bethany mclean coronavirus

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. He and McLean previously worked together on All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, about the 2008 market crash. In this episode, McLeanwho has tracked the industrys shaky footing for yearstraces the ups and downs of the industry from the 1970s to 2008 to today, and assesses whether a new recession will speed the transition away from fossil fuelsor hand oil barons a life raft. Private equity, of course, came of age in the 1980s, when greed was good and private-equity titans like KKRs Henry Kravis first burst into the limelight by taking over famed American manufacturers like RJR Nabisco. If you like the episode and want to hear more, sign up as a monthly member at patreon.com/hotbotheredclimate today. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground (Bethany McLean, New York Times), Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream (Bethany McLean, New York Times), Are Crude Oil & Natural Gas Prices Linked? Copyright 2023 Click2Houston.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. 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. How exactly did the alleged illegal activity go down? Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. She is known for her writing on the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis. 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. 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. (This may not surprise anyone who is attempting to be productive while working in close quarters with their children.). 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. According to the CARES Act, companies can only receive loans from the Small Business Administration if they commit to preserving jobs. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. All thats left to tally is the damage. Its essential that we do the same today. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous . The man who shot his girlfriend and five relatives at a birthday celebration had "control issues". The total number of . This location, as with the other County contracted medical sheltering sites, will accept individuals from the local community that are referred through DPH. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Its thanks to those who are able to contribute that were able to make the podcast free for anyone to listen to. 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. The industrys lack of profits wasnt exactly a secret. By Bethany McLean. This kind of rewrites the economics of oil trading.. Looking for more? 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 reality, the dream was always an illusion, and its collapse was already underway. The industrys total assets under management have hit a record $4.1 trillion. There were rumblings that shale companies would seek a federal lifeline. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. Bethany Lee McLean (born December 12, 1970) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. But there are ways to make it work better. All rights reserved. Novavax Inc said on Thursday it would require six months to produce a COVID-19 vaccine designed to match whichever coronavirus variants are circulating for an annual immunization program each fall . Whiting Petroleum, whose stock once traded for $150 a share, filed for bankruptcy. 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. It once seemed utterly unattainable until the advent of fracking, which unleashed a torrent of oil. Deaths, active cases . in English and mathematics from Williams College. Nocera is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and co-author of Indentured, about the NCAA. A deal, and higher oil prices, might help the industry. Pension funds that have poured money into private equity firms may take a hit soon, too. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. The SHIELD saliva-based testing is available for all ages. On Thursday's show: The job forecast for the region in 2022, lessons from the collapse of Enron, a conversation with the late Stephen Sondheim, and the best new restaurants from the past year. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. . Never mind that they often overpaid for the companies they acquired, and loaded them up with so much debt that even a mild economic downturn could make it nearly impossible for those companies to repay their loans, as Fortune put it. 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. 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.. Jack Ewings Faster, Higher, Farther is more than the story of a scandal. 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. On the surface, it appears that two unforeseeable and random shocks are threatening our dream. In the first half of 2019, when oil was around $55 a barrel, only a few top-tier companies were profitable. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.htm January 12, 2022 COVID Update Update on Bethany College COVID Response [13][14][15] They divorced in 2020. [1] It details how the financial crisis bubbled up from a volatile, and bipartisan, mixture of government meddling and laissez-faire. Getting the government out of the housing market would mean saying goodbye to the 30-year mortgage. 500 energy sector fell, questions weve gathered from readers recently, adequate research and support for sufferers, according to the law firm Haynes and Boone. But they wont fix its fundamental problem with profitability. The industry also quietly helps itself to yet more money by having portfolio companies pay fees for consulting and financing services provided by, of course, their private-equity backers. All thats left to tally is the damage. 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. The technology of fracking in shale rock - particularly in the Permian Basin in Texas - has transformed America into the world's top producer of both oil and natural gas. After the United States engaged in a high-stakes negotiation with Russia and Saudi Arabia to curtail production, a tentative deal was struck on Thursday. McLean graduated from Hibbing High School in 1988. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. 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. Clients who show symptoms of COVID-19 (for example have a fever, cough, or difficulty breathing) and/or are waiting for their test results. Ad Choices. 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. Investors were willing to do this only as long as oil prices, which are not under Americas control, were high and when they believed that one day, profits would materialize. 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. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. And President Trump reveled in the rhetoric: We hadnt merely achieved independence, his administration said, but rather energy dominance.. They have two children. All thats left to tally is the environmental and financial damage. Some of it has been packaged into so-called collateralized loan obligations, pieces of which are held by hedge funds. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. Some of it may be on bank balance sheets. Archive Wall Street Too Big to Fail, COVID-19 Edition: How Private Equity Is Winning the Coronavirus Crisis April 9, 2020 From the. Bethany McLean. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Has its bubble finally burst? (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer), (Rick Bowmer, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. Bethany McLean is a journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair. As a result, private equity is now wound into the very fabric of our economy. COVID-19 Guidance for isolation and quarantine, COVID-19 Education and Outreach Materials Page. 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. 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. As a result, the stocks that make up the S.&P. Are Crude Oil & Natural Gas Prices Linked? He and McLean previously worked together on All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, about the 2008 market crash. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Mortgages should be used to buy homes, not for refinancing. On March 10, the company announced that it would slash its dividend for the first time since the early 1990s, when Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait sent oil prices plummeting. McLean started her career as an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs[2] and joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor in 2008. 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. Workers monitoring a hydraulic fracturing operation near Wink, Texas. Stopping that will require a creative effort to increase and sustain high levels of vaccination. This week, Ms. McLean begins promoting her new book, "All the Devils are Here," about the current financial crisis. "Dow 36,000" co-authors stand by book's premise. Her two books are the The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing. FILE - In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a nurse uses a swab to perform a coronavirus test in Salt Lake City. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. Fueled by debt and years of easy credit, Americas energy boom is on shaky footing. They subprimed the American energy ecosystem, says a longtime energy market observer. All rights reserved). 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.. Smithfield Foods. Unfortunately, there isnt really an alternative to providing private equity with federal funds. All rights reserved. We could also limit the deductibility of interest payments for tax purposes even more than President Donald Trumps new tax law already did, so companies arent encouraged to load up on debt. On March 9, the price of oil plunged by almost a third, its steepest one-day drop in almost 30 years. Manage all aspects of the daily operation for Ham Conversion, processing up to 1.5 million lbs/day . 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. Private-equity managers won the financial crisis, as Bloomberg put it last fall. Has its bubble finally burst? McLean is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and co-author of the Enron book The Smartest Guys in the Room. Check out the full Hot & Bothered archive here. Over the past 10 years, the entire energy industry has issued over $400 billion in high-yield debt. The community level of Covid-19 in McLean County is low based on cases and hospitalizations, according to the most recent update from the C.D.C. At least 1 in 303 residents have died from the coronavirus, a total of 2,512 deaths. James Glassman says his seven-year-old prediction that the Dow Jones industrial average will rise to 36,000 wasn't wrong, just early. One of the key principles behind private equity is that increased leverageaka more debtcan make a business function more efficiently. All rights reserved. sure to go down in history as one of the wildest business stories ever. Private equity has made multibillionaires of executives like Blackstones Steve Schwarzman (net worth: $17.5 billion) and Apollos Leon Black ($7.5 billion). The reason is as simple as it is galling: while great private fortunes, such as that of Blackstones Stephen Schwarzman (net worth: $17.5 billion and Apollos Leon Black ($7.5 billion), have been made from private equitys march through the world, its losses, to a remarkable degree, will belong to all of us. Almost everything thats happened since 2008 has tilted in their favor. 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. The man who shot his girlfriend and five relatives at a birthday celebration had "control issues". 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. She has co-authored multiple bestselling books, including The Smartest Guys in the Room and All the Devils Are Here. Dont hesitate: sign up on Patreon today. 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. Here are some tips. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Beleaguered pension funds, which suffered big losses in the financial crisis, could no longer count on decent returns from fixed investments, given how low interest rates have been kept by the Fed. Waters, in her letter, argues for placing even more strings on the money taken by private-equity-backed companies. 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. But among those angling for a federal handout is one of the wealthiest sectors of the American economy: private equity. On April 20, oil prices did something theyve never done before. Occidental is just one piece of the puzzle. Think of private-equity firms as the banks of the corona crisis: They are, for better or worse, too big to fail. Americas energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. As a group of scientists who study virusesexplains, Theres no reason, at least biologically, that the virus wont continue to evolve.From a different angle, the science writer David Quammen surveys some of the highly effective tools and techniques that are now available for studying Covid and other viruses, but notes that such knowledge alone wont blunt the danger. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. The key issue is the parent child problem. When wells are clustered tightly together, with so-called child wells drilled around the parent, the wells interfere with one another, resulting in less oil, not more. Even before the COVID crisis, there were questions about how well private-equity investments were actually performing. Until the capital markets began to get suspicious, private equity investors could flip companies they had funded to larger, public companies, making a profitable exit regardless of whether or not the underlying business was making money. 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 200 W Front StreetBloomington, IL 61701Phone: (309) 888-5450 HoursMonday - Friday8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. After nearly bringing down the economy in 2008, how is it possible that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still around? 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. [17], Last edited on 21 November 2022, at 20:31, "Hibbing grad warns of economic crisis below ground", "What Working At Goldman Sachs Taught Legendary Business Journalist Bethany McLean", "Meet Patrick Byrne: Bitcoin Messiah, CEO of Overstock, Scourge of Wall Street", "BYRNE'S HOT MAIL; OVERSTOCK CHIEF'S TEMPER ERUPTS IN MESSAGES", Financial System's Top Risk, Hiding in Plain Sight, "U.S. mortgage giants under the microscope", "Loughlin, Giannulli lawyer is prosecutors' 'worst nightmare', "Q & A with Bethany McLean, Author of 'All the Devils Are Here', "Enron tale author Bethany McLean has a new book she wrote from her Chicago home", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bethany_McLean&oldid=1123096713, This page was last edited on 21 November 2022, at 20:31. How concerning are things like long covid and reinfections? Ad Choices. 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. 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 as well as the bestselling The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, with Peter Elkind. She has suggestions for how to approach the problem. In May 2008, she married attorney Sean Berkowitz, the former Director of the United States Department of Justice Enron Task Force. [4], In 2005, McLean got into a spat with then-CEO of Overstock.com Patrick M. Byrne after she wrote a negative article about Overstock and him.[5][6]. . today. Joe Nocera is a journalist and column writer for Dealbook. Bill White wants to restore Americas historical proclivity for balanced budgets. Bethany Nesbitt, 20, was found dead in a residence hall at. Is there any chance this could lead to prison time? Certainly, President Trump, who has staked so much on the American shale industry, wants to save it. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. How Screwed Are Donald Trump and His Adult Children, and Other Questions You Might Have About the Staggering Fraud Lawsuit Against Them. In each of the past four years, according to data-provider Preqin, private-capital managers raised over $500 billion of new money to invest. FILE - In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a nurse uses a swab to perform a coronavirus test in Salt Lake City. 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. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. 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. 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. So why should they be permitted to raid the federal Treasury in a time of crisis? Previous assignments include editor-at-large, columnist for Fortune, and a contributor to Slate . Thats because oil fracking has never been financially viable. Thats a difficult question to answer definitely, writes the Opinion columnist Zeynep Tufekci, because of the lack of adequate research and support for sufferers, as well as confusion about what the condition even is. No food or drink for one hour prior to testing. The half decade from 2013 to 2018 saw the most private-equity deals over any five-year period in American history. In 2018, according to analytics firm eVestment, pension funds in the U.S. and the U.K. pumped 27% of their fresh allocations of money into private-equity funds, up from 25% the year before. [citation needed] She began as a contributor to Slate's Moneybox column, in 2010 and "The Bulldog" column in Fortune. Paying members will get access to perks like a. by Kate Aronoff, Alyssa Battistoni, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Thea Riofrancos, and much more. David Wallace Wells writes that by one estimate, 100,000 Americans could die each yearfrom the coronavirus. 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. 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. Bethany McLean was born on 12 December 1970 in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA. David Wallace Wells writes that by one estimate. By Bethany McLean Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream America's energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. 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. We could close that, once and for all. Writer: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. 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. Bethany Lee McLean (born December 12, 1970) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. [16] McLean resides in Chicago with her children. If you need help with the Public File, call (713) 778-4745. By early 2019, America was the worlds largest producer of crude oil, surpassing both Saudi Arabia and Russia. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The active outbreak list is intended to inform the public of the current COVID-19 outbreaks in Los Angeles County. 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. Dylan Hollingsworth for The New York Times. You can see how all of this is playing out by looking at Occidental Petroleum. After Enron's rapid collapse later in 2001, McLean co-authored the book The Smartest Guys in the Room (2003) which detailed the corrupt business practices of Enron officials. 2023 Cond Nast. 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. All that's left to tally is the damage. Bethany McLean is a . 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. 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. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. Rasmussen points out that after the financial crisis in 2008, the Federal Reserve set a limit on the amount of debt it considered prudent. Tar Heel, North Carolina, United States. The title and release date have not yet been determined. Blame Congress for the meltdown, not Goldman Sachs. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.