Month: April 2023

New York Common Commits $1.3 Billion to Sustainable Program

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/new-york-common-commits-1-3-billion-to-sustainable-program/

Excerpt:

The $242.3 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund has committed $1.3 billion to two funds as part of its Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions program. It also earmarked more than $600 million to alternative investments in February.

The pension program committed $1 billion to funds tracking the MSCI World ex USA Climate Change Index, which overweights companies expected to benefit from the transition to a low-carbon economy and underweights companies facing greater climate change risks. A company’s carbon intensity, climate risk management, potential stranded assets, physical risk exposure and development of climate solution products and services are the key factors assessing these rankings.

….

Finally, within the pension fund’s emerging manager program, which invests in newer, smaller and diverse firms, $15 million was allocated to the Empire GCM RE Anchor Fund, which will focus on creating and acquiring industrial outdoor storage in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.

Author(s): Michael Katz

Publication Date: 10 April 2023

Publication Site: ai-CIO

Covid National Emergency Ends

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://kelleyk.substack.com/p/covid-national-emergency-ends

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Excerpt:

Biden signed H.J.Res. 7, which ended the national emergency for Covid. Both the text of the bill, and the corresponding press release from the White House are short and sweet. The White House recently said Biden “strongly opposes HJ Res 7,” but that he would sign the bill if it passed. It passed with bipartisan support in both the House.

One thing that is tied to the national emergency is an extension of COBRA deadlines for people who are out of work. These deadlines are extended during the “outbreak period” which ends 60 days after the end of the national emergency.

The DHS rules for vaccine mandates for foreign travelers at land border crossings from Canada and Mexico rely on the national emergency as their legal basis, so theoretically they will end with the national emergency. But there has been no official actions to lift those rules, and I suspect the White House expects this vaccine mandate to continue for at least another month. (See section on travel vaccine mandates further down for more details.)

Author(s): Kelly K

Publication Date: 11 April 2023

Publication Site: Check Your Work

State Pensioners Can Learn Lots From Rhode Island And Ohio Teachers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://pensionwarriorsdwardsiedle.substack.com/p/state-pensioners-can-learn-lots-from

Excerpt:

Finally, and most important, this month there is an election for one active, or contributing member seat on the STRS board—the outcome of which will be determined in early May. If the reform coalition candidate wins this seat, it’s likely control of the board will shift. Then the concerns of the state auditor and reform-minded members will be addressed regarding the need to restore transparency, lower investment fees paid to Wall Street, improve investment performance and move toward restoring benefits previously promised. If so, STRS Ohio’s participant-driven reforms may serve as a template for all of the nation’s public pensions. (On the other hand, if our request for public records is granted by the Ohio Supreme Court later this year—and court-ordered transparency ensues—there may be little need for board action because any mismanagement or wrongdoing will have been exposed to the public.)

But here’s the big picture: Since all public pensions in America have moved like a herd, pouring over $1 trillion into many of the same high-cost, high-risk secretive alternative investments, if any single state pension—such as Rhode Island, or Ohio STRS—restores full transparency and releases alternative investment information to the public revealing widespread industry abuses and violations of law, all participants in public pensions which have also invested in these funds, as well as taxpayers, will benefit. One obscure pension fund board vote in Ohio could ultimately force the transparency and accountability Wall Street has successfully resisted for decades.

Author(s): Edward Siedle

Publication Date: 11 April 2023

Publication Site: Pension Warriors on substack

The Sustainability of State & Local Pensions: A Public Finance Approach

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://crr.bc.edu/briefs-state-local-pensions/the-sustainability-of-state-local-pensions-a-public-finance-approach/

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Key findings:

  • Many experts favor full prefunding of state and local pensions to maintain fiscal sustainability, which means big contribution hikes.
  • This analysis explores an alternative: stabilizing pension debt as a share of GDP.
  • Under current contribution rates, baseline projections show no sign of a major crisis in the next two decades even if asset returns are low.
  • Yet, many plans will be at risk over the long term of exhausting their assets, so action will be needed.
  • Plans can reach a sustainable footing by stabilizing their debt-to-GDP ratio, with much smaller contribution hikes than under full funding.

Author(s): Louise Sheiner

Publication Date: 11 April 2023

Publication Site: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

The Impact of Rising Rates on U.S. Insurer Investments

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/capital-markets-special-reports-impact-of-rising-rates.pdf

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Excerpt:

As corporate bonds are mainly fixed rate, their relative value will decrease as floating rate investments
become more attractive with higher benchmark rates. That is, bond prices will fall as yields rise to make
them more attractive, given that their fixed-rate coupons will be lower. About half of insurer bond
investments are corporate bonds, and the vast majority of U.S. insurer corporate bond investments are
investment grade credit quality. From January 2022 to January 2023, the ICE Bank of America (BofA)
Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index, which measures the performance of investment grade
corporate debt, was down by about 14%.


Corporate bond yields have increased significantly since the beginning of 2022 with rising interest rates
and widening credit spreads. As of year-end 2022, investment grade and high-yield corporate bond
yields averaged 5.5% and 8.9%, respectively (refer to Table 1). Investment grade yields increased by
approximately 270 bps during 2022, while speculative-grade yields increased by about 370 bps.

Author(s): Jennifer Johnson and Michele Wong

Publication Date: 23 Feb 2023

Publication Site: NAIC Capital Markets Special Report

How I Created a Data Visualization With Zero Coding Skills, Thanks to ChatGPT

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nightingaledvs.com/data-visualization-using-chatgpt-to-code/

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Excerpt:

Data visualization is cool but at the same time it’s bit daunting that I need to know lots of tech stacks to actually implement it.

I totally agree that even when I was studying data visualization, I spent a pretty substantial amount of time learning how to code, handle web hosting, work with Python, SQL, and more, all while absorbing knowledge on information visualization.

Thankfully, we no longer need to deep dive into technical gatekeepers in this field. This doesn’t mean that technical knowledge is not valuable, but rather that we no longer need to be intimidated by technology because AI can spoon-feed us knowledge and do the heavy lifting for us. Are you excited? Let’s get started!

I’m going to build the data visualization that one of my students posted on weekly write-up homework.

Author(s): Soonk Paik

Publication Date: 4 April 2023

Publication Site: Nightingale

Ranked: The U.S. Banks With the Most Uninsured Deposits

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-u-s-banks-with-the-most-uninsured-deposits/

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Excerpt:

Today, there is at least $7 trillion in uninsured bank deposits in America.

This dollar value is roughly three times that of Apple’s market capitalization, or about equal to 30% of U.S. GDP. Uninsured deposits are ones that exceed the $250,000 limit insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which was actually increased from $100,000 after the Global Financial Crisis. They account for roughly 40% of all bank deposits.

In the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) fallout, we look at the 30 U.S. banks with the highest percentage of uninsured deposits, using data from S&P Global.

Author(s): Dorothy Neufeld, Sabrina Lam

Publication Date: 4 April 2023

Publication Site: Visual Capitalist

I Gave Myself Severe Diarrhea for Science. Don’t Tax Me for It.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://reason.com/2023/04/05/i-gave-myself-severe-diarrhea-for-science-dont-tax-me-for-it/

Excerpt:

I drank the bespoke pathogenic cocktail as part of what’s known as a “human challenge study” run by the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. In a human challenge study, adult volunteers are exposed to a pathogen. The study I was involved in was intended to test an experimental vaccine. The process may sound somewhat medieval, but these studies are critical scientific tools that prioritize participant safety. From 1980 to 2021, over 15,000 volunteers have been exposed to one of dozens of diseases in such studies, and not one has died. 

Dysentery can be fatal. While Shigella is treatable with antibiotics, resistance is evolving at a worrying pace, and tens of thousands of children still succumb to it every year in the developing world. Those it does not kill are often left with stunted growth.

….

For my assistance in the development of a potentially lifesaving vaccine, I was paid $7,350. My motivations were altruistic to a degree: I wanted to pay my privilege forward. As I told Business Insider, however, I am not a complete saint and would not have done it for free.

As far as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is concerned, the compensation for my bout of dysentery has zero charitable component; it’s just regular old income, indistinguishable from, say, freelance writing or mowing lawns. If, God forbid, I am ever audited, I hope the IRS agent believes me when I say that’s just my diarrhea money.

I maintain, though, that I should not be taxed on that $7,350 at all: Treating clinical trial compensation as taxable income is just bad policy. 

Author(s): JAke Eberts

Publication Date: 5 April 2023

Publication Site: Reason