Marathon Pundit: AFL-CIO pension funds group signs $500 million letter of committment on Olympic housing project

One has to wonder if a $500 million investment, which to me is quite risky, is in the best interest of the workers who paid into various AFL-CIO pension funds.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

This week, (Chicago Mayor Richard) Daley took an $86 million gamble with taxpayers' money that a moribund housing market will come roaring back -- by closing on the purchase of Michael Reese Hospital to pave the way for construction of a $1.1 billion Olympic Village.

That's a drop in the bucket compared with the risk the AFL-CIO is about to take with its pension funds.

The AFL-CIO investment trusts and the labor-owned Union Labor Life Insurance Co. have signed a "letter of commitment" to pump $500 million into building the Olympic Village, a project alternately viewed as the riskiest element of Chicago's Olympic bid and its enduring "physical legacy."

Olympic Village projects in London and Vancouver have run into trouble because of the worldwide credit crunch, forcing both cities to ride to the rescue.