Category Archives: Risk and risk management

Crapification, Vanguard Style: Customer Service Rep Bullies Your Humble Blogger into Taking Security Risk

Vanguard behaves very badly.

Vaccine Research on Covid-19: An Update

A clinical and not very cheery look at the state of Covid-19 vaccine play.

Public Health Experts Fear a Hasty FDA Signoff on Vaccine

Experts have the willies about the rush to get a Covid-19 vaccine approved.

Covid-19: To Clean or Not to Clean?

Cleaning vigilance was an early Covid-19 precaution. Have we gone overboard?

New Study Slams Public Pension Funds’ Alternative Investments as Drag on Performance, Identifies CalPERS as One of the Worst “Negative Alphas”; Shows Folly of CalPERS’ Desperate Plan to Increase Private Equity and Debt and Go Bigger Using Leverage

A new paper shows that public pension fund investment in “alts” like real estate and private equity hurt returns and failed to lower risk.

Beneficiary Uproar Over CalPERS Fraudulent Investment Strategy Claims in E-Mail Blast

CalPERS latest beneficiary e-mail had misrepresentaions that even the toothless SEC would sanction.

Risking Nuclear War for Dollars

Why the risk of nuclear war has been and remains much higher than you realize.

Three Strikes against the Fed

Until the results of new stress tests are known, the uncertainty principle calls for extreme caution in the regulator’s approach to the capital adequacy of systemically important banks (and indeed of banks in general).

How Largely Hidden Trends Are Shattering the Global Trade System

Howy national conflicts, new concerns about security and supply chain risk, and technology are reshaping trade networks to be closer to home.

Board Member Margaret Brown Sues CalPERS, Board President Over Gang-Style Retaliation for Efforts to Oppose Its Incompetence

Board member Margaret Brown has finally had it with CalPERS’ dirty tricks.

CalPERS Plans to Blow Its Brains Out: Seeks to Increase Risk by Boosting Private Equity, Private Debt, and Leveraging the Entire Fund

CalPERS latches on to new, really bad investment ideas.

Wall Street’s Useful Idiot: Financial Times Shills for CLOs….as Fed Hasn’t Bailed Them Out

A major story on the CLOs chooses not to address the key questions.

The Invisible Business Risk of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented changes in employment levels and the values of stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies.

Universa Debunks CalPERS’ Defense of $1 Billion Tail Hedge Miss; Insider Accounts Expose Additional Misrepresentations

CalPERS efforts to ‘splain away its $1 billion tail hedge fiasco backfire as one of the tail risk managers, Universa, shreds CalPERS’ claims.