All thats left to tally is the environmental and financial damage. All rights reserved). That means public pensions might be forced to dump their holdings in public-backed investments to provide private-equity firms with emergency casha move that could depress the stock market even further. So if Blackstones investments crater, the teachers, firefighters, and health care workers who are counting on those investments to generate the returns necessary to pay their pensions will suffer. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. By Bethany McLean Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream America's energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. Hot & Bothered: Has the Fracking Bubble Finally Burst? with Bethany McLean On April 20, oil prices did something theyve never done before. (This may not surprise anyone who is attempting to be productive while working in close quarters with their children.). But among those angling for a federal handout is one of the wealthiest sectors of the American economy: private equity. Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. 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. 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. As a result, fracking stocks badly underperformed the market. 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. On the surface, it appears that two unforeseeable and random shocks are threatening our dream. Given how much of the economy will rise and fall on the investments that private-equity funds manage, we may be forced to let them share the federal handout. He and McLean previously worked together on All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, about the 2008 market crash. Here are some tips. 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. If you like the episode and want to hear more, sign up as a monthly member at patreon.com/hotbotheredclimate today. Previous assignments include editor-at-large, columnist for Fortune, and a contributor to Slate. Thanks to all the cheap money made available by the Fed, companies owned by private-equity firms could simply refinance their debts at lower rates, thereby getting a fresh lease on life. Smithfield Foods. Colombias Amazing Race to Build a $1,000 Ventilator Frontline Doctors Race to Learn the Mysteries of Coronavirus How Dr. Anthony Faucis Media Strategy Is Revolutionizing Coronavirus Messaging Can Americas Crowd-Driven Spectacles Return for the Fall Season? From the Archive: Following the Psychological Contagion That Fed the 2014 Ebola Outbreak. "Dow 36,000" co-authors stand by book's premise. If you need help with the Public File, call 540-512-1558. Nocera and McLean writing book on U.S. coronavirus response Bethany McLean: The Truth about Fracking and How It's Changing - Yahoo! The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds, A Moderate Proposal: Nationalize The Fossil Fuel Industry, https://media.blubrry.com/belabored/dissentmagazine.org/mp3/24HotBothered.mp3. Ad Choices. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. The total number of . What the Theranos trial says about the blurred lines between visionaries and frauds. [citation needed] She began as a contributor to Slate's Moneybox column, in 2010 and "The Bulldog" column in Fortune. Over the past 10 years, the entire energy industry has issued over $400 billion in high-yield debt. The book, which she wrote from the couple's home, puts a human face to the crisis. 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. January 2022 was the month with the highest average cases, while November 2020 was the month with the highest . The basic reason is that the amount of oil coming out of a fracked well declines steeply after the first year more than 50 percent in year two. Increasingly desperate to boost the portfolios of retiring workers, they too turned to private equity as their saviorurged on by private equitys promises that it alone could deliver the necessary returns. Bethany Nesbitt, 20, was found dead in a residence hall at. Bethany McLean. Clients who show symptoms of COVID-19 (for example have a fever, cough, or difficulty breathing) and/or are waiting for their test results. Recent and archived work by Bethany McLean for The New York Times. McLean County reports 182 new COVID cases - pantagraph.com 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. Waters, in her letter, argues for placing even more strings on the money taken by private-equity-backed companies. This week, Kate and Daniel talk to Bethany McLean, author most recently of Saudi America: The Truth about Fracking and How It's Changing the World as well as the bestselling The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, with Peter Elkind. Book review of The Power LawVenture Capital and the Making of the New And more! Unlike venture capitalists, who provide start-up funds to new companies, private-equity firms generally take over existing businesses, usually by borrowing large sums of money. There were rumblings that shale companies would seek a federal lifeline. Fueled by debt and years of easy credit, Americas energy boom is on shaky footing. But there are ways to make it work better. 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. How Screwed Are Donald Trump and His Adult Children, and Other Questions You Might Have About the Staggering Fraud Lawsuit Against Them. Copyright 2023 WSLS.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. If private equity suffers, the blow will reverberate throughout the entire economy. 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. 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. In a January 4 opinion piece for the New York Times, Bethany McLean had this to say about the outcome of the Elizabeth Holmes trial: "A jury's verdict is black-and-white, but the real story is . In April, the Energy Information Administration cut its forecast for U.S. oil production, estimating that it will fall both this year and next suggesting that the days of huge growth in production from shale are over. 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. [1] In 1992 she received a B.A. This location, as with the other County contracted medical sheltering sites, will accept individuals from the local community that are referred through DPH. She was previously married to Christopher Roberts Wilford. On the other hand, Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and powerful Representative Maxine Waters, have weighed in loudlyon the industrys behalf. Portfolio, a Penguin Random House imprint . 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. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. in English and mathematics from Williams College. Fracking, they said, was just manufacturing, in which process and human intelligence could reduce costs and conquer geology. Latest trends. Bethany McLean. After nearly bringing down the economy in 2008, how is it possible that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still around? Bethany McLean - Operations Manager - Smithfield Foods - LinkedIn [13][14][15] They divorced in 2020. The private-equity industry also wants the companies they have invested in to have access to the $454 billion being doled out through the Treasury, an amount that the Fed said could be leveraged into over $2 trillion. Everything You Know About Martin Shkreli Is Wrongor Is It? 1. Mortgages should be used to buy homes, not for refinancing. Nocera is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and co-author of Indentured, about the NCAA. The industrys lack of profits wasnt exactly a secret. Since that time, Oxys stock has plummeted almost 80 percent in part due to fears that the Anadarko acquisition is going to prove so wildly unprofitable that it sinks the company. The SHIELD saliva-based testing is available for all ages. [16] McLean resides in Chicago with her children. Tar Heel, North Carolina, United States. By Bethany McLean. Airlines, hotels, and restaurantsall of whose revenues have cratered in the wake of sweeping stay-home ordershave engaged in Hunger Gameslike lobbying to cash in on the CARES Act, making their case for a share of the disaster relief. By now, it should be abundantly clear that the current shale oil business model does not work even for the very best companies in the industry, the investment firm SailingStone Capital Partners explained in a recent note. [10][11] And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. She is a writer, known for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005), Independent Lens (1999) and PBS NewsHour (1975). Has its bubble finally burst? 208 new COVID cases reported in McLean County So why should they be permitted to raid the federal Treasury in a time of crisis? Nocera is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and co-author of Indentured, about the NCAA. The active outbreak list is intended to inform the public of the current COVID-19 outbreaks in Los Angeles County. FILE - In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a nurse uses a swab to perform a coronavirus test in Salt Lake City. Its a rich history of a company, and a case study in how a corporate culture can turn toxic. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. In reality, the dream was always an illusion, and its collapse was already underway. She has been married to Sean Murray Berkowitz since May 2008. In 2019, the American Investment Council (AIC), a lobbying group which represents private-equity giants like Blackstone, the Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management, and KKR, declared that in order to continue to provide the benefits they guarantee, pensions must continue to invest in private equity.. In the five years ending in April, there were 215 bankruptcies for oil and gas companies, involving $130 billion in debt, according to the law firm Haynes and Boone. BETHANY MCLEAN - wsls.com Investors in the equity of these companies have already seen the value of their holdings decimated. 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. COVID-19 Locations & Demographics - LA County Department of Public Health governor announced on Tuesday that he will convene a grand jury to investigate "crimes and wrongdoing" related to COVID-19 vaccines. Dylan Hollingsworth for The New York Times. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The problem is, existing rules at the Small Business Administration, which is overseeing the program, have been widely interpretedas excludingloaning money to most mom-and-pop businesses that are controlled by large parent companiesincluding private-equity firms. McLean was born in Hibbing, Minnesota on December 12, 1970. One of the key principles behind private equity is that increased leverageaka more debtcan make a business function more efficiently. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. 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. (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. Exclusive: Inside the S--tshow That Was the Trump-Biden Transition. She is also a columnist at Yahoo Finance and a contributor to CNBC. Enron tale author Bethany McLean has a new book she wrote from her She resides in Chicago with her children. 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. A deal, and higher oil prices, might help the industry. Its thanks to those who are able to contribute that were able to make the podcast free for anyone to listen to. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. [9], In September 2018, she published Saudi America: The Truth about Fracking and How It's Changing the World which examined the "fracking revolution" and U.S. energy independence. Get COVID-19 vaccine updates from the CDC. 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. Demian McLean | The Seattle Times Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-texas-fracking-layoffs.html. According to the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), a lobbying group which represents CalPERs and other public investors, businesses backed by private equity employ more than 8.8 million Americans at over 35,000 companies, accounting for a staggering 5% of the United States GDP. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. Private-equity managers won the financial crisis, as Bloomberg put it last fall. All that's left to tally is the damage. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. By Bess Levin . NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. Whiting Petroleum, whose stock once traded for $150 a share, filed for bankruptcy. That, too, is ending, as investors in such funds have become disillusioned. Paying members will get access to perks like a. by Kate Aronoff, Alyssa Battistoni, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Thea Riofrancos, and much more. By Patrick Semansky/AP Photo (Mnuchin); By Mark Wilson (Pelosi), Jason Alden (Shwarzman), Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg (Black), by Johannes EISELE/AFP (stocks), by Christina Horsten (tents), by John Nacion (ambulance); All from Getty Images. Following the trail of evidence, Louisiana Senator: Our Maternal Death Rates Are Only Bad If You Count Black Women, If you correct our population for race, were not as much of an outlier as itdotherwise appear.. Some of it has been packaged into so-called collateralized loan obligations, pieces of which are held by hedge funds. 71 members of Sacramento, California church have coronavirus | The Pension funds that have poured money into private equity firms may take a hit soon, too. So the era of low interest rates, which began with former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and continues to this day, has been a huge boon to private-equity firms. The half decade from 2013 to 2018 saw the most private-equity deals over any five-year period in American history. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer), (Rick Bowmer, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. How concerning are things like long covid and reinfections? 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 each of the past four years, according to data-provider Preqin, private-capital managers raised over $500 billion of new money to invest. 2023 Cond Nast. David Wallace Wells writes that by one estimate. The industrys $1.5 trillion in cash on hand is also the highest on recordand more than double what it was five years ago, according to Preqin. Occidental is just one piece of the puzzle. Was Tiffany involved? Confirmed case data are from the Department of Public Health's communicable disease surveillance database. By early 2019, America was the worlds largest producer of crude oil, surpassing both Saudi Arabia and Russia. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the cutting-edge . [12], McLean married Chris Wilford in 2000 and divorced in 2006. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the cutting-edge biotech facility at the center of swirling suspicions about the pandemics onset, was far more troubled than previously known, explosive documents unearthed by a Senate research team reveal. FILE - In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a nurse uses a swab to perform a coronavirus test in Salt Lake City. Even before the COVID crisis, there were questions about how well private-equity investments were actually performing. 500 energy sector fell, questions weve gathered from readers recently, adequate research and support for sufferers, according to the law firm Haynes and Boone. Coronavirus Resource Center: Testing and Vaccine Updates - CVS Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career How exactly did the alleged illegal activity go down? Seventy-one members of the Bethany Slavic Missionary Church near Rancho Cordova or people associated with congregation members have been afflicted with the virus, county officials say, making. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Like the big banks in 2008, private equity is holding us all hostage. 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 . Its thanks to those who are able to contribute that were able to make the podcast free for anyone to listen to. 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. Business and Society Lecture features journalist Bethany McLean As for Pelosi, she doesnt want to see companies backed by venture capital excluded from federal relief, given her Silicon Valley constituents. As early as 2018, some investors had begun to tell companies that they wanted to see free cash flow, and that they were tired of compensation models that rewarded executives with rich paydays for increasing production, but failed to take profits into account. 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. [7][8] The Washington Post selected it as one of the best nonfiction books of 2015. "[3] The article noted some irregularities in Enron's financial documents that were available to the public, suggesting the company's then-record high stock price was unjustified but she did not at that point suspect fraud at Enron. Private equity financiers typically get a 2 percent management fee on funds they can raise, so they are incentivized to take all the money that pension funds, desperate for returns to shore up their promises to retirees, have been willing to give them. Blame Congress for the meltdown, not Goldman Sachs. Thanks to the $2 trillion bipartisan bailout bill, the industrys coronavirus losses will belong to all of us. Americas energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. Bethany College will continue to adapt and collaborate as needed to encourage vaccines and boosters for staff and students. To keep growing, companies have to keep plowing billions back into the ground. What could endemic Covid look like? A journalist profiles the developers and devotees who have aided the rise of cybercurrency. Previous assignments include editor-at-large, columnist for Fortune, and a contributor to Slate . He and McLean previously worked together on All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, about the 2008 market crash. This kind of rewrites the economics of oil trading.. They have two children. 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. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) - McLean County Health, IL Manage all aspects of the daily operation for Ham Conversion, processing up to 1.5 million lbs/day . The man who shot his girlfriend and five relatives at a birthday celebration had "control issues". Regarding another ongoing Covid danger, that of reinfections, a virologist sets the record straight: There has yet to be a variant that negates the benefits of vaccines.. Some of it may be on bank balance sheets. All we know for sure is that fracking company executives and private equity financiers have made a fortune by touting the myth of energy independence and they wont be the ones who have to pick up the pieces., Bethany McLean, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, is the author of Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How Its Changing the World.. Anyone can read what you share. David Wallace Wells writes that by one estimate, 100,000 Americans could die each yearfrom the coronavirus. Bill White wants to restore Americas historical proclivity for balanced budgets. Policymakers who wanted to tout energy independence disregarded all this, even as investors were starting to lose patience. All rights reserved. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Then came Covid-19, and, on March 8, the sudden and vicious end to the truce between Saudi Arabia and Russia, under which both countries limited production to prop up prices. The socio-economic status of individuals needing . [1] It details how the financial crisis bubbled up from a volatile, and bipartisan, mixture of government meddling and laissez-faire. Bethany McLean | Chicago Booth Review To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. 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.. Ad Choices. There are several pots of federal money that the private-equity industry is lobbying to access. 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. On March 9, the price of oil plunged by almost a third, its steepest one-day drop in almost 30 years. Think of private-equity firms as the banks of the corona crisis: They are, for better or worse, too big to fail. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. 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. A college student in Indiana died in her dorm room after testing positive for the coronavirus, school officials and her family said. Elizabeth Holmes Was Found Guilty, But Was She Fundamentally - Forbes At least 1 in 303 residents have died from the coronavirus, a total of 2,512 deaths. Bethany Mclean - KPRC In the first half of 2019, when oil was around $55 a barrel, only a few top-tier companies were profitable. Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How Its Changing the World., stocks that make up the S.&P. 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. (And not all private-equity firms care equally about all of the programs.) 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. In the Season One finale of Making A Killing, Bethany brings back her friend, colleague and co-author Joe Nocera (Bloomberg Opinion columnist and creator of The Shrink Next Door podcast) to bookend the season with a lively analysis of the former head of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault S.A., Carlos Ghosn.