwoCitiesCapital

[alpha]

4 hours ago, Spooky said:

I wish Canada had done something similar to Norway with its energy assets, we would all be wealthy .

Ugh if I remember correctly Norway based their system on Alberta's but Albertans voted in a new govt that gutted it for special interests while Norway maintained theirs.

[james22]

 One of the first sovereign wealth funds: the Alaska Permanent Fund 

 

Asset classes are managed by a dedicated team of investment professionals focused on achieving best-in-class overall performance. Investments are spread across most markets, countries, and currencies to achieve broad exposure to global growth and value creation, taking advantage of the Fund’s long-term horizon and size to generate high returns and maintain wealth for future generations.

 

The Fund is invested across public and private assets, and the asset allocation consists of eight asset classes:

 

Public Equities

Fixed-Income

Private Equity

Real Estate

Private Income: Infrastructure, Private Credit, & Income Opportunities

Absolute Return Strategies

Tactical Opportunities

Cash.

 

https://www.ifswf.org/members/usa

 

 

https://apfc.org/performance/

[formthirteen]

On 2/4/2025 at 4:26 AM, Xerxes said:

I meant to post this few months ago and create a dedicated thread on sovereign funds. Forgot. I guess this thread is a good home for it. 

 

Yes, Farouk Al-Kasim, the guy who saved Norway from being destroyed by oil by telling the Norwegians they had oil.

 

Here's an FT article about him:

https://archive.is/lEYl7#selection-2133.659-2146.1

 

Quote

This is better understood today than it was 40 years ago. When al-Kasim arrived in Oslo, no one was worrying about how oil might challenge Norway – in part because they didn’t think any would be found. The Geological Survey of Norway had dismissed the possibility just 10 years earlier.
The politicians and senior bureaucrats had not caught oil fever. A serious mining accident had recently brought down a government, and most did not want to touch oil matters with a bargepole. “Everything I said was met with, ‘Oh, you think so? Mmm. Maybe. Let’s wait and see’,” al-Kasim recalls. “This characteristic saved Norway from the curse of oil: the fact that they are completely incapable of getting carried away by the oil dream. They were very sceptical – plain horse sense basically. They didn’t want to move until it was absolutely proven that it was the right time to act.”

 

 

Norway's government is run by humans and they are not able to keep their hands out of the cookie jar:

https://www.norskpetroleum.no/en/economy/petroleum-tax/

 

Quote

Temporary changes in the petroleum tax system

 

In the first half of 2020 the global oil demand fell dramatically because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic, combined with low oil and gas prices, resulted in temporary financial difficulties and increased uncertainty. Without temporary tax changes, the investment activity on the Norwegian continental shelf could have been lower than expected as a consequence of postponed of planned and profitable projects. This could have led to problems for the service and supply industry.

 

”Temporary changes” are still ongoing. The net government cash flow from petroleum activities has not yet recovered from the COVID-19 dip. Oh wait, I could be wrong: