It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, July 08, 2022
Dawn Lim, Benjamin Robertson and Annie Massa
Thu, July 7, 2022
Calpers Unloads Record $6 Billion of Private-Equity Stakes at Discount
(Bloomberg) -- The California Public Employees’ Retirement System sold about $6 billion of its stakes in private equity funds to second-hand buyers, severing ties with a slew of past managers and freeing up cash for new wagers.
The $440 billion public pension fund, the largest in the US, has cycled through four investment chiefs since 2009 and has long wrestled with the complexity of its $50 billion in private equity holdings. Calpers hired Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to explore ways to clean up its portfolio and shop a swath of assets, according to people familiar with the matter.
Lexington Partners, an investment business of Franklin Resources Inc., and CVC Capital Partners’ Glendower Capital snapped up pieces in separate sales that wrapped up over the past two weeks, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private transactions. The deal is not only the largest of its kind by Calpers, but private equity executives said it’s probably the biggest-ever involving second-hand fund stakes changing hands.
Trading in such size came at a price: Calpers sold its holdings at a roughly 10% discount to their value in September 2021, some of the people said. The fund softened the blow thanks in part to how it structured the deal, they said.
The blockbuster transaction generates money for investment chief Nicole Musicco, who took over earlier this year, to make new wagers as markets remain volatile. She has told Calpers directors that she wants to build a team that would buy stakes in private companies. That would let Calpers gain more control and bypass private equity firms like Blackstone Inc. or Carlyle Group Inc.
“The sale positions us to act on our new asset allocation and allows us to capitalize on market opportunities,” Musicco said in a statement to Bloomberg. Calpers drew up plans last year to increase private equity and grow private debt.
Representatives for Lexington, Glendower and Jefferies declined to comment.
Secondary Slowdown
Pensions and endowments are among large institutions taking advantage of the rise of so-called secondary buyers -- other deep-pocketed investors willing to take on older, unwanted private equity stakes that are typically hard to sell and value. These kinds of trades totaled $63 billion in 2021, a record high, according to Campbell Lutyens & Co.
Wall Street is bracing for a slowdown in trading private equity stakes. With markets in flux, some sellers are hesitant about striking deals at steep discounts.
The haircuts for various assets sold by Calpers range from high single-digit percentages to about 20%, some of the people said.
In a move to make any discount less punitive, Calpers opted to defer some payments beyond June 30, the last day of its fiscal year, people said. That allows Calpers to continue collecting some of the cash generated by the investments. And by not taking all of the sale proceeds upfront, Calpers can avoid a large balance of undeployed cash, which would drag down performance for the latest fiscal year.
Calpers, like many public pensions, doesn’t have all the assets needed to meet future promises to retired police, firefighters and other state workers. If the funds can’t meet their return benchmarks, it puts the onus on taxpayers to help fill the shortfall.
Portfolio Rework
Lexington and Glendower took over a mixed bag of older funds that include buyout and growth strategies. The deal helps Calpers break ties with some managers it invested with previously.
Calpers, one of the earliest public pension funds to get into private equity, has seen its returns in the asset class trail peers over time as rivals crowded into buyout funds in search of higher returns.
Various Calpers leaders have tried to remake the pension’s sprawling private equity portfolio, but some ran out of time or faced challenges getting support from others at the fund.
Ted Eliopoulos tried to slash the number of managers during his tenure as CIO from 2014 to 2018. Under Musicco’s predecessor, Ben Meng, Calpers expanded coinvestments, which are typically deals done alongside funds to help curb fees.
The pension fund has continued to ramp up coinvesting, one of the people said.
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US Retirement account balances hit a record high last year. Here’s how much the average 401(k) investor has saved at every age
Last year was a banner year for retirement savings: Individuals with retirement accounts broke new savings records, according to Vanguard.
In fact, the average Vanguard account balance for defined contribution plan participants—which include those who can contribute to a 401(k) or 403(b), among other types of accounts, at work—hit $141,542 in 2021, according to Vanguard's annual How America Saves report for 2022.
That said, the figure is skewed by a small number of "longer-tenured, more affluent, or older" accounts. The median was $35,345, which more closely represents the typical saver, Vanguard says. Three in 10 participants had an account balance of less than $10,000 in 2021, while 3 in 10 also had balances of more than $100,000.
These balances vary depending on income and savings rate, of course, but also time in the market. Gender and industry are also important factors, says Vanguard.
The company credits the record-breaking savings to features like automatic enrollment in retirement plans and automatic contribution escalation. It also notes that average balances increased 10% compared to 2020, thanks to a soaring stock market in 2021. Those record-breaking gains might not be repeated this year, given the current state of the market.
Automating participation in savings plans, rather than waiting for individuals to contribute or increase their savings rate on their own, has been shown to be one of the best tools to increase retirement savings. Congress is currently working on a bill that would mandate automatic enrollment for all but the smallest employers.
Of course, not everyone has access to a workplace retirement plan. Traditional and Roth IRAs can help make up some ground, but they have lower annual contribution limits, so they are not a 1:1 replacement for 401(k)s.
The ideal retirement savings rate is 12% to 15% of your annual income (that includes an employer contribution, if you get one), according to Vanguard. The average deferral rate for Vanguard savers was 7.3% in 2021, and 11.2% when the employer contribution was taken into account. But even if you can only save a little bit each year, that's better than nothing. Start small and you can build over time.
Financial planners are split on how much people will need saved to live comfortably in retirement, and of course the exact number will vary greatly depending on your lifestyle and other needs you might have in your nonworking years. Some put the number at $3 million, while many put it much lower.
Here are the average and median 401(k) or 403(b) account balances by age in 2021, according to Vanguard.
Under 25
Average 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $6,264
Median 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $1,786
25 to 34
Average 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $37,211
Median 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $14,068
35 to 44
Average 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $97,020
Median 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $36,117
45 to 54
Average 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $179,200
Median 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $61,530
55 to 64
Average 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $256,244
Median 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $89,716
65 and up
Average 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $279,997
Median 401(k) or 403(b) account balance in 2021: $87,725
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
No, monkeypox is not a 'gay disease.' Here's what experts want you to know.
News of the growing monkeypox outbreak, from the start, has noted that the virus is disproportionately impacting queer men. That has set off two kinds of alarm bells — about both the disease itself and also the misleading narratives that monkeypox is a "gay disease."
In response, and in an attempt to inform gay and bisexual men of their risk of contracting the disease, while also warding off stigma, LGBTQ groups began issuing statements last week, stressing that monkeypox can impact "anyone, anywhere."
"The language used by the media reporting on monkeypox needs to be rooted in science, not stigma," Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the world's first HIV and AIDS services organization, said. "Rhetoric and click-bait headlines that state or imply that monkeypox is a 'gay' or 'bisexual' disease is dangerous because it misinforms the public about who is at risk and how the virus is spread."
GLAAD, meanwhile, which was founded in 1985 to combat media misinformation during the AIDS crisis, stated that "media must do their part to elevate information that all communities need to hear to be safe." The Human Rights Campaign weighed in too, alerting people that the virus "can spread to anyone, anywhere, through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact," regardless of how they identify.
Queer men are disproportionally impacted by monkeypox, acknowledges Dr. Jorge Ramallo, a specialist in internal medicine and pediatrics, and board member for GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality (previously known as Gay & Lesbian Medical Association). It's equally as important, he notes, however, for the public to assess their risk factors based on science and not on hyperbole.
"Once an acquaintance gets sick, it leads to ripples of fear and anxiety within a person's social circle," Ramallo tells Yahoo Life. "Acknowledging this worry and having a clear and objective approach is important."
So, why is monkeypox linked to queer men? And how to offer warnings without fueling stigma?
According to several reports, the recent outbreak of the virus, which had already been in circulation (first recorded in the 1970) is thought to have been traced to two gay raves in Europe.
"What likely happened in this case is that somebody who had monkeypox had a lesion and showed up at a gay rave in Europe, and it spread to those in that social and sexual network," Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and a global health activist, told the New York Times. "And because the virus prefers close physical contact as a means of transmission, it found a very suitable environment for which to propagate itself."
From there, it spread to other queer men within that social network before finding its way to the U.S. and various clusters around Europe. As more clusters began to appear in queer communities worldwide, headlines appeared that highlighted these numbers, conveying the mistaken impression that only gay or bisexual men are susceptible to monkeypox.
The truth is that monkeypox, which is in the same virus family as smallpox and shares similar symptoms, appears to be spread through direct physical contact with someone with monkeypox symptoms — rashes, scabs, body fluids or items that have come into contact with those things, respiratory secretions from prolonged contact (especially kissing) and from a mother to her fetus.
Spaces like bars, nightclubs and other large gatherings where participants have close intimate contact with one another are all places where the virus can likely be transmitted.
While the facts may be fueling anti-gay stigma, it's important to get information and warning to the right people, as one gay sex advice columnist, Dan Savage, pointed out recently. "Early in the AIDS crisis, public health officials and news reporters didn't raise the alarm about a new disease because they didn’t care about gay or bi men. They didn’t care whether we lived or died," he said on his podcast, as reported by the Washington Post. "Now, they are failing to raise the alarm because they care about us too much, so much so they don’t want to hurt our feelings or accidentally hand ammo to anti-gay bigots."
For medical experts, it's been a tricky balance to inform queer men about their risk without incurring further stigma. But Ramallo says labeling anything a "gay disease" has a detrimental impact.
"The LGBTQ+ community was demonized during the AIDS epidemic, and the specific labeling of HIV as a 'gay-cancer' had negative effects lasting years," he explains. "This labeling led to discrimination in many aspects of everyday life, beyond health care. We must be careful in the language we use and the way a disease is presented, to have a nuanced discussion without demonizing specific groups and risking discrimination or violence."
One way to do that, he says, is for medical professionals to prioritize discussions around safety and prevention before conflating the cause of the outbreak with sexual identity.
"Each patient's situation and history may be different," he says. "Helping patients understand risks and benefits related to this disease is an important yet complicated conversation."
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, recently stressed to The Advocate how important it is that the LGBTQ community remain vigilant.
"Monkeypox can be spread by several ways, including droplets through kissing and touching surfaces, and that could apply to anyone," Daskalakis said. He recommended practicing safer sex, for example, using a condom, as extra prevention against monkeypox.
Other experts, like Northwestern Medicine's Dr. Robert L. Murphy, add that monkeypox is "not a sexually transmitted disease in the classic sense." It is not believed, although it is not yet known for certain, that it is spread through sexual fluids. A level of precaution about any physical contact, then, should be of top concern.
"If you're not feeling well, stay home," Daskalakis said. "If you have a rash, stay home and make sure to seek out medical care and pay attention to local public health announcements. You need to be aware if monkeypox might be spreading through your community.
"We're again in the position of learning about this virus in its new context," he added, "so it will be vital to follow people who acquire the virus and study them to gain more insight."
At this time, the CDC said, it's not known whether it can be spread through semen or vaginal fluids. It is known, however, that people who do not have symptoms of monkeypox cannot spread the virus to others.
As of Tuesday, the CDC noted that there were 560 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S. — though some experts have suggested that the number may be higher, since testing has been limited. Now, thanks in large part to pressure on the CDC from queer-led activist groups like PrEP4All, an HIV prevention access group and Big Pharma watchdog, the Biden administration is expanding monkeypox testing and vaccinations to a greater number of individuals at risk.
Despite the fact that help is on the way, some activists have been criticizing the FDA for taking too long to inspect the new vaccines before they are shipped to the public— especially given the soaring rates of positive cases in areas like New York City, where a new shipment of vaccines arrived on Wednesday.
Monkeypox patients speak out
Meanwhile, some gay men affected by the virus have taken to social media to give first-person accounts of their experiences of the disease.
“This s*** sucks and you don't want it," Matt Ford, a gay man who contracted monkeypox, said in a viral TikTok post chronicling his experience. Ford is one of several people on TikTok giving brutally honest accounts of the effects of monkeypox and urging awareness around public safety.
"This is not a gay disease. It can spread to anyone," Ford tells Yahoo Life. "It's particularly dangerous for kids and immunocompromised people. That was a huge part of why I spoke out, because I wanted to help decrease that stigma and help with any personal shame people might feel."
Ford, who is now clear of monkeypox, says he counted at least 20 pimple-like blisters and lesions on his body at the height of his ordeal. He describes it as being "excruciatingly painful," and had to get painkillers from his doctor just to be able to go to sleep.
"It's one thing to know there's a monkeypox outbreak happening," he explained in one of his videos. "But it’s another to know exactly what that means for someone's body, and particularly what it means if it happens to a friend or to you."
Other TikTokers, like one fashion blogger, Maxim Sapozhnikov, have shared updates with their followers about contracting the virus so they won't feel scared or confused.
"I went to the internet and I saw these terrible pictures of the people with the lesions and for me, it was really scary," Sapozhnikov explained to SkyNews about why he shared his story publicly. "Also, I'm by myself and I don't know who I can share that with as well, so I felt a bit alone, and I didn't know what I should do in this situation."
Similarly, ThatGayDoctor, a Chicago-based physician and TikToker, documented his experience from start to finish to help spread awareness about the symptoms and to eradicate misconceptions — particularly that monkeypox is spread by recurring sexual encounters.
"If you must know, I actually have not had a sexual partner who's had signs or symptoms of monkeypox, so it's thought that I got it elsewhere," he says in one of his videos. "This virus is spread by close person-to-person contact so, yes, sex is one of those ways. But it can also be a concert or a nightclub or a bar or standing in public transportation that's super-crowded."
"I wanted to post about this to spread awareness and remind people to check their bodies," he said in another video. "I also want to do away with any stigma or embarrassment that anybody might have about getting any form of disease. These things happen."
A Roadside Attraction In Georgia Was Bombed After A Far-Right Candidate Promoted Conspiracy Theories About It
Wed, July 6, 2022
An explosion on Wednesday rocked a Georgia tourist attraction that had become a campaign focus of a far-right GOP candidate for governor, who described it as Satanic and vowed to demolish it.
In an email, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told BuzzFeed News that unknown individuals detonated an explosive device at around 4 a.m. Wednesday at the Georgia Guidestones, destroying a large portion of the granite structure. The investigation is active and ongoing, and Elbert County Sheriff's Office and the GBI are examining the site.
Kandiss Taylor, who sought the GOP nomination for governor on the platform of "Jesus, guns, and babies," had promised to sign an executive order dismantling the monument if elected and produced a campaign video vowing to "demolish the Satanic Georgia Guidestones." (She ultimately received only 3.4% of the vote in the state's Republican primary in May.)
The monument has been the center of much speculation since 1979, when a man named Robert C. Christian who said he represented "a small group of loyal Americans" commissioned Elberton Granite Finishing to install it; it's unclear why. Yoko Ono has praised the monument, while others have said it belongs to the Antichrist, according to Wired.
In her campaign, Taylor connected the monument to her distrust of the COVID-19 vaccine, abortion as "demonic worship," and the New World Order, the longstanding (and baseless) conspiracy that an authoritarian globalist government is coming.
GBI did not respond to questions about whether they believe Taylor had any connection to the explosion, and Taylor did not respond to BuzzFeed News's request for comment. On Wednesday, after news broke about the explosion, Taylor tweeted, "God is God all by Himself. He can do anything He wants."
The monument has been vandalized before, and others have also called for it to be removed.
During a June meeting of the county's board meeting of commissioners, a pastor asked the board to remove the Guidestones, saying it's a religious monument and its inscriptions support genocide, advocates the killing of 6.5 billion people, and supports abortion and Planned Parenthood, the Elberton Star & Examiner reported.
"I've never known anyone other than Kandiss Taylor to consider this a statement of faith," county attorney Bill Daughtry said, according to the newspaper.
"It's simply a tourist attraction," he continued. "We don't have to disagree with it or understand it. You looked at it and saw abortion in big letters, which I've looked at it and I did not see that. It's been there for years. People pull off the interstate and come and spend their money at local businesses after they look at a funny monument."
Bryan Ke
Fri, July 8, 2022
A Chinese man who sought treatment for a recurring urinary problem was shocked to find out that he had ovaries and had been menstruating for 20 years.
The 33-year-old man, identified only by his pseudonym Chen Li to protect his identity, was initially diagnosed with appendicitis after complaining of abdominal discomfort and blood in his urine, according to South China Morning Post.
Chen’s symptoms reportedly started soon after having corrective surgery for his irregular urination during puberty. He continued to experience symptoms for the past 20 years.
Despite being treated for appendicitis, Chen’s symptoms persisted. It was not until last year that doctors finally found the cause of his symptoms: Chen reportedly had female sex chromosomes.
More from NextShark: Chinese American employee claims coworkers taped their desk with biohazard sign, caution tape as 'prank'
After traveling some 930 miles from Sichuan province to Guangzhou to visit a hospital that treats genitalia issues, Chen discovered through medical examination that he also had female reproductive organs, such as a uterus and ovaries.
Further medical examination also revealed that his male hormone androgen had below-average levels. Chen’s female hormones and ovaries were also active and reportedly comparable to that of a healthy adult woman. After the revelation, the man was identified as intersex, meaning he had male and female reproductive organs.
Chen underwent surgery on June 6 after he became distressed by the news. He was released 10 days later, and Luo Xiping, the surgeon who performed the procedure, told Chinese media that Chen “was quickly at ease and his confidence was restored.”
“From this point on, he can live his life as a man, but he cannot reproduce because his testicles cannot produce sperm,” Luo said, adding that the condition is often discovered during puberty and has little impact on a patient’s physical health. Luo also noted that going through it all usually results in psychological trauma.
According to the United Nations, about 0.05 and 1.7 percent of the global population is intersex.
NASA's head warned that China may try to claim the Moon – two space scholars explain why that's unlikely to happen
Svetla Ben-Itzhak,
Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations, Air University
and R. Lincoln Hines,
Assistant Professor, West Space Seminar, Air University, Air University
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently expressed concerns over China’s aims in space, and in particular, that China would, in some way, claim ownership over the Moon and stop other countries from exploring it. In an interview with a German newspaper, Nelson cautioned, “We must be very concerned that China is landing on the Moon and saying: ‘It’s ours now and you stay out.‘” China immediately denounced the claims as a “lie”.
This spat between the administrator of NASA and Chinese government officials comes at a time when both nations are actively working on missions to the Moon – and China has not been shy about its lunar aspirations.
In 2019, China became the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon. That same year, China and Russia announced joint plans to reach the South Pole of the Moon by 2026. And some Chinese officials and government documents have expressed intentions to build a permanent, crewed International Lunar Research Station by 2027.
There is big difference between China – or any state for that matter – setting up a lunar base and actually “taking over” the Moon. As two scholars who study space security and China’s space program, we believe that neither China nor any other nation is likely to take over the Moon in the near future. It is not only illegal, it is also technologically daunting – the costs of such an endeavor would be extremely high, while the potential payoffs would be uncertain.
China is limited by international space law
Legally, China cannot take over the Moon because it is against current international space law. The Outer Space Treaty, adopted in 1967 and signed by 134 countries, including China, explicitly states that “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means” (Article II). Legal scholars have debated the exact meaning of “appropriation”, but under a literal interpretation, the treaty indicates that no country can take possession of the Moon and declare it an extension of its national aspirations and prerogatives. If China tried to do this, it would risk international condemnation and a potential international retaliatory response.
While no country can claim ownership of the Moon, Article I of the Outer Space Treaty allows any state to explore and use outer space and celestial bodies. China will not be the only visitor to the South Pole of the Moon in the near future. The U.S.-led Artemis Accords is a group of 20 countries that has plans to return humans to the Moon by 2025, which will include the establishment of a research station on the lunar surface and a supporting space station in orbit called the Gateway with a planned launch in November 2024.
Even if no country can legally claim sovereignty over the Moon, it is possible that China, or any other country, would attempt to gradually establish de facto control over strategically important areas through a strategy known as “salami slicing.” This practice involves taking small, incremental steps to achieve a big change: Individually, those steps do not warrant a strong response, but their cumulative effect adds up to significant developments and increased control. China has recently been using this strategy in the South and East China seas. Still, such a strategy takes time and can be addressed.
Controlling the Moon is difficult
With a surface area of nearly 14.6 million square miles (39 million square kilometers) – or almost five times the area of Australia – any control of the Moon would be temporary and localized.
More plausibly, China could attempt to secure control of specific lunar areas that are strategically valuable, such as lunar craters with higher concentrations of water ice. Ice on the Moon is important because it will provide water to humans that wouldn’t need to be shipped from Earth. Ice can also serve as a vital source of oxygen and hydrogen, which could be used as rocket fuel. In short, water ice is essential for ensuring the long-term sustainability and survivability of any mission to the Moon or beyond.
Securing and enforcing control of strategic lunar areas would require substantial financial investments and long-term efforts. And no country could do this without everyone noticing.
Does China have the resources and capabilities?
China is investing heavily in space. In 2021, it led in number of orbital launches with a total of 55 compared to the U.S.’s 51. China is also in the top three in spacecraft deployment for 2021. China’s state-owned StarNet space company is planning a megaconstellation of 12,992 satellites, and the country has nearly finished building the Tiangong space station.
Going to the Moon is expensive; “taking over” the Moon would be much more so. China’s space budget – an estimated US$13 billion in 2020 – is only around half that of NASA’s. Both the U.S. and China increased their space budgets in 2020, the U.S. by 5.6% and China by 17.1% compared to the previous year. But even with the increased spending, China does not seem to be investing the money needed to carry out the expensive, daring and uncertain mission of “taking over” the Moon.
If China assumes control over some part of the moon, it would be a risky, expensive and extremely provocative action. China would risk further tarnishing its international image by breaking international law, and it may invite retaliation. All this for uncertain payoffs that remain to be determined.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Svetla Ben-Itzhak, Air University and R. Lincoln Hines, Air University.
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The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Defense, or of any organization the authors are affiliated with, including the Air University, Air War College, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force.