Its a rich history of a company, and a case study in how a corporate culture can turn toxic. It is absolutely imperative, Waters recently wrote in support of private equity, that the reliefbe extended to protect all workers, irrespective of the affiliations of their employers. Translation: Workers shouldnt suffer just because their bosses sold a controlling stake in their businesses to a bunch of greedy fat cats. 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. 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 politics dictating whether the private-equity industry will get its wishes are surprising. 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.. On March 10, Scott Sheffield, the chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources, a major driller in the Permian Basin, told Bloomberg that U.S. oil output could fall by more than two million barrels per day by next year if prices remain where they are today. Waters, in her letter, argues for placing even more strings on the money taken by private-equity-backed companies. How Screwed Are Donald Trump and His Adult Children, and Other Questions You Might Have About the Staggering Fraud Lawsuit Against Them. [1] It details how the financial crisis bubbled up from a volatile, and bipartisan, mixture of government meddling and laissez-faire. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. Now, it has been shut off. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Even before the COVID crisis, there were questions about how well private-equity investments were actually performing. Fracking, they said, was just manufacturing, in which process and human intelligence could reduce costs and conquer geology. He and McLean previously worked together on All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, about the 2008 market crash. 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. Blackstones Schwarzman has ties to Trump. Thats because oil fracking has never been financially viable. But they wont fix its fundamental problem with profitability. . 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 Lee McLean (born December 12, 1970) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. 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. 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. One is the so-called Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), set up to make $349 billion in government-guaranteed loans available to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. The promised profits havent materialized. 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. [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. 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. 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 . Thanks to the $2 trillion bipartisan bailout bill, the industrys coronavirus losses will belong to all of us. The total number of . Even as the public equity and debt markets grew cautious, drilling continued. She is a writer, known for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005), Independent Lens (1999) and PBS NewsHour (1975). By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Exclusive: Inside the S--tshow That Was the Trump-Biden Transition. We could close that, once and for all. Get COVID-19 vaccine updates from the CDC. (Many of the companies owned by mammoth private-equity firms like Blackstone are too big on their own to qualify for this bucket of money.). (This may not surprise anyone who is attempting to be productive while working in close quarters with their children.). And more! The half decade from 2013 to 2018 saw the most private-equity deals over any five-year period in American history. 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. 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. The man who shot his girlfriend and five relatives at a birthday celebration had "control issues". Bethany Lee McLean (born December 12, 1970) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. 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. They have two children. Bethany McLean. Click here to take a moment and familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines. In each of the past four years, according to data-provider Preqin, private-capital managers raised over $500 billion of new money to invest. That, too, is ending, as investors in such funds have become disillusioned. [citation needed] She began as a contributor to Slate's Moneybox column, in 2010 and "The Bulldog" column in Fortune. As for Pelosi, she doesnt want to see companies backed by venture capital excluded from federal relief, given her Silicon Valley constituents. He and McLean previously worked together on All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, about the 2008 market crash. 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. It once seemed utterly unattainable until the advent of fracking, which unleashed a torrent of oil. They subprimed the American energy ecosystem, says a longtime energy market observer. FILE - In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a nurse uses a swab to perform a coronavirus test in Salt Lake City. 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. The title and release date have not yet been determined. David Wallace Wells writes that by one estimate. (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. 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. 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. Is there any chance this could lead to prison time? BLOOMINGTON A total of 208 new COVID-19 cases have been reported by the McLean County Health Department from Jan. 27 through Friday. 2023 Cond Nast. Pension funds that have poured money into private equity firms may take a hit soon, too. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. In the first half of 2019, when oil was around $55 a barrel, only a few top-tier companies were profitable. A college student in Indiana died in her dorm room after testing positive for the coronavirus, school officials and her family said. 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. Traders last year at the New York Stock Exchange near the post that trades Anadarko Petroleum and Occidental Petroleum. According to the Institutional Limited Partners Association. Previous assignments include editor-at-large, columnist for Fortune, and a contributor to Slate . governor announced on Tuesday that he will convene a grand jury to investigate "crimes and wrongdoing" related to COVID-19 vaccines. By Bethany McLean Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream America's energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. on March 2.Read more about the C.D.C . 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. If you like the episode and want to hear more, sign up as a monthly member at patreon.com/hotbotheredclimate today. Sign up for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story. Here are some tips. Its thanks to those who are able to contribute that were able to make the podcast free for anyone to listen to. All that's left to tally is the damage. Hot & Bothered is produced by Colin Kinniburgh. Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds, A Moderate Proposal: Nationalize The Fossil Fuel Industry, https://media.blubrry.com/belabored/dissentmagazine.org/mp3/24HotBothered.mp3. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous . A deal, and higher oil prices, might help the industry. 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. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. The book was later made into the Academy Award-nominated documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. 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. Moodys, the rating agency, said that in the third quarter of 2019, 91 percent of defaulted U.S. corporate debt was due to oil and gas companies. Some of it may be on bank balance sheets. 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 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 graduated from Hibbing High School in 1988. By early 2019, America was the worlds largest producer of crude oil, surpassing both Saudi Arabia and Russia. Policymakers who wanted to tout energy independence disregarded all this, even as investors were starting to lose patience. Best-selling author Bethany McLean reveals the true story of fracking's impact - on Wall Street, the economy, and geopolitics. She is also a columnist at Yahoo Finance and a contributor to CNBC. NEW YORK Business writers Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera are collaborating on a critical take of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. sure to go down in history as one of the wildest business stories ever. 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. [10][11] When will the pandemic end? Copyright 2023 WSLS.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. Workers monitoring a hydraulic fracturing operation near Wink, Texas. In 2019, Mclean launched a podcast titled Making a Killing on Luminary. 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. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. [13][14][15] They divorced in 2020. 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. Dont hesitate: sign up on Patreon today. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Writer: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. The man who shot his girlfriend and five relatives at a birthday celebration had "control issues". Bethany McLean was born on 12 December 1970 in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA. 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. She resides in Chicago with her children. All thats left to tally is the environmental and financial damage. Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-texas-fracking-layoffs.html. 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. One of the key principles behind private equity is that increased leverageaka more debtcan make a business function more efficiently. 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. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. And why not? Ad Choices. Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How Its Changing the World., stocks that make up the S.&P. Over the past 10 years, the entire energy industry has issued over $400 billion in high-yield debt. Bethany McLean is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. Confirmed case data are from the Department of Public Health's communicable disease surveillance database. All rights reserved. If you need help with the Public File, call 540-512-1558. A hydraulic fracturing site in Denton, Texas. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. 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. 1 FOR PHARMACISTS PRESCRIBING PAXLOVID: This service is available in all locations, with the exception of those in New Hampshire. 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. Infuriatingly enough, the financial crisis in 2008 might even have saved private-equity firms from their sins. New revelations about how one Trump staffer helped preserve the transfer of powerfrom the forthcoming book on the Biden White House, COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a Complex and Grave Situation Inside a Wuhan Lab. 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. Recent and archived work by Bethany McLean for The New York Times. Dylan Hollingsworth for The New York Times. She is known for her writing on the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis. The book, which she wrote from the couple's home, puts a human face to the 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.. 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.. Clients who show symptoms of COVID-19 (for example have a fever, cough, or difficulty breathing) and/or are waiting for their test results. [12], McLean married Chris Wilford in 2000 and divorced in 2006. FILE - In this Friday, June 12, 2020 file photo, a nurse uses a swab to perform a coronavirus test in Salt Lake City. 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. 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. Latest trends. I dont think any of us can really believe what we saw today, one industry analyst told AP. 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.. More than 100,000 people already have died in this country from the virus. All rights reserved. Actually, no. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Bethany Nesbitt, 20, was found dead in a residence hall at. Driven partly by public pensions, the private-equity industry has mushroomed. 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. Tar Heel, North Carolina, United States. She was previously married to Christopher Roberts Wilford. Music: Mercurias Meet Victor Rice, Carregar (Instrumental), courtesy of Total Running Time. [citation needed], She authored an article on Enron for the March 5, 2001, issue of Fortune entitled, "Is Enron Overpriced? All rights reserved. Occidental is just one piece of the puzzle. The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground, Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream. 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. Hours Certainly, President Trump, who has staked so much on the American shale industry, wants to save it. 2023 Cond Nast. She is known for her writing on the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis. She has suggestions for how to approach the problem. 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. This week, Ms. McLean begins promoting her new book, "All the Devils are Here," about the current financial crisis. 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. Investors in the equity of these companies have already seen the value of their holdings decimated. If you need help with the Public File, call (713) 778-4745. What could endemic Covid look like? On April 20, oil prices did something theyve never done before. 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. Smithfield Foods. About Bethany McLean is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. James Glassman says his seven-year-old prediction that the Dow Jones industrial average will rise to 36,000 wasn't wrong, just early. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. By Bethany McLean. In the Haynesville and the Utica Shales, two major natural gas plays, over half of the drilling is being done by private equity-backed companies; in the oil-rich Permian Basin, its about a quarter of the drilling. So why should they be permitted to raid the federal Treasury in a time of crisis?