As public officials across America prepare to funnel even more of government workers’ savings to private equity moguls, an alarm just sounded for anyone bothering to listen. It is a warning that Wall Street executives want you to ignore as they skim fees off retirement nest eggs — but the longer the warning goes unheeded, the bigger the financial time bomb may be for workers, retirees, and the governments that pay them.

Earlier this month, Pitchbook — the premiere news outlet for the private equity industry — declared that “private equity returns are a major threat to pension plans’ ability to pay retirees in 2023.”

With more than one in ten public pension dollars invested in private equity assets — and with states continuing to keep their private equity contracts secret — Pitchbook cited a new study finding that losses from the investments may be on the horizon for retirement systems that support millions of teachers, firefighters, first responders, and other government employees.