Month: January 2021

Pension official: Firm facing lawsuit tried to influence Missouri lawmakers

Mary Pat Campbell
Pension official: Firm facing lawsuit tried to influence Missouri lawmakers

Excerpt:

A Canadian firm that is being sued by Missouri’s largest public pension system for allegedly mishandling investments has hired a lobbyist who tried to influence legislators and put pressure on the pension outside of court proceedings, a pension official said in court testimony.

The private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group hired a lobbyist after the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System filed its lawsuit in October. Pension system executive director Ronda Stegmann testified in a court hearing last week that lobbyist Richard McIntosh tried to set up a meeting with Stegmann, two legislators and Catalyst executives, The Kansas City Star reported.

Original Source: Associated Press

Publication Date: 28 January 2021

Publication Site: Missouri Lawyers Media

The Hard Lessons of Modeling the Coronavirus Pandemic

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-hard-lessons-of-modeling-the-coronavirus-pandemic-20210128/?mc_cid=e9f8b32129&mc_eid=983bcf5922

Excerpt:

For a few months last year, Nigel Goldenfeld and Sergei Maslov, a pair of physicists at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, were unlikely celebrities in their state’s COVID-19 pandemic response — that is, until everything went wrong.

….

Following the model’s guidance, the University of Illinois formulated a plan. It would test all its students for the coronavirus twice a week, require the use of masks, and implement other logistical considerations and controls, including an effective contact-tracing system and an exposure-notification phone app. The math suggested that this combination of policies would be sufficient to allow in-person instruction to resume without touching off exponential spread of the virus.

But on September 3, just one week into its fall semester, the university faced a bleak reality. Nearly 800 of its students had tested positive for the coronavirus — more than the model had projected by Thanksgiving. Administrators had to issue an immediate campus-wide suspension of nonessential activities.

Author: Jordana Cepelewicz

Publication Date: 28 January 2021

Publication Site: Quanta Magazine

How GameStop exposed the market

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.axios.com/stock-market-gamestop-reddit-exposed-d7eb06e2-f6c7-4aa8-99d7-24a51df27fa9.html

Excerpt:

Despite looking like a run-of-the-mill short squeeze, what’s happening in GameStop is anything but that, Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3 Partners, tells Axios. Short sellers overall are not being squeezed out of the trade, despite having lost more than $6 billion since Jan. 1.

“I’ve talked to several brokers, they’ve got a line of guys looking to short the stock if there’s any stock available to borrow,” even though shorting GameStop now costs a fee of 150%.

“The value shorts are getting squeezed out and being replaced by momentum shorts looking to ride the stock price down the back end of the roller coaster.”

Author: Dion Rabouin

Publication Date: 28 January 2021

Publication Site: Axios

COVID-19: NY Health Director Denies Undercount On Nursing Home Deaths After Scathing AG Report

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/northsalem/news/covid-19-ny-health-director-denies-undercount-on-nursing-home-deaths-after-scathing-ag-report/802346/

Excerpt:

New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker is defending the state following Attorney General Letitia James’ newly released report that alleges COVID-19 deaths in the state’s nursing homes were underreported by as much as 50 percent.

The report found the state negligible for COVID-19-related deaths inside New York nursing homes that had previously gone unreported, which Zucker has denied in a lengthy statement released late on Thursday, Jan. 28, just hours after the report was released.

Author: Zak Failla

Publication Date: 29 January 2021

Publication Site: North Salem Daily Voice

Don Turner: 5 steps to fix the pension mess

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.benningtonbanner.com/opinion/columnists/don-turner-5-steps-to-fix-the-pension-mess/article_40469846-6197-11eb-a065-17b12b65db5b.html

Excerpt:

2021 marks 25-years since then-Treasurer Jim Douglas recommended that the state change its trajectory from costly “defined benefit” retirement plans for state employees and teachers to “defined contribution” plans. Eleven years ago, in 2009, a special commission suggested a consideration of this same idea. I have previously written about our pressing need to consider a defined contribution option, as well as the “sleeping giant” of our unfunded liabilities.

Unfortunately, since the time I wrote my opeds in 2019, Vermont’s unfunded liabilities have ballooned from $4.5 billion to more than $5 billion.

Author: Don Turner

Publication Date: 28 January 2021

Publication Site: Bennington Banner

COVID-19: Cuomo Blames ‘Incompetent Federal Government’ After AG Report On Nursing Home Deaths

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/northsalem/politics/covid-19-cuomo-blames-incompetent-federal-government-after-ag-report-on-nursing-home-deaths/802403/

Excerpt:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is taking some heat after attempting to shift the blame on the state’s COVID-19 nursing home deaths by placing the culpability on the “incompetent federal government” after Attorney General Letitia James issued a report that found that deaths may have been underreported by as much as 50 percent during the pandemic.

Author: Zak Failla

Publication Date: 29 January 2021

Publication Site: North Salem Daily Voice

Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World – Full Video

Mary Pat Campbell

Description:

Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World traces Sowell’s journey from humble beginnings to the Hoover Institution, becoming one of this era’s greatest economists, political philosophers, and prolific authors. Hosted by Jason Riley, a member of “The Wall Street Journal” editorial board, this one-hour program features insights from Sowell and interviews with his close friends and associates, revealing why the intensely private Thomas Sowell is considered by many to be “one of the greatest minds of the past half-century” and “the smartest person in the room.” © 2020 / 1 episode @ 1 hr.

Publication Date: 25 January 2021

Video Publisher: Free to Choose Network

HOW GAMESTOP, BERNIE MADOFF, AND DAVE PORTNOY HAVE METS FANS PANICKED

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.sportico.com/personalities/owners/2021/steve-cohen-gamestop-1234621368/

Excerpt:

Less than a decade after the Bernie Madoff scam roped in the Wilpons and supposedly handcuffed the New York Mets payroll as a result, the team’s fans are panicking that new financial market weirdness in the form of bizarre trading in video-game retailer GameStop is going to harm new owner Steve Cohen’s ability to make the Mets amazin’ again.

….

Melvin Capital? It has lost perhaps 30% in January alone, as a series of short bets including GameStop turned bad, according to a report by the Financial Times.

In comes Steve Cohen. Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin used to work for Cohen and already had $1 billion of Cohen’s money in his fund. To help Melvin weather its awful month, Cohen and another hedge fund billionaire invested another $2.75 billion into Melvin this month.

That in turn is why Mets fans are now freaking out. One Reddit poster claimed yesterday Cohen’s fresh capital must be gone, burned in Melvin’s desperate need to cover the short bet on GameStop. Suddenly, visions of a super wealthy new owner who could finally spend money on the team were replaced with another Wall Street catastrophe. Mets fans worried while GameStop pumpers teased Cohen.

Author: Brendan Coffey

Publication Date: 27 January 2021

Publication Site: Sportico

GameStop rally is warning that market bubbles have gone mad

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2021/01/27/gamestop-rally-is-warning-that-market-bubbles-have-gone-mad/

Excerpt:

In the 1630s, it was tulips. In the 1990s, it was Netscape and Pets.com. Later, as we all know, it was housing. Today, the warning sign flashing “danger,” signaling that the stock market has lost its mind, is GameStop.

….

And what’s really worrying is that Dow 30,000 is all about this sort of irrational exuberance. Yes, we laugh at $300 GameStop, but is Tesla really worth $880 a share? It isn’t just Robinhood traders working in concert who are driving up company valuations; it’s hedge funds and Wall Street banks research departments and large mutual funds. Because even as we face record unemployment and a slow economy, they can make money that way.

Author: Charles Gasparino

Publication Date: 27 January 2021

Publication Site: NYPost

Opinion: Stop laughing about GameStop’s stock mania — no, really

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stop-laughing-about-gamestops-stock-mania-no-really-11611760785

Excerpt:

“I get that people think it’s funny when bad things happen to Wall Street types, but this GameStop GME, -44.29% thing is not a joke,” I tweeted. “These are stock traders conspiring to manipulate the markets in open view of us all and using the ‘nah, its for the lulz, and the other side sucks’ as an excuse.”

…..

You may think it’s funny to value GameStop like it’s 2007 again and hurt some hedge funds in the process, but you might not think the next target is funny, nor the next, nor the next. You won’t laugh when you read the eventual feature about a teenager misplaying GameStop options on his dad’s account and costing them the house, or a first-time investor putting their savings into GameStop just before it all fell apart.

Author: Jeremy C. Owens

Publication Date: 27 January 2021

Publication Site: MarketWatch

Total deaths in the UK from 2000 to 2020

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/totaldeathsintheukfrom2000to2020

YearUnited KingdomEngland and WalesEnglandWalesScotlandNorthern Ireland
2018616,014541,589505,85934,40658,50315,922
2017607,172533,253498,88233,24857,88316,036
2016597,206525,048490,79133,06656,72815,430
2015602,782529,655495,30933,19857,57915,548
2014570,341501,424468,87531,43954,23914,678
2013576,458506,790473,55232,13854,70014,968
2012569,024499,331466,77931,50254,93714,756
2011552,232484,367452,86230,42653,66114,204
2010561,666493,242461,01731,19753,96714,457
2009559,617491,348459,24131,00653,85614,413
2008579,697509,090475,76332,06655,70014,907
2007574,687504,052470,72132,14855,98614,649
2006572,224502,599470,32631,08355,09314,532
2005582,964512,993479,67832,16255,74714,224
2004584,791514,250480,71732,31756,18714,354
2003612,085539,151504,12733,81058,47214,462
2002608,045535,356500,79233,31458,10314,586
2001604,393532,498497,87833,24957,38214,513
2000610,579537,877503,02633,50157,79914,903

Date Accessed: 28 January 2021

Publication Site: Office for National Statistics, UK