So they’re getting desperate… Illinois, one of the brokest states in the US, actually wants to issue billions of dollars in bonds to plug the hole in its pensions. … So while the teachers and firefighters of the world are counting on pensions to conservatively invest their retirement savings, they’re trying to flip speculative real estate to juice returns (that strategy has actually increased sixfold). Pensions are broke. They know that they will not earn enough money to pay their obligations. So they’re swinging for the fences.