1/ not gonna do a thread, but some quick angry notes: Pensions = an interest of mine for 15+ years. NYS and NYC Controllers have all been friends, we've discussed. Each state/city has own particulars.
Shadiness at Cali/CalPERs has been chronicled by @nakedcapitalism for years.
CalPERs paid almost 4b as performance fee for a 12b return, only disclosed after years of lawsuits. They also used vehicles to circumvent cap rules.
They are one of many that have bid up VC 'unicorns', many of which have gone thru repricings at Fidelity Blue Chip(i advise them)
In NYC even though funds have met highwater mark for years, it couldn't satisfy the obligations that politicians put on it, example is Pataki/Giuliani who used it as leverage for union votes. (Side note, Google 'Giuliani' and 'DC37', crazy)
NYC/NYS allocated thru placement agent
And those fees were huge, most of which was self dealing and went to Ramius Capital and just a few others, for simple intros rather then rely on 'gatekeepers'.
Another limitation...
Is that some states such as NJ did not permit John McCormick (the controller at a crucial time) to allocate to 'alternative investments' such as Newark Real Estate or PE.
Illinois not only had all these issues but also some rather unique patronage issues, ditto CT.
The problem becomes critical as these states have seen wealth migration needed to provide current funding obligations. States have skirted disaster in clever, unstable ways (general funds/block grants/making paper commitments for future funding)
My concern for years is that these become vulnerable to vulture capital, as what happened in Puerto Rico with the PROMESA bill 🤬
If you tick rates up, it's a nuclear bomb
New problem economies have = gig economy workers, impossible for city/state to reliably forecast revenue (makes them easy prey for large W2 employers = AMZN) and makes debt service / pension shortfalls of pensions the La Brea tarpits.
My rant is over
(I feel better now)
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😱 Did the GOP fear offending 💵Ken Griffin?
🗣️“...earliest private funders of international vaccine development efforts and supported important research in the early months of the pandemic across academic and medical institutions"
🧐 Ken Griffin of Citadel capital, Florida resident and mega GOP donor
“I’m proud of how my partners at Citadel and I moved quickly and with conviction to find and fund solutions during the early days of COVID-19,”
“Because of the way public, private, academic and philanthropic sectors came together, we were able to immunize tens of millions of Americans faster than anyone thought possible.”
🧐 “He has given nearly $60 million to federal Republican candidates and campaigns this election cycle (2022)
That puts Griffin behind just liberal billionaire George Soros, who’s given more than $128 million to Democrats”
“Griffin was the leading donor to DeSantis’ (gubernatorial) reelection campaign this cycle, dropping $5 million.”
3/ January 24, 2020 I called bs, it was all happening so fast & It was already clear that “the gloves did fit” and CCP was cloaking bad things and human rights violations 👇
2/ Who will mediate this conflict between humans, ai?
Do humans have a union?
Who is the shop steward of the 'human union'
3/ Perhaps the best solution is to outlaw most advanced AI/Robotry in the workforce. This would require some definitions and gradations of AI, a formula that the EU is working on with its AI ACT artificialintelligenceact.eu
2/ A) I Started a company in 1994. Cost me +$1million in cash. All risk carried by me, not a VC fund, was no such thing
B) Had to pay salaries, not equity
C) Had to have w2 employees, not contractors
D) Had to have office, furniture, etc. We didn't have WeWork
More? Ok...
3/ Enjoy summa this...
1st home had +10% interest.
2nd had 9%.
No asset appreciation for 10yrs
Didn't have AirBnB to extract value from asset.
Cars always broke down. Potholes cost me price of a vacation
"Human beings are funny. I remember a patient who insisted that her AIDS be treated as a disease like any other, but who also made sure we never forgot that she had contracted it voluntarily by deliberately injecting herself with the blood of a friend with AIDS...
She was not suicidal, at least not in the sense that she wanted to die there and then, or anytime soon. Rather, she had a Byronic notion of the disease, a romantic conception of it as a badge of superior sensibility, which is to say that those who suffered from it were...
in some way morally superior to those who did not, and thus were imbued with a moral authority that others did not share. And yet at the same time she demanded to be treated matter-of-factly. By demanding this difficult psychological feat of us, recognition and nonrecognition...