Daily updates from Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley. Americas largest public pension plan, the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, put almost $7 billion into private equity during the 2018-2019 fiscal year, according to Institutional Investor. Demian McLean | The Seattle Times Months into the outbreak, no one really knows how well many of the screening tests work, and experts at top medical centers say it is time to do the studies to find out. MCHD offers free COVID-19 (PCR) testing every Tuesday and Wednesday from 9am-12pm inside the McLean County Health Department building, 200 W. Front Street in downtown Bloomington, Room 400E. COVID-19 in McLean County for the week ending 3-3-23 - New Cases (2-23-23 to 3-1-23):129; New Hospitalizations (2-22-23 to 2-28-23):10 ; McLean Countys COVID-19 Community Level is LOW: When Community Level is LOW: Stay up to date on vaccinations, Get tested if you have symptoms. The taxpayer handouts will also help private equity continue its relentless march through the global economy, snapping up troubled companies at bargain prices or extending high-priced credit as other investors, including hedge funds, are forced to sell off their holdings in the post-corona landscape. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the cutting-edge . McLean started her career as an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs[2] and joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor in 2008. Driven partly by public pensions, the private-equity industry has mushroomed. So private equity is pushing to waive those rules, arguing that small firms should not be penalized for having been bought out by big investors. We asked three experts two immunologists and an epidemiologist to weigh in on this and some of the hundreds of other questions weve gathered from readers recently, including how to make sense of booster and test timing, recommendations for children, whether getting covid is just inevitable and other pressing queries. [10][11] (Adila Mchich, CME Group), Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds (Sarah Ann Wylie), The Fracktivists (Colin Kinniburgh, Dissent), Kate: A Moderate Proposal: Nationalize The Fossil Fuel Industry (The New Republic), This week, Kate and Daniel talk to Bethany McLean, author most recently of, Saudi America: The Truth about Fracking and How Its Changing the World, The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, If you like the episode and want to hear more, sign up as a monthly member at. Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career Yet an exemption for the private-equity industry did not make its way into the CARES Act; according to Bloomberg, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to pass a $250 billion boost to the PPPwithout provisions opening it to private-equity-backed companies. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. today. According to the Institutional Limited Partners Association. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. McLean is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and co-author of the Enron book The Smartest Guys in the Room. Nocera is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and co-author of Indentured, about the NCAA. COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a "Complex and Grave Situation" Inside a Wuhan Lab. [1] It details how the financial crisis bubbled up from a volatile, and bipartisan, mixture of government meddling and laissez-faire. All thats left to tally is the damage. Nocera is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and co-author of Indentured, about the NCAA. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground, Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream. She resides in Chicago with her children. According to the CARES Act, companies can only receive loans from the Small Business Administration if they commit to preserving jobs. Exclusive: Inside the S--tshow That Was the Trump-Biden Transition. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. FILE - In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a nurse uses a swab to perform a coronavirus test in Salt Lake City. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. David Wallace Wells writes that by one estimate. The immunobiologist Akiko Iwasakiwrites that new vaccines, particular those delivered through the nose, may be part of the answer. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. I dont think any of us can really believe what we saw today, one industry analyst told AP. Portfolio, a Penguin Random House imprint, announced Wednesday that the two had reached an agreement for a news-breaking, character-driven narrative revealing the forces that rendered critical American institutions ill-equipped to cope with the deadliest pandemic since the 1918 Spanish flu and the economic consequences of that failure.. [13][14][15] They divorced in 2020. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Bethany McLean is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the author of "Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World." The Power Law Venture Capital and the . Her two books are the The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. He and McLean previously worked together on All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, about the 2008 market crash. Bethany McLean - Operations Manager - Smithfield Foods - LinkedIn Hot & Bothered: Has the Fracking Bubble Finally Burst? with Bethany McLean The allies of private equity hope that similar exemptions will soon be forthcoming for their firms.We are in a wait-and-see mode, Chris Hayes, the ILPAs senior policy counsel, told me. Whats more, the Milken Institute reported, even by mid-2018, private equity owned more companies than the number of businesses listed on all of the U.S. stock exchanges combined, and have accounted for a more significant source of financing than initial public offerings in many recent years. Not only should taxpayer funds not be used to pay management or consulting firms, she says, but companies that take the money should also, for instance, be required to include workers on their corporate boards and gradually increase their minimum wage to at least $15 an hour. In September 2015, she published Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants which examines the governance and financial situation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seven years after the 2008 financial crisis. The value of West Texas Intermediate crude, a U.S. benchmark, dipped below zero for a few hourstrading as low as negative $40 a barrel. Confirmed cases include those reported since the beginning of the current active outbreak and may include cases that . Portfolio, a Penguin Random House imprint, announced Wednesday that the two had reached an agreement for a news-breaking, character-driven narrative revealing the forces that rendered critical American institutions ill-equipped to cope with the deadliest pandemic since the 1918 Spanish flu and the economic consequences of that failure.The title and release date have not yet been determined. You can see how all of this is playing out by looking at Occidental Petroleum. These firms not only have a record $1.5 trillion in cash on the sidelines, waiting to be invested, but their CEOs are among Americas richest executives. 1 FOR PHARMACISTS PRESCRIBING PAXLOVID: This service is available in all locations, with the exception of those in New Hampshire. McLean was born in Hibbing, Minnesota on December 12, 1970. The book was later made into the Academy Award-nominated documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. A loophole in the tax code currently allows private-equity financiers to pay taxes on their returns at the lower rate for capital gains, rather than the higher rate for personal income. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. Sign up for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story. All thats left to tally is the damage. A college student in Indiana died in her dorm room after testing positive for the coronavirus, school officials and her family said. The SHIELD saliva-based testing is available for all ages. Even before the COVID crisis, there were questions about how well private-equity investments were actually performing. Its still unclear where most of this debt is held. Coronavirus outbreaks were reported by the Merced County Department of Public Health at New Bethany Residential Care retirement home in Los Banos and Dutch Bros Coffee. Ms. McLean is the author of Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How Its Changing the World., Ever since the oil shocks of the 1970s, the idea of energy independence, which in its grandest incarnation meant freedom from the worlds oil-rich trouble spots, has been a dream for Democrats and Republicans alike. Best-selling author Bethany McLean reveals the true story of fracking's impact - on Wall Street, the economy, and geopolitics. Business and Society Lecture features journalist Bethany McLean Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds, A Moderate Proposal: Nationalize The Fossil Fuel Industry, https://media.blubrry.com/belabored/dissentmagazine.org/mp3/24HotBothered.mp3. Bethany McLean - Contributing Editor - Vanity Fair | LinkedIn Like so many other facets of the COVID-19 crisis, however, this unprecedented crash exposed long-running cracks in the facade. Paying members will get access to perks like a monthly happy hour with Kate, Daniel, and friends, a free ebook of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal by Kate Aronoff, Alyssa Battistoni, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Thea Riofrancos, and much more. The half decade from 2013 to 2018 saw the most private-equity deals over any five-year period in American history. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Free COVID-19 testing is available at the McLean County Health Department from 9 a.m. to noon every Tuesday and Wednesday in Room 400E of the MCHD building at 200 W. Front St. in Bloomington. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous . If private equity is handed billions in taxpayer money, it could use some of it to pay themselves hefty fees today, then pocket even more of it down the road, when they sell their portfolio companies and collect their 20% of the taxpayer-enabled gains. McLean County reports 182 new COVID cases - pantagraph.com Dec 2020 - Apr 20221 year 5 months. A deal, and higher oil prices, might help the industry. Dont hesitate: sign up on Patreon today. on March 2.Read more about the C.D.C . The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. And why not? McLean is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and co-author of the Enron book "The Smartest Guys in the Room." Nocera. But it doesnt have to be a blank check. "Dow 36,000" co-authors stand by book's premise. 2 FOR DRIVE-THRU TESTING RESULTS: Lab samples are sent to an off-site laboratory and results may take 1 to 2 days or even longer in some instances or in times of peak demand. After nearly bringing down the economy in 2008, how is it possible that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still around? Bethany McLean. Workers monitoring a hydraulic fracturing operation near Wink, Texas. The industrys boosters argue that technological gains, such as drilling ever bigger wells, and clustering wells more tightly together to reduce the cost of moving equipment, eventually would lead to a gusher of profits. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. The fear, of course, is that private equity will do what private equity does best, which is pocket the money themselves rather than devoting it to the businesses theyve invested in. 2023 Cond Nast. These cookies are used to collect information on how users interact with Chicago Booth websites allowing us to improve the user experience and optimize our site where needed based on these interactions. It once seemed utterly unattainable until the advent of fracking, which unleashed a torrent of oil. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. The fracking boom that drove a decade of record U.S. oil and gas production was never really profitable to begin with. The active outbreak list is intended to inform the public of the current COVID-19 outbreaks in Los Angeles County. In the first half of 2019, when oil was around $55 a barrel, only a few top-tier companies were profitable. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. Is there any chance this could lead to prison time? In 2019, Oxy, as its known, topped a competing bid from Chevron and paid $38 billion to take over Anadarko Petroleum, which is one of the major shale companies. [1] In 1992 she received a B.A. Even so, he told me, a large number of private-equity firms ignored that guidance and decided to put very high levels of leverage on their portfolio companies. Maybe those firms should now be required to contribute more equity from their cash stockpiles, he suggests. NEW YORK (AP) Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. Because rules for access to this money werent specified in the CARES Act, as ILPA notes, the executive branch will have a fair amount of discretion over who gets access to the moneyand private-equity firms want to take full advantage of that opening. Bethany McLean, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, is the author of "Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World." The Times is committed to publishing a. Its thanks to those who are able to contribute that were able to make the podcast free for anyone to listen to. Previous to her current roles, McLean was an editor-at-large at Fortune Magazine. Archive Wall Street Too Big to Fail, COVID-19 Edition: How Private Equity Is Winning the Coronavirus Crisis April 9, 2020 From the. By early 2019, America was the worlds largest producer of crude oil, surpassing both Saudi Arabia and Russia. Even before the coronavirus crisis, the spigot was drying up. She is the co-author of the 2003 book, "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron," which was the basis for the Academy Award-nominated documentary of the same name. But they wont fix its fundamental problem with profitability. The big banks emerged from the financial crisis victorious, but also subject to a host of new regulations designed to reduce leverage and stabilize the economy. On April 20, oil prices did something theyve never done before. Bethany Lee McLean (born December 12, 1970) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. David Wallace Wells writes that by one estimate, 100,000 Americans could die each yearfrom the coronavirus. We need private equity, we need more of it, and we need it now, chief investment officer Ben Meng said in early 2019right before CalPERS hired a former private-equity guy, who began his career at Goldman Sachs, to head its private-equity efforts. Bethany Lee McLean (born December 12, 1970) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. Enron tale author Bethany McLean has a new book she wrote from her Otherwise, the ILPA warned in a previous letter, there would be significant harm not only to employees that see their hours reduced or jobs eliminated, but also significantly reduced returns to the institutions providing retirement security through pensions, insurance policies and other investments that serve hundreds of thousands of Americans. To make matters worse, ILPA added, provisions in many private-equity investments allow private-equity firms to make additional capital calls when times are tough. Bethany McLean Latest Articles | Vanity Fair TDD: (800) 526-0844 Bethany McLean: The Truth about Fracking and How It's Changing - Yahoo! Making a Killing with Bethany McLean on Apple Podcasts There were rumblings that shale companies would seek a federal lifeline. Was Tiffany involved? Mortgages should be used to buy homes, not for refinancing. Nocera and McLean writing book on U.S. coronavirus response According to Dan Rasmussen, the founder of Verdad Advisers, private-equity firms typically double the amount of debt relative to profits on a companys balance sheet. Bethany McLean is a . She is a writer, known for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005), Independent Lens (1999) and PBS NewsHour (1975). Previous assignments include editor-at-large, columnist for Fortune, and a contributor to Slate. Whiting Petroleum, whose stock once traded for $150 a share, filed for bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of Texans are being laid off in the Permian Basin and other parts of the state, and the whole industry is bracing for worse. Nocera and McLean writing book on U.S. coronavirus response By The Associated Press June 24, 2020 NEW YORK (AP) Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic.